The ABC7/USC gubernatorial debate was set for Tuesday evening on USC’s campus. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
USC PRESIDENT BEONG-SOO KIM said he made the eleventh-hour decision to cancel the school’s gubernatorial debate after ABC7, which was set to co-host the event, refused to expand the number of candidates who would appear on stage.
A chorus of state Democrats had blasted the university since last week, decrying the fact that no candidates of color had qualified for the event.
“It was going to be difficult for the debate to achieve its originally intended purpose,” Kim said in an interview with L.A. Material Tuesday. “I was concerned that the debate was going to become a debate about the debate, instead of a debate about the issues.”
Expanding the event, Kim said, “wasn’t in any way an ideal outcome.” But he said he thought an expansion could’ve mooted concerns about candidate selection that would’ve cast a pall on the debate. ABC7, Kim said, was unwilling to do that.
A spokesperson for the station declined to answer questions about that, pointing instead to a joint statement it published Friday with USC’s Center for the Political Future, which said: “It simply would not be fair or feasible to invite every candidate in such a crowded field.”
Kim said it would be “difficult for the debate to achieve its originally intended purpose.” (Tomo Chien/L.A. Material)
The last-minute decision by USC — which came fewer than 24 hours before the debate’s planned start — capped a tumultuous saga that erupted last week when Xavier Becerra, a gubernatorial candidate and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, claimed that USC “rigged the formula” to exclude candidates of color.
Becerra and other critics took particular issue with the inclusion of San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who entered the race relatively late and is polling below some of the excluded candidates, who also included former State Controller Betty Yee, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. Mahan has raised millions from his Silicon Valley base since he entered in January.
“We are a minority-majority state, and the idea that the four candidates of color are not going to be on the stage to bring those perspectives … is really not doing right by the voters,” Yee told the Los Angeles Times.
A chorus of California Democrats had called for a candidate boycott and urged voters not to tune in. (The exhortation from Democratic legislative leaders to invite the excluded candidates came as the state party grappled with a worrying possibility: that such a fractured Democratic field could lead to a historic upset. In that scenario, two Republicans could advance to the November general election, despite Democrats having a steep voter registration advantage in the state.)
The critics have since lauded USC’s decision to cancel the debate. But Steve Hilton, a conservative political commentator and Republican candidate who was included in the original line-up, called on federal officials to suspend funding to USC and Kim to resign.
“In advance of the decision, there were legislators and candidates who were critical of USC,” Kim said. “I want to make it very clear that my decision was not in any way influenced by those demands or threats.”
The formula that determined “candidate viability” used to select participants was developed by USC professor Christian Grose, who factored in polling averages, fundraising numbers, and the date candidates entered the race.
Grose had faced a flurry of attacks from critics, which spurred the emphatic joint statement by USC and ABC7 defending his work on Friday. His ranking put Tom Steyer first, followed by Hilton, Rep. Eric Swalwell and former Rep. Katie Porter.
Grose’s formula ranked Becerra and other Democratic candidates of color well below the six invited to the event. (Courtesy of Christian Grose)
Kim said he "vigorously" defended the formula and that he only proposed expanding the number of candidates allowed on stage — a number which ABC7 had the final say over. Kim said USC and ABC7 did not discuss a specific number of candidates that would be included in the proposed expansion.
Several dozen political scholars endorsed Grose’s formula, writing that critics were making “baseless” attacks that were “of a piece with other attempts to strong-arm or malign scholars that have become all too common in America.”
On Tuesday, Tom Steyer, the billionaire Democratic candidate, offered to host an alternate debate that would’ve invited all candidates, but logistical issues proved daunting, and it did not come to fruition.
“One unintended consequence of all this is that I think that the public was able to hear more from candidates than they might have otherwise,” Kim said.
