Make California Post a Preferred Source Xavier Becerra may be ahead in the polls, but lost badly to Steve Hilton in Wednesday night’s gubernatorial debate on CNN.
Hilton, the Republican outsider, ran circles around Becerra, the Democrat, who seemed unable to answer basic questions about his record or his policies.
Becerra wanted to debate President Donald Trump — deeply unpopular in California — but walked into one trap after another.
Xavier Becerra may be ahead in the polls, but lost badly to Steve Hilton in Wednesday night’s gubernatorial debate on CNN. CNN When Becerra tried to attack Hilton’s tax cuts by nothing that the “definition of insanity” was doing the same thing over and over again, Hilton snapped back: “Like voting Democrat.”
Hilton then used Becerra’s “insanity” line against him, over and over.
He also pressed Becerra with specific questions on his record. When Becerra claimed he would “cut red tape” to promote housing, Hilton challenged him to provide an example when he had done so. He couldn’t.
When Hilton challenged Becerra’s credibility on AI, asking how much money he had taken from OpenAI and Anthropic, Becerra dodged the question clumsily, naming other tech companies he had sued.
Hilton also took Becerra to task for enforcing mask mandates on 2- and 3-year-olds, as HHS secretary. He also reminded voters that Becerra lost track of thousands of migrant children. Becerra had nowhere to go.
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Eventually, Becerra became so desperate that he resorted to a below-the-belt racial attack, saying Hilton only wanted immigrants who looked like him (i.e. white). Hilton pulled a Lloyd Bentsen in response: “What a disgraceful remark that was.”
Even when Hilton left himself open to attack — as when he quoted former Obama/Biden adviser Susan Rice calling Becerra an “idiot” and “bitch-ass” — Becerra failed to take the moral high ground, saying instead he wouldn’t respond to a “politician,” and letting Rice’s damning assessment stand.
As if to prove Rice’s point, Becerra never offered a single new idea, or an original thought.
Instead, the Democrat used nearly every single answer to attack Trump, leaving the impression he would rather have been debating the president than his actual opponent.
Instead, the Democrat used nearly every single answer to attack Trump, leaving the impression he would rather have been debating the president than his actual opponent. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post Hilton seemed to acknowledge, tacitly, that he was unlikely to win, noting that California Democrats simply take voters for granted. But he made an impassioned case for trying something different.
That might help down-ticket races. In that sense, Hilton did his job as the party standard-bearer.
An A for Hilton, an F for Becerra. It probably won’t matter. It was, at least, memorable.
Joel Pollak is Opinion editor at the California Post.
