A month before the June primary, CA gubernatorial candidates participate in first ever APA-focused debate

Five of the top six candidates discuss immigration, public education, affordable housing and climate change policy

With a little more than a month before California’s June 5 primary for the 2018 midterm elections, the state’s gubernatorial candidates are gearing up for what will likely be a heated race to replace longtime CA Governor Jerry Brown.

By mid-April, candidates have already begun airing television ads, putting up patriotic campaign signs in neighborhoods, sending out glossy mailers to voters and participating in debates and town halls across the remarkably diverse state that nearly 40 million people call home.

The Sexson Auditorium at Pasadena City College was packed with undecided voters and candidate supporters on Friday, April 27 for the Asian and Pacific American (APA) Gubernatorial Debate, the first-ever debate focussing on APA issues. 

Standing on the stage were five of leading candidates in the 2018 race for California governor: CA Assemblymember Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) and businessman John H. Cox representing the Republican Party, and California Treasurer John Chiang, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former CA Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin representing the Democratic Party.

Front-runner CA Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom (running on a Democratic ticket), who announced earlier in April he would not participate in any debates until May, was invited to Friday’s debate but did not attend, a move that upset many debate attendees.

A spokesperson for Newsom indicated that the former San Francisco mayor has attended eight debates so far and plans to attend a televised debate on May 8.

While it’s common for election front-runners to sit out of debates early in the race (there is a long history of poll leaders skipping debates before the primaries to campaign directly), other candidates have reframed the move as an indicator of negligence and cowardice. 

“We’ve been on the campaign trail for a very long time. We’ve had our debates and our differences. But the fact that you show up says something, it says that you care,” Villaraigosa, Newsom’s closest Democratic rival, said on Friday as a slight to the absent Newsom.

The APA debate, in comparison to past debates, was relatively low energy with very little sparring save for the occasional quarrel over conservative integrity by Cox and Allen. 

Moreover, many of the candidates shared their thoughts on immigration, affirmative action and language accessibility, and nothing about their statements was particularly surprising, especially since many of the candidates largely repeated lines they’ve used in previous debates.

While the candidates expressed their views on several issues, there was very little detail shared on how they plan to turn their views into action.

Both Republican candidates promised to enforce the Trump administration’s immigration laws, both vowing to dismantle SB 54, the sanctuary state bill that prohibits state officials from assisting federal agents with the detention of undocumented immigrants but does not protect criminals.

On his denouncement of the bill, Cox claimed, “No one wants to live next to an MS-13 gang member,” which sparked boos from many of the attendees. 

All the Democratic nominees, predictably, denounced the Trump administration’s handling of immigration while simultaneously acknowledging the “resiliency” of the immigrant community as well as emphasizing the need for immigration reform.

“Immigrants are among the most ambitious, risk-taking and entrepreneurial individuals, and we are darn lucky to have them,” Eastin said. Villaraigosa mirrored her sentiments, adding that, if elected, he would work on fixing the “broken immigration system” and making sure that undocumented youth receive quality education and opportunity.

The Republicans also advocated teaching all Californians to be proficient in English (Cox said, “We do people no favors by encouraging people to not learn English.”) while Democrats favored embracing all languages and promoting the expansion of translation services and bilingualism.

“We want to encourage Californians and Americans to speak multiple languages,” Chiang said. “We need to get to know each other better to connect.”

Chiang, who is the son of Taiwanese immigrants, appeared to be among the strongest, if not the strongest advocate for the Asian American community. 

“We have a profound opportunity to those in Sacramento that the Asian Americans count,” said Chiang, who was greeted by the loudest applause upon introduction, acknowledging the fact that the Asian American electorate is growing exponentially. 

Housed by the Center for Asian Americans United for Self-Empowerment (CAUSE), this debate was the first-ever in California to focus on the APA electorate. As previously reported by the Asian Journal, the APA electorate is the fastest-growing demographic in the country, according to U.S. Census data. 

In California, APAs constitute 15 percent of the entire state’s voters, according to CAUSE. This means that the APA community has the power to potentially shift the outcome of the 2018 midterms, highlighting the importance of political leaders to address APA concerns.

Although Newsom’s notable absence in recent debates has given fodder to other candidates to attack his character, the lieutenant governor remains the frontrunner.

According to a Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll released Thursday, April 26, Newsom leads with 30 percent support from likely voters, a four percent jump from previous polls.

Villaraigosa finds himself faltering in the polls, garnering only 9 percent of support from likely voters; both Cox and Allen have increased support, each leaping ahead of Villaraigosa with 18 percent and 16 percent support, respectively. 

After the debate, the Asian Journal caught up with some Filipino American voters to gather their thoughts on the gubernatorial race.

“I think John Chiang raised some good points, and out of the candidates I saw tonight, I think I trust him the most to really address our issues as Asians and Asian Americans,” Filipina-American Georgina Ray, 22, shared with the Asian Journal following the debate. “I mean, I don’t know about the candidates that weren’t here, but [Chiang’s] stances on diversity, inclusivity and making the immigrant community, especially the Asian immigrant community, feel more welcome and giving them more opportunities to succeed is something I’d like to see in our next governor.”

Ray, who identifies as a Democrat, said that she felt that the other candidates didn’t do “a good enough job” at fulfilling the point of the debate, which was to speak to the Asian American communities directly, preferring to “keep it safe” and conflate the APA community with other minority communities.

“It was a lot of, like, ‘Well, the Asian American community wants the same things as other communities,” and while that’s true, the way, for example, a Filipino or Chinese immigrant has to deal with public education or immigration is different from, say, the way a British immigrant has to deal with [those issues]. Those are broad issues and the immigrant community isn’t a monolith by the slightest. I feel like Chiang was the only one to really see and address that,” Ray, a student at Pasadena Community College, added.

When asked who she would vote for if the election was that night, she shrugged and said, “I wish Newsom would’ve been there tonight,” adding she’s the “kind of person” who wants to know about all the candidates before making an electoral decision.

Jester Yam, a Filipino and Chinese American, immigrated to Los Angeles from Baguio, Philippines in the 1980s and became a citizen in 1997. Yam, an accountant living in Arcadia, noted that he was a registered Republican and had voted for the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney, but he arrived at a partisan impasse once President Donald Trump was elected.

“I don’t know if this changed my opinions on any of the candidates, you know, nothing was really that surprising in that each party stayed true to the party agendas,” Yam said. “If I had to make a choice tonight, I think I’d either support Mrs. Eastin or Mr. Chiang.”

Yam said he did support Allen’s call to expand language instruction to encourage all non-English speakers to learn English as well as Cox’s plan to lower taxes. But Yam found himself recoiling at the way both conservatives discussed immigration, especially Allen’s support for Trump’s border wall, which Yam called “very stupid” and “a waste of money.”

Regarding the ongoing debate over immigration policy, Yam thinks that “the language being used about immigrants by some politicians which is very hateful and anti-immigrant, and you know, that really does hurt because it’s not true for most immigrants.”

“I’m not impressed with the way that they [the Republican candidates] talked about immigration tonight and for a while now, I don’t think I want a leader or leaders, Democrat or Republican, who [says] these nasty things about immigrants or make assumptions about immigrants,” Yam said.

The primary election will take place on Tuesday, June 5. The top two vote earners, regardless of party, will face each other in a runoff election on November 6.