California governor candidates debate housing, schools, fires

(The Center Square) – Candidates for California governor fielded many questions about affordability, housing, education, homelessness and wildfires Tuesday evening during a debate at Pomona College in Claremont. Eight people were on stage: California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, billionaire hedge fund founder Tom Steyer, former Fox News Channel host and political adviser Steve Hilton, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter of Orange County and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Bianco and Hilton were the only Republicans on stage. The rest were Democrats. The candidates, who are on the June 2 primary ballot, were not all asked the same questions during the 90-minute debate. And not all questions involved the same amount of time for answers. Meanwhile, the moderators, who included local