SACRAMENTO, Calif., Oct. 3 (Our California Times) — California governor candidates Xavier Becerra and Steve Hilton faced off on CNN as county election officials prepared to send ballots to voters, putting their competing views before Californians at the start of mail voting.
The candidates debated for about an hour Wednesday night on a soundstage in Burbank, the Los Angeles Times reported. It was the contest’s sole televised debate, according to the Associated Press.
The election will determine who succeeds outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom.
When does voting begin?
County election officials were about to mail ballots to California’s 23.2 million registered voters, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Associated Press said ballots were expected to begin arriving in the days after the debate, ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.
What divided the candidates on immigration?
Becerra challenged Hilton over whom he would welcome into the country.
“You seem to welcome immigrants who look like you, but deport immigrants who look like me,” Becerra said.
Hilton called that accusation “disgraceful” and said he wanted “to lower the temperature on this whole question.”
The exchange also turned to unaccompanied immigrant children — children who arrive without a parent or guardian — and the screening of people who would sponsor them.
Hilton accused Becerra of dismantling sponsor vetting. Becerra disputed Hilton’s account of the migrant crisis. The candidates offered conflicting descriptions, rather than an agreed account of what happened.
Their disagreement brought two separate immigration questions into the debate: how immigrants are treated and how sponsors for unaccompanied children are screened.
What did they say about homelessness?
Becerra pledged to clear encampments, the places where people experiencing homelessness live in tents or other makeshift shelters.
“We will make sure the encampments are cleared,” he said.
Hilton condemned the state’s homelessness situation, saying: “This absolute scandal shames our state.”
Where did the race stand before the debate?
A September survey by the University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies indicated that Becerra held a lead, the Associated Press reported in its debate preview.
