Democrats excluded from USC gubernatorial debate urge rivals to boycott in solidarity

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Four Democrats running for governor called on their fellow candidates to boycott an upcoming debate at USC, reiterating concerns that the criteria used to determine who was invited to participate resulted in every prominent candidate of color being excluded from the forum.“We ask each and every candidate who is in this race to recognize that if we can’t have a fair process for a debate, then we should all not participate,” said Xavier Becerra, the former U.S.Health and Human Services secretary.

“We call on them to withdraw from this biased forum.”Becerra’s call was echoed by former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state Supt.of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former state Controller Betty Yee during a Friday afternoon news conference.The candidate’s request comes a week after some of them raised concerns about the criteria for Tuesday’s debate, arguing that it was engineered to allow the inclusion of San José Mayor Matt Mahan, who entered the race in late January and quickly raised millions of dollars from Silicon Valley executives.“The rules initially were polling and money.

Matt Mahan is [polling] lower than some of us, period,” Villaraigosa said, adding that the debate organizers “then added time in the race,” which resulted in Mahan’s invitation.California Former U.S.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat running for governor, blasted USC and ABC for hosting a debate that excludes all candidates of color.Mahan’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Friday, but when Becerra raised such concerns last week, Mahan said the former Biden administration official ought to be included in the debate.The matter is further complicated by Mahan supporters who have notable ties to the university.Mike Murphy, a co-director of the USC center hosting the debate, has been voluntarily advising an independent exp...