Just when we thought the campaign for California’s governorship couldn’t get any weirder, it did. USC chose debaters on the basis of their standing in the polls or the amounts of money raised or being spent. “Unfortunately, USC and KABC (the debate co-sponsor) have not been able to reach an agreement on expanding the number of candidates at tomorrow’s debate. They had joined in criticizing the selection methodology but none had pulled out prior to the cancellation announcement, even though those left out had asked them to boycott. Twelve hours after the debate cancellation, Democratic state chairman Rusty Hicks released a party-sponsored poll that confirmed what other surveys had shown.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 25, 2026 12:04 UTC