Tuesday’s California gubernatorial debate gathered seven of the candidates right here in SF, and all seven were quite polished, but no one distinguished themselves in an event clearly overshadowed by the Super Bowl lead-up.

It was admittedly kind of exciting that there was a debate for the governor's race in San Francisco last night at the Bayview Opera House, though despite co-host KTVU’s claim that it was “California’s first statewide gubernatorial debate of the year,” their “of the year” qualifier avoids the reality that there have already been two debates. And major candidates Eric Swallwell and Katie Porter were not there, with Swalwell’s absence being described by moderators as a conflict due to "ongoing votes in Washington DC.”

The whole debate can be seen below, though the actual debating does not begin until the five-minute mark. The bottom line is that nobody won, nobody lost, and none stood out in a debate that hardly anyone watched.

No surprisingly, the most prominent exchanges were on the currently controversial topics of the proposed California billionaire tax, and the ever-more violent ICE raids and operations sweeping the country.

Billionaire perma-candidate Tom Steyer came right out and declared that “ICE should be abolished," while former State Controller Betty Yee took the more poll-tested lines that we should “build economic power in our immigrant communities,” and “lean into” being a sanctuary state.

State schools superintendent Tony Thurmond took the hardest line supporting immigrants, saying, "When I am governor, I will restore universal healthcare for all, including undocumented immigrants in the state of California, because we know that healthcare is a right.”

Steyer, himself a billionaire, went to bat in favor of the proposed billionaire tax.

“Right now the big tech CEOs are terrified about the idea of paying their fair share. Right now they’re supporting [San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan], that’s where they are,” Steyer said. “Who have I got? I’ve got the nurses, I’ve got the bus drivers, I’ve got the cafeteria workers, I’ve got the custodians.”

The one Republican onstage, Steve Hilton, used Mahan’s opposition to the billionaire tax to bash him on housing.

"I actually talked to Matt about it. He didn’t agree with me about capping taxes on housing," Hilton charged. "He likes taxes apparently, unless they’re on billionaires. We’ve got to end the taxes on housing, and we’ve got to end the war on single-family homes."

"You must have been talking to a different mayor," Mahan responded. "Because actually in San Jose when we were approving housing, and it wasn’t getting built, we looked at those fees and taxes, and we reduced them substantially."

Homelessness came up, though most responses were pretty formulaic and canned.

Betty Yee proposed that "We put the money where it works best, we offer flexibility where we know jurisdictions need it, and we pull back what we know doesn’t work so that we can actually pilot some things that could work more effectively.”

Biden’s former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra was at least slightly more specific.

"First, expand emergency shelters so that we can get people off the streets," he said Tuesday night. "Second, reform our zoning and permitting laws so we can move faster to find the housing that we need for all Californians."

Former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa chimed in on crime, and the newly passed “tough on crime” measure Prop 36.

"We need a policy that focuses on redemption, a policy that focuses on restorative justice, and as governor I’ll do that," Villaraigosa said. "Yes, we have to fund the drug treatment in Prop 36, and I will as governor, and yes we gotta get the guns off the street."

You’ll notice that most of these quotes come from Democrats with very little name recognition. This has produced the odd quirk that Republicans are polling ahead in this race, because there are so many Democrats splitting the vote amongst themselves.

And Republican Steve Hilton relished in this, using the debate to knock his only GOP opponent, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.

“Chad Bianco has more baggage than LAX,” Hilton declared, hoping for laughs. “He took a knee when told to by BLM [Black Lives Matter]. He said he was praying.” The smear continued as Hilton repeatedly referred to the sheriff as “BLM Bianco.”

Regardless of all this, the primary of this race is on June 2, 2026. The two top vote-getters will then move on to the November 3, 2026 general election.

Related: SF Hosts Governor's Race Debate This Tuesday Night, at Bayview Opera House [SFist]

Image: KTVU via Youtube