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Top Democrats in the California state legislature pressured the University of Southern California (USC) to cancel its planned gubernatorial debate after its framework for who got to participate included five White candidates but disqualified four minorities who were not polling or fundraising as well.
The “data-driven” candidate viability framework produced a lineup of Republicans Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton, as well as Democrats Tom Steyer, Matt Mahan, Katie Porter and Eric Swalwell, all White candidates. The same criteria, developed by a USC professor and defended by the university, ended up axing Xavier Becerra, Antonio Villaraigosa, Betty Yee and Tony Thurman, all Democratic Party minority candidates, due to lower polling and fundraising scores.
After news of who made the candidate pool and who did not, the excluded candidates expressed outrage over what they claimed was a racist candidate viability system created by USC that targeted people based on their race.
One candidate, former Health and Human Services Secretary Becerra, even likened it to when his father used to talk about “the days when he would encounter signs posted outside establishments that read ‘No Dogs, Negroes or Mexicans Allowed.’”
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Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill Nov. 20, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Among those expressing outrage besides the candidates themselves were California state Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón, Speaker of the California State Assembly Robert Rivas and a handful of other Democratic Party members within the state legislature who called the decision-making framework “biased” in a letter they signed that also included concerns about one of the selected candidate’s donor ties to the university. They also referred to candidate’s complaints, such as from Becerra, as “valid.”
“If USC does not do the right thing, we call on California voters to boycott this debate. If the university will not give voters a fair shot at evaluating everyone running for governor, voters should find other ways to learn about the candidates,” the letter, which included letterhead with the logos of about a half dozen Democratic Party caucuses in California, states.
“We are asking you, President Kim, to exercise the leadership this moment calls for: expand the debate stage, and trust California’s voters to make up their own minds.”
In an announcement less than 24 hours ahead of the scheduled debate, USC said KABC, the Los Angeles television station broadcasting the debate, could not come to an agreement to allow more candidates and, as a result, decided to cancel the debate.
The University of Southern California decided to cancel the debate it was going to host after backlash over its formula used to select which candidates would be able to participate. Some suggested it was racist. (Reuters)
“If you run anything in California, the legislature is very important to you and at the top of the letter, the top signatories to this letter, Robert Rivas, who is the Speaker of the Assembly, and Monique Limon, who’s the head of the Senate, the State Senate and the State Assembly. And that came very late on Monday. They sent this letter to USC. Then what happened?
“As we understand it — they’ve been pretty open about it – they get this letter from the legislature, they think, ‘Oh, s—, we better do something. This is now a real threat. This isn’t just the candidates complaining. This is the legislature, which, you know, regulates and affects everything we do,'” Hilton, one of the GOP frontrunners in California’s gubernatorial race, said.
“USC apparently went to ABC, the media partner who’s going to broadcast the debate, and said, ‘We want to expand it and put these people back in.’ And USC said, ‘No, I’m sorry. ABC said no.’ Then, that midnight, on Monday night, they put out that statement saying, ‘OK, then we’ll cancel it.'”
Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate for governor, speaks to the media during a press event for Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates at Huntington Beach Jan. 14, 2026, in Huntington Beach, Calif. (Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Reporting from Cal Matters, a local California publication covering state politics, indicated that, directly and indirectly, Porter, Steyer and Swalwell have suggested Mahan, a tech entrepreneur and former mayor of San Jose, was invited to the now-canceled debate despite poor performance data.
In the lawmakers’ letter requesting the event allow more candidates or be canceled, which was addressed to USC President Beong-Soo Kim, an unnamed candidate with “notable ties to USC’s donor community” was also alluded to as part of the complaints about the debate. When Rivas’ staff was asked for clarification on whom the letter was referring to, it eventually confirmed it was Mahan.
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A party-sponsored poll from Democratic State Chairman Rusty Hicks showed Mahan behind Becerra, but it had all other candidates that USC selected ahead of those who did not make it. Two Republicans, Hilton and Bianco, are still leading the field at 16% and 14%, respectively.
Porter, Swalwell and Steyer are tied at 10%, and every other Democrat is still in the low single digits. Twenty-four percent of voters remain undecided.
Neither Rivas nor Limon provided on-the-record comments to Fox News Digital for this story prior to publication.
