The four Democrats vying to be the next governor of California will meet for a candidate forum Sunday at 10 a.m. live on latimes.com.
If you’re tired of thinking about who will be the next president, why not start thinking about who will be the next governor of California?
Although the 2024 election is six weeks away, Golden State Democrats are preparing their first major field of candidates in the open race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2026.
Newsom is serving his second term and cannot run again. The field of candidates for his position includes five Democrats, four of whom will face off Sunday at a forum in San Francisco sponsored by the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
The panel will include Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, Sen. Toni Atkins and former state Administrator Betty Yee. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is also running for governor, declined an invitation to participate, the union said.
The forum, which begins at 10 a.m. Sunday, is hosted in partnership with the Los Angeles Times and will be streamed live on latimes.com.
The candidates will answer questions from Laurel Rosenhall, California political editor for The Times; Lisa Matthews, national editorial editor at The Associated Press; and Melanie Mason, senior reporter at Politico.
The health care union has about 19,000 members in California, including psychologists, pharmacists, nurses, custodians and social workers. The union also hosted initial candidate forums for the 2024 California Senate primary and the 2018 race.
Sal Rosselli, director of political and legislative campaigns for the union, said in a prepared statement that union members want to know positions on health care, housing, transportation, education and workers’ rights.
“We hope this year’s forum will provide those answers to our members and other California voters,” Rosselli said.
Democrats are expected to dominate the statewide race to replace Newsom in 2026, and other candidates may still enter the race.
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said he is “considering” running for governor, but has not yet announced a bid. And he has no Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine), whose name has been in the mix with potential candidates since she lost her bid for the US Senate in the March primary.
Other potential candidates include Xavier Becerra, President Biden’s health secretary and engineer Rick Caruso, who ran for mayor of Los Angeles in 2022, losing to Karen Bass.
Several Republicans are said to be considering whether to enter the race, including Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton.
Each of the Democratic candidates who have entered the race so far has a chance to make history. California has never elected a woman governor, and a person of color has held the office only once: Gov. Romualdo Pacheco, just a few months in 1875.
Atkins, 62, represents the San Diego area in the state Senate and is serving his final term as a state representative. He is a former president of the Senate and former speaker of the Assembly, the first legislature since 1871 to hold both leadership positions. She was the first woman and first LGBTQ+ Senate leader in the country’s history.
Kounalakis, 58, was first elected as Lieutenant Governor in 2018 and was re-elected in 2022. Kounalakis has highlighted her work celebrating work against rising college tuition, fighting climate change and protecting women’s rights. He lives in San Francisco.
Thurmond, 56, represented the East Bay in the state Assembly before being elected to the California higher education post in 2018 with strong support from the California Teachers Assn. and other trade unions.
Yee, 66, was elected governor of the country in 2014. During his tenure, his agency found tens of millions of dollars in local government abuses and questionable financial practices. He was born to Chinese immigrant parents in San Francisco, where the family lived behind their dry cleaning business.
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