With just three months to go until California’s gubernatorial primary, several of the major candidates vying for the job addressed a packed audience of Jewish voters in Los Angeles on Thursday, pledging to protect Jews and nurture the state’s relationship with Israel.
The candidates were candid in expressing serious policy disagreements during another debate in early February. But when it came to Jewish issues, the five who spoke at L.A.’s Skirball Cultural Center seemed basically in sync.
Over the 2½ years since the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, Jews throughout the state have confronted growing antisemitism in city council meetings and K-12 schools, on college campuses and in other public and online spaces. Against this backdrop, Jewish community leaders looked forward to hearing how the candidates in the June 2 ballot plan to build upon Gov. Gavin Newsom’s initiatives once his term ends on Jan. 4, 2027.
“I don’t want our Jewish community just to be safe or tolerated,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said. “I want you to be celebrated for the deep civic, cultural, economic contributions you make to the state every day.”
Thursday night’s event was organized by Jewish California (the new name for the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California), Jewish Federation Los Angeles, Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area and the Skirball Cultural Center.
While there is no clear front runner so far, polls from the past few months show a surprising trend: Steve Hilton, a Republican running in a reliably blue state, has consistently remained among the top candidates. He was tied for second place with former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra in December, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, and rose to first place in an Emerson College poll earlier this month. Most voters remain undecided, however.
Participation at the forum was limited to candidates who placed in the top five in recent nonpartisan polls, or who have raised at least $1 million since July. Hilton and Mahan appeared on stage alongside Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-East Bay), former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and self-funded billionaire Tom Steyer.
Three other candidates — Becerra, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, who represented parts of L.A. and Orange County — were also eligible to participate in the forum but did not attend.
“Rep. Porter spoke to Jewish California last year about her vision to address the many issues facing California as Governor, including the increase in antisemitism,” campaign spokesperson Peter Opitz wrote Friday in an email to J. “She looks forward to continuing the conversation.”
Hilton garnered the most vocal support from the audience in his responses to questions from forum moderator and Spectrum News anchor Alex Cohen. Hilton drew cheers when he called out the California Teachers Association for opposing AB 715. The new law is aimed at combating and preventing antisemitism at K-12 schools in the state. Newsom is lauded for his support of the measure, which he signed into law in October.
“It’s not good enough to pass [AB 715],” said Hilton, a British-born conservative commentator and former Fox News host. “We’ve got to make sure that every appointee on the State Board of Education … signs up to [the law’s] values and principles, and doesn’t work to undermine it.”
Mahan broadly agreed with Hilton. He entered the race in late January, about a month after appearing at a Jewish community event that condemned a “human swastika” display by students at San Jose’s Branham High School. He promised Thursday night to work in tandem with Jewish communities to appoint the most qualified antisemitism prevention coordinator for the state as part of AB 715’s implementation.
“We have to work extremely hard to hold all of our school districts accountable for properly training their teachers and ensuring they are not demonizing our community, not scapegoating our children,” Mahan said. “I will be very strong on this. We will enforce the law.”
Steyer, who announced his candidacy in late November, emphasized the need to strengthen the Jewish community’s coalitions with other groups.
“Will we enforce [AB 715]?” he asked. “Yes. But I want to have a different California, where we stand with Jews arm in arm.”
Candidates also emphasized their ties to Israel and vowed not to succumb to pressure campaigns by the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel.
If elected, Hilton said, he would resist a ballot initiative filed in late September that effectively would reverse California’s law barring public entities from entering into contracts with companies that participate in political boycotts, including against Israel.
Villaraigosa shared that he faced criticism after returning from a trip to Israel.
“I have not relented or bent in any way, and I never will,” he said. “I don’t agree with [Benjamin Netanyahu’s] government, but I respect the Israeli people … I intend to work with Israel around water, science and tech. These are all things that we can benefit from one another.”
Swalwell, who announced his candidacy in late November, agreed that California should partner with Israel on water and energy resources. He also shared his plan to increase the state’s revenue and make health care affordable for the most vulnerable populations.
“There are still thousands of Holocaust survivors in California, many of them living in poverty, and that is a shame,” said Swalwell, whose congressional district crosses southern swaths of the East Bay, including Livermore and Fremont. “We must fund health care.”
A few Bay Area Jewish leaders attended the L.A. forum. Rabbi Shimon Margolin from San Francisco’s Russian-Speaking Jewish Community was among them. He shared his impressions of the candidates with J. the morning after the event.
“They absolutely all checked the boxes. There was a lot of validation of our concerns, they showed their dismay at what has taken place” in the Jewish community, Margolin said. But he is still waiting to hear “specifics” on how the candidates plan to achieve their campaign goals.
They “definitely know where the Jewish community is standing on these issues,” he added. “That would be, for me, the biggest accomplishment.”