California Gubernatorial Election Debate — Selected Excerpts.

July 24, 2026 — Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California.

Introduction.
The following is an abridged version of a fictional debate between Xavier Becerra, Democratic candidate for governor of California, and Stephen Hilton, Republican candidate. The debate is moderated by Anthony Zinfandel, a fictional independent candidate from the California primary election.

The exchanges are based on positions expressed by the candidates during the 2026 campaign. The excerpts below have been selected to illustrate some of the major differences between the two candidates as California approaches the November election.

Photo 1 – The debate venue: the Main Auditorium of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California.

Photo 2 – California, the state, the issues.

Photo 3 – Stephen Hilton, Anthony Zinfandel, Xavier Becerra.

Cost of Living and the Economy.

Moderator: The polls are showing that the cost of living is one of the top concerns, both nationally and in California. Mr. Becerra, as governor of California, how would you lower the cost of living for residents of California?.

Xavier Becerra: Why is the cost of living not coming down under President Trump? You all know why. His tariff policies amount to a tax increase for Americans, and thus for Californians. And his unpopular war with Iran has driven up gas prices at the pump.
Higher gas prices translate into higher transportation costs for many consumer products. Because Trump and Republicans refused to extend the Affordable Care Act tax cuts that help people afford their health insurance, monthly premiums for ACA plans rose over 50% on average in 2026 compared to last year.

There are concrete things I can do as your governor to ease the financial burdens on families. I’ll use state purchasing power to negotiate maximum reimbursement rates for drugs, while also capping out-of-pocket costs and fighting to lower health care-related debt.

Moderator: Mr. Hilton, what will you do as governor to lower the cost of living for Californians?.

Stephen Hilton: My opponent is quick to blame the president for the high cost of living for Californians. The truth is that the cost of living was already high under former President Biden and California Governor Newsom. Their disastrous policies have been the major drivers behind the current high cost of living.

My plan to tackle California's affordability crisis focuses on massive tax cuts, aggressive housing deregulation, and energy policy overhauls. I will eliminate state income tax on the first $150,000 of income, with any amount above that taxed at a flat 8%. I will also eliminate the $800 annual small-business franchise tax, stop taxing tips, and cap vehicle registration fees at a flat $71 per year.

I will lower energy prices to targeted levels of $3 per gallon for gas and cut electric bills in half by expanding in-state oil production and refinery capacity.

Xavier Becerra: I am underwhelmed by Mr. Hilton’s plans. Eliminating state income tax, small business franchise tax, and DMV fees will result in significant budget income reductions for the state. The immediate result will be personnel layoffs and cuts in service.

And everyone knows that tariffs are a tax paid by the consumer, not the company that imports the goods or the country from which the goods originate. Goodbye to $3 gas, Mr. Hilton.

Stephen Hilton: I like to point out how far apart our visions for California's future are. My opponent will continue a tradition of government marked by bureaucratic waste, high taxes, and excessive paperwork for project development and approvals. If my opponent were elected it would be as if Gavin Newsom had never left the governor’s mansion.

California cannot continue in this disastrous direction from the current Democratic administration. We need change!.

Housing Affordability.

Moderator: California has some of the highest costs of housing in America. Mr. Hilton, how will your administration bring down the cost of residential accommodation and increase the availability of housing?
Stephen Hilton: We are at the end of successive Democratic administrations that have failed to make a dent in the housing crisis. Why would Californians believe that another Democratic governor will change that?.

When I am governor, I’ll put an end to continuing bureaucratic dilly-dallying that has failed to make a dent in the housing crisis.
I will slash regulations, cut building fees, and reform the California Environmental Quality Act. My administration will mandate a five-year freeze on new housing regulations and establish a Governor’s Housing Expediter to bypass stalled approvals.

I will bring back smaller, affordable “starter homes” and create a “Starter Home Loan Program.” I propose building outward, that is, building into new suburbs rather than solely focusing on urban infill.

Moderator: Mr. Becerra, how do you intend to make housing plentiful and affordable?
Xavier Becerra: The median price of a mid-tier single-family home in California is now roughly $775,000, more than double the national median. Today, the median rent for a typical two-bedroom home hovers around $2,700.

From my first day in office as governor, housing will be a top priority for government agencies across the state. I will reduce the cost of housing development and remove barriers to building.

I will streamline the permitting approval process, weaken exclusionary zoning and fund affordable housing. I will pressure cities to meet housing goals.

My first mission will be the nearly 40,000 affordable housing units sitting in approved projects across California, awaiting only a final tranche of funding to break ground. Everything will be on the table to close the funding gap—bond measures, state subsidies, public-private partnerships.

Moderator: How many new housing units will you build if you become governor?.

Xavier Becerra: Realistically, given that we've seen about 100, a little more than 100,000 units built annually over the last few years, if we can double, or better, triple that, get it to about 300,000, that would be a pretty good achievement. We have to go beyond that, but let's start to unstick the process.

Immigration.

Moderator: What are your views on immigration?.

Xavier Becerra: California's story is an immigrant story. Generation after generation, people from around the world have come here seeking freedom, opportunity, and a better future.

My Republican opponent often speaks about enforcement. I speak about both enforcement and humanity. We need secure borders and orderly immigration processes. But we must also remember that behind every immigration statistic is a human being: a worker, a student, a parent, a child.

Certainly, illegal immigrants who commit criminal acts should be arrested and deported. But those who have been allowed to live in this country many years ago and who have made significant contributions to their communities and pay taxes should be treated with compassion.

Their children are often born in this country and are therefore legal residents. These children depend on their parents for survival and security. I reject ICE raids that tear apart families overnight.

Stephen Hilton: My views on immigration are clear and simple. California is a state of immigrants. Legal immigrants have helped build this state and this country. We welcome those who follow the law and contribute to our communities.

But no society can function without borders. No society can function when laws are selectively enforced. My Democratic opponent supports policies that blur the distinction between legal and illegal immigration. I do not.

The federal government must secure the border. The federal government must know who enters the country. And those who commit serious crimes while in this country illegally should be removed.

I support the policies of our president to keep the border closed to those who want to cross it illegally.

Xavier Becerra: My opponent’s viewpoint lacks compassion.

Stephen Hilton: My opponent’s position is illogical and absurd. You either follow the law or you don’t.

Homelessness.

Moderator: California has the highest percentage of unsheltered homeless people among all U.S. states. How do you intend to address the homeless problem?.

Xavier Becerra: First, expand emergency shelters, so that we can get people off the streets. Second, reform our zoning and permitting laws so that we can move faster to find the housing that we need for all Californians.

We must make sure that hard-working families—you're working, but you're living on the edge, you're a paycheck away from becoming homeless—do not end up on the street.

Unhoused Californians should not be allowed to voluntarily remain on the street when help is available. But I also believe that someone who’s sleeping outside shouldn’t be treated as a criminal. We should treat them as people who need support and help.

Stephen Hilton: Nothing about the way California is currently addressing homelessness is working. There is a lot of wasteful spending. The best course of action is to scrap past policies and start over.
Number one, we have to stop the fraud. The fraud in the homeless system is stealing from the people who need our help. Number two, we have to enforce the law. It is illegal to camp on the streets.

After that, we need to get people into the treatment that they need. We have to provide people the mental health treatment that they need.

The lack of resources available for people living with severe mental illness means that jails have become the state’s main providers of mental health care, which I call “completely barbaric.”

Xavier Becerra: I’d say that Steve Hilton underestimates the significant progress that has recently been made in addressing the homelessness problem. Over the past couple of years, 14,000 people have quit living on the street and moved permanently into housing.

Stephen Hilton: It’s all too little and too costly. California spent roughly $24 billion over several years on homelessness programs. And what does our state have to show for it?

Climate Change and Energy.

Moderator: California faces rising temperatures, wildfire danger, pressure on water supplies and increasing energy costs. How would your administration respond?.

Stephen Hilton: I care deeply about California’s environment. One of the reasons I love this state is because of our extraordinary natural beauty: the coastline, forests, mountains, farmland, rivers, and open space.

And after all the mandates, regulations, restrictions, and lectures from Sacramento politicians, what do Californians actually see? Forests that are dangerously unmanaged. Reservoirs and watersheds neglected. Communities destroyed by uncontrolled catastrophic wildfires.

I will repeal California’s costly wind and solar mandates and subsidies, replacing them with an energy policy focused on affordability, reliability, and consumer choice.

We need reform of the state’s energy regulators, a massive sprawling, bloated bureaucracy. We’ve got this alphabet soup of different agencies. Overlapping functions and redundant staffing are driving up costs.
Xavier Becerra: My climate policy centers on a pragmatic, consumer-first approach that balances the transition to clean energy with affordability and grid reliability.

California’s clean-energy transition is necessary and urgent—but too many families are paying the price through rising utility bills, unreliable service, and confusing rate structures.

Climate action only succeeds if it is affordable, reliable, and fair. The goal is to cut pollution and emissions while lowering household energy costs, strengthening public oversight, and ensuring the benefits of clean energy reach everyone.

Stephen Hilton: These are all nice promises. The track record of the Democrats doesn’t bode well for realizing them.

Xavier Becerra: I strongly object. At the federal level, the Trump administration has been systematically dismantling the protective regulatory climate framework. I’ll fight its destructive policies.

Health Care.

Moderator: The availability and affordability of health care remains a major concern. Mr. Becerra?

Xavier Becerra: Fostering affordable health care has been the throughline of my entire career in public service. As California’s Attorney General, I won a $575 million antitrust settlement against one of the largest health systems in the state, cracked down on pharmaceutical “pay-for-delay” schemes, prosecuted Medi-Cal fraud, and led the federal court fight that saved the Affordable Care Act.

As HHS Secretary, I negotiated drug price reductions of up to 79% on some of the most widely used medications in America.
On day one, I’ll sign an executive order to maintain coverage continuity against federal rollbacks and cuts in Medi-Cal funding.
Every Californian should have access to a primary care provider. A family without a primary care doctor does not simply go without care. They end up in an emergency room, at far greater cost to the taxpayers and far greater harm to themselves.

Stephen Hilton: Ensuring Californians receive quality health care is a passion of mine. But we cannot live beyond our means. With limitations in funding, we need to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely.
I will lower the financial burden to the state by ending state-funded Medi-Cal coverage for low-income immigrants without legal status.

I am against providing subsidized health care to undocumented immigrants in the state. Medi-Cal coverage of immigrants without legal status costs the state roughly $10 billion a year, according to California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Stop taking money from California taxpayers who can barely afford their health care to give free health care to citizens of other countries who shouldn’t even be here.

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work.

Audience member: I plan to graduate next year with a degree in engineering, and I am concerned about finding a job after graduation—or that my job will become redundant five years from now. How will you, as governor, position the state for the challenges ahead?

Xavier Becerra: AI should be there to support, not replace our workers. AI should be something that all of us look at as a benefit.

I will dedicate time and resources to ensure workplace integration, requiring that state civil servants and union labor have a voice before automation is deployed. AI should make our lives better, not the other way around.

California is leading the US and the world in AI development and implementation. But we should do more than lead AI in innovation and talent. We can’t let the AI era leave workers behind the way globalization left auto and manufacturing workers behind in the last century.

Stephen Hilton: I am more optimistic about the future of work and job opportunities. Historically, technological shifts transform rather than permanently eliminate jobs.

California-based entrepreneurs and engineering talent are playing a major role in the development and implementation of AI. I believe AI is a good thing, and the government should welcome its integration into society at large and the workplace in particular.

I view AI as a major economic driver for California and emphasize innovation and growth, while I strongly oppose preemptive government regulation. Overregulation will drive tech investment and jobs out of California.

California and President Trump.

Audience member: One year into your administration, what would California’s relationship be like with President Trump?

Stephen Hilton: The word that comes to mind is cooperative. I think for any governor of either party with respect to any president from either party, what people expect is cooperation, working together in the interests of California.

That's exactly how I would approach it with President Trump.

Xavier Becerra: I hope it would be one where we are working well in some cases, and we've proven to him that we're going to stand up when he tries to break the law, violate our rights, or abuse our resources, our people, and the way of life we have in California.

Closing Statements.

Xavier Becerra: Voters, when you’re making up your mind on who will get your vote to become the next governor of California, consider what it takes to do the job and the track record of the candidates.

I have taken on reckless governments. I have taken on ruthless corporations. I've defended workers' rights, women's health, and immigrant rights. I've launched civil rights investigations. I have overseen a budget larger than the budget of the state of California and balanced it four times.

And what you don't need is someone who needs training wheels the moment they walk into that governor's office. I hope we vote for someone who can manage this crisis on day one.

Stephen Hilton says he wants to take the undocumented off health care. This is clearly a place where we differ. He looks at their status, and that's about it. He says that they broke the law. I see them as hard workers who help build California.

He doesn't seem to mind that the price of food is a little over because these are the folks who are picking the crops. He doesn't seem to mind that the places you can buy are ones these folks built. He doesn't seem to mind that they're the folks that are taking care of probably one of his relatives, probably taking care of his yards.

Stephen Hilton: I am here because I love California and I want it to be the state that once again offers young people the opportunity to make their lives here better than anywhere else in our country.

The truth is that we've gone off track; we've had one-party rule now for 16 years. The results have been such a disappointment. It is time for some balance.

I'm not an idealist. I'm pragmatic; I'm a problem solver. Most of my career has been in business, but I have experience working inside of a government. Above all, I know how to work with people to make change happen.

We live in the most expensive state in the country. Our gas price is $2 higher than the national average. The price of a home is twice the national median. People are moving out of the state to have a more affordable life.

When you elect me, I will work to change that situation from day one. I will eliminate time-consuming and costly regulatory practices. I will mandate the building of affordable homes. I will make sure that homelessness is curbed and that people experiencing homelessness get the care they need.

That's what we need in California: practical ideas to turn things around and restore the California dream.

Photo 4 – After the debate: one California, different views. The choice is yours.

Acknowledgement.

This summary was prepared by ChatGPT from a full-length version of the fictional debate, created by Mark van Roode and ChatGPT. The visuals were prepared by ChatGPT.

MvR, August 15, 2026. ✍️