2026-09-29T14:30:44.356Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/29/politics/cnn-california-governor-race-debate-becerra-hilton
加州多数潜在选民认为该州正朝着错误的方向前进。此次州长竞选需要解决的问题是，这些选民会将指责指向执掌州政府的民主党人，还是指向以总统唐纳德·特朗普为首的共和党。
周三晚间，该州及其他地区的观众将有机会听到双方的辩论，民主党人哈维尔·贝塞拉将与共和党人史蒂夫·希尔顿在CNN展开对决。
民调显示，前卫生与公众服务部长贝塞拉大幅领先希尔顿。希尔顿曾是福克斯新闻主持人、英国政治幕僚，此次竞选将接替任期届满的州长加文·纽瑟姆。加州公共政策研究所9月初开展的一项民调显示，在潜在选民中，贝塞拉的支持率为60%，希尔顿为38%。同一项民调还发现，52%的潜在选民认为加州正朝着错误的方向前进——而认为美国整体方向错误的比例更高，达到77%。
此次州长选举的获胜者将为美国人口最多的州制定政策议程——该州人口约占全美总人口的12%，同时身处美国诸多重大议题的前沿，包括生活成本与房价、猖獗的无家可归问题、自然灾害，以及主要在加州硅谷研发的人工智能崛起。
以下是周三晚间9点（美国东部时间，太平洋时间下午6点），在CNN伯班克演播室举行的贝塞拉与希尔顿辩论中值得关注的要点：
选民最关心的头等大事是生活成本——双方的政策纲领也基本围绕解决这一问题展开。
希尔顿承诺废除一系列进步派政策，并声称通过此举可将油价降至每加仑3美元以下，将水电费账单减半，并大幅加快面向年轻家庭的经济型住宅建设速度。
他还承诺取消加州居民首笔15万美元收入的州所得税。希尔顿表示，该提案的资金将通过削减高铁和无家可归者非营利组织的拨款，以及将州政府各部门预算削减5%来解决。
这些提案几乎肯定会遭到民主党占多数的加州议会的强烈反对。
而贝塞拉则提出了“电力欢乐时光”计划——利用加州过剩的太阳能电力，为低收入家庭提供最多两小时的免费电力。
他还表示，将宣布进入紧急状态，冻结公用事业和保险费率，有效暂停进一步的价格上涨。
他试图将医疗保健作为竞选的重点，但大多避免提出具体的政策提案——而是宽泛地承诺致力于实现全民医保，同时强调初级医疗保健。
贝塞拉将摆脱纽瑟姆的光环
多年来，纽瑟姆一直是加州政治舞台的核心——尽管他还有几个月才卸任，但他可能在2028年竞选总统，这让他本人以及他所领导的加州的问题与政策持续处于聚光灯下。
但如果贝塞拉在11月的选举中获胜，这位低调得多的政客将走出纽瑟姆的光环，自己登上聚光灯下——在加州与特朗普政府就气候法规、选举规则、移民执法等问题争执不下之际，他将就任美国最受关注的政治职位之一。
贝塞拉的竞选风格偏向规避风险。他基本不接受采访，很少出现无准备的场合，在政策问题上态度含糊，仅笼统地谈论自由主义原则，而非做出具体承诺，也不会承诺明确的目标和时间表，以免日后被对手抓住把柄。
不过，他在民主党政坛拥有长期履历，包括曾在华盛顿担任众议院民主党领导层职务、担任加州司法部长，以及前总统乔·拜登任内的卫生与公众服务部长。他在竞选活动中也一直在强调这些履历。
在初选和大选期间，贝塞拉一直重复着类似的论调：“我竞选不靠夸大的承诺，而是靠我的过往记录。”
这与希尔顿形成了鲜明对比。希尔顿近日告诉《橙县纪事报》编辑委员会，贝塞拉“在此次选举中表现得非常傲慢”。
希尔顿无处不在——从在加油站穿着T恤拍摄社交媒体视频，到做客自由派播客“Pod Save America”。这种策略符合弱势候选人的做法：相比贝塞拉，他没有太多可失去的东西，而如今他用来缩小民调差距的时间也越来越少。
“这是一场 uphill battle，但我们认为已经缩小了差距，”希尔顿告诉《纪事报》。
要在加州获胜，希尔顿——特朗普在加州顶级两党初选中为他背书，这帮助他在民主党候选人分散选票时巩固了共和党票仓——必须赢得大量民主党和无党派选民的支持，而其中许多人既反感特朗普，也讨厌希尔顿曾主持过节目的福克斯新闻。
他的理由是，加州面临的困境不应归咎于总统，而应归咎于完全掌控州政府的民主党人。
“他只会一直把特朗普挂在嘴边，”希尔顿告诉《纪事报》。“我的信息是，看，你可以反特朗普，同时仍然投票给我。”
目前两位候选人都尚未就人工智能崛起及其潜在风险明确表态。
随着加州科技公司竞相推出更新、更先进的人工智能模型，一些加州政策制定者敦促州政府制定新的安全保障措施。本月，纽瑟姆下令州政府机构制定人工智能安全建议，并召集专家制定一系列政策建议。正在考虑的潜在政策包括紧急关停机制——即当人工智能前沿模型失控时，为其设置“ kill switch”。
贝塞拉提出了一项涵盖11个要点的宽泛计划，称将在州政府内部部署人工智能“以减少审批延误、改善福利发放，并找到长期以来一直缺失的效率提升方法”。他的计划还呼吁建立一个国家安全监管框架。
“强有力的标准与蓬勃发展的人工智能行业不必相互冲突，加州完全有能力设定行业黄金标准，”他的计划写道。
希尔顿在8月接受《政治报》采访时表示，人工智能公司一直在夸大其产品的威胁，并称目前政府“对部分危害监管不足，例如在儿童保护和创意行业及其作品相关方面，但同时我们又有可能对部分潜在益处监管过度”。
两位候选人还可能被问及加州如何留住好莱坞的影视制作业务——近年来，其他州和国家通过税收优惠和更低的制作成本，吸引了数万个工作岗位外流。
加州近期将影视制作税收抵免计划翻倍至每年7.5亿美元。但希尔顿在接受Spectrum新闻采访时表示，这“完全不够”。
希尔顿在竞选活动中提出了“让好莱坞回归”的提案，包括“更优厚”的税收抵免政策，覆盖更多制作成本，加快抵免审批速度，为小型制作项目预留资金，并在州长办公室设立专门团队，消除官僚主义延误。
与此同时，贝塞拉表示，他将扩大加州税收抵免范围，覆盖更多制作成本，并加快影视制作的地方和州级审批流程。他还表示，将召开“加州娱乐峰会”，为该行业制定公开计划，并要求流媒体内容平台与工人共享更多关于其参与制作的作品表现的数据，以“让工人获得公平议价所需的信息”。
What to watch in CNN’s California governor race debate
2026-09-29T14:30:44.356Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/29/politics/cnn-california-governor-race-debate-becerra-hilton
A majority of California’s likely voters say they think the state is heading in the wrong direction. The question the race for governor there will decide is whether those voters lay blame at the feet of the Democrats who run the state, or a Republican Party led by President Donald Trump.
Viewers in the state and beyond will get a chance to hear both sides of that argument on Wednesday night, when Democrat Xavier Becerra debates Republican Steve Hilton on CNN.
Polls show Becerra, a former secretary of Health and Human Services, with a significant lead over Hilton, an ex-Fox News host and British political operative, in the race to replace term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom. A Public Policy Institute of California survey conducted in early September found Becerra ahead, 60% to 38%, among likely voters. That same poll found that 52% of likely voters say the state is headed in the wrong direction — while an even larger share, 77%, say the nation is headed in the wrong direction.
The winner of the gubernatorial race will set the agenda for the nation’s most populous state — home to about 12% of all Americans — and one on the frontlines of a number of major issues confronting the country, including the cost of living and housing prices, rampant homelessness, natural disasters and the rise of artificial intelligence being developed largely in California’s Silicon Valley.
Here’s what to watch when Becerra and Hilton debate Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT) in CNN’s Burbank studio:
The top concern on voters’ minds is the cost of living — and both campaigns have largely oriented their policy platforms around addressing it.
Hilton is promising to unwind a bevy of progressive policies — and in doing so, claims he can get gas prices below $3 per gallon, cut utility bills in half and dramatically accelerate construction of starter homes for young families.
He is also pledging to eliminate state income taxes on the first $150,000 Californians earn. Hilton says he would pay for that proposal by slashing funding for high-speed rail and homelessness nonprofits and by cutting state government departments’ budgets by 5%.
Those proposals would be all but certain to encounter a wall of resistance from the Democratic-dominated California legislature.
Becerra, meanwhile, is proposing a “Power Hour” — up to two hours of free electricity for low-income households, achieved using excess solar electricity produced in California.
He has also said he would declare a state of emergency to freeze rates for utilities and insurance, effectively pausing further cost hikes.
He has sought to make health care a focus of his campaign but has largely avoided detailed policy proposals — instead broadly vowing to work toward universal coverage while emphasizing primary care.
Becerra steps out of Newsom’s shadow
For years, Newsom has been at the center of California’s political universe — and even though he’s months away from leaving office, a potential 2028 presidential run would keep him, and the problems and policies of the state he leads, in the spotlight.
But if he wins in November, the much lower-key Becerra will be stepping out of Newsom’s shadow and into the spotlight himself — entering one of the nation’s highest-profile political offices as the state is brawling with the Trump administration over climate regulations, voting rules, immigration enforcement and more.
Becerra’s campaign has been risk-averse. He has largely avoided interviews and unscripted moments and been noncommittal on policy matters, speaking in broad strokes about liberal principles rather than making specific pledges and committing to precise targets and timelines that could eventually be held against him.
Still, he has a long record in Democratic politics, including stints in House Democratic leadership in Washington, as California attorney general and as former President Joe Biden’s health and human services secretary. And he is leaning into that record on the campaign trail.
During the primary and the general election, Becerra has stuck to a common refrain, saying some version of: “I am not running on inflated promises. I am running on my record.”
That’s a stark difference from Hilton, who recently told the Orange County Register’s editorial board that Becerra is “behaving very arrogantly in this election.”
Hilton is everywhere — from cutting social media videos in a t-shirt at gas stations to appearing on the liberal “Pod Save America” podcast. It’s the approach of an underdog with less to lose than Becerra, and increasingly, little time to close the polling gap.
“It’s an uphill battle, but we think we’ve closed the gap,” Hilton told the Register.
To win in California, Hilton — who was endorsed by Trump in California’s top-two primary, which helped him consolidate Republican votes as Democrats fractured among several candidates — will have to win over huge numbers of Democratic and independent voters, many of whom don’t like the president (and don’t like Fox News, where Hilton once hosted a weekly show).
He is doing so by arguing that blame for the struggles California faces lie not with the president, but with Democrats who have full control over the state government.
“He only messages Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump all the time,” Hilton told the Register. “My message is, look, you can be anti-Trump and still vote for me.”
One topic on which the candidates have not yet staked out particularly clear positions is the rise of artificial intelligence, and the potential risks it poses.
As California-based tech firms race to roll out new, more advanced AI models, some California policymakers have urged the state to enact new safeguards. Newsom this month ordered state agencies to develop AI safety recommendations and convened experts to work toward a series of policy recommendations. Among the potential policies under consideration is an emergency shutoff — a “kill switch” for AI companies’ frontier models if they go rogue.
Becerra has laid out a broad 11-point plan in which he says he would deploy AI within state government “to cut permitting delays, improve benefits delivery, and find efficiencies that have long eluded us.” Becerra’s plan also calls for a “national framework” of safety regulations.
“Strong standards and a thriving AI sector don’t have to be in conflict, and California is fully capable of setting the gold standard,” his plan says.
Hilton, in a Politico interview in August, said AI companies have stoked fear of their product, and said the government so far is “under regulating some of the harms, for example, in relation to children and in relation to the creative community and their output, but we’re in danger of over regulating some of the potential benefits.”
The candidates could also face questions about how California can keep television and film production in Hollywood, with other states and countries luring tens of thousands of jobs out of the state in recent years with tax incentives and cheaper production costs.
California recently doubled a tax credit program for television and film production to $750 million annually. But Hilton said in a Spectrum News interview that is “totally inadequate.”
Hilton is campaigning on a “Bring Hollywood home” proposal that would include “stronger” tax credits that cover more production costs, much faster approvals for those credits, reserved funding for smaller productions, and staff in the governor’s office focused on eliminating bureaucratic delays.
Becerra, meanwhile, says he will expand California’s tax credit to cover more production costs, and fast-track local and state permitting for film and television production. He also says he will convene a “California Entertainment Summit” to create a public plan for the industry and would require streaming content platforms to share more data with workers about how the products they worked on performed to give “workers what they need to bargain fairly.”