I Have Some Questions for the Democrats Who Want to Run California

The Ezra Klein Show

New York Times Opinion

News, Government, Society & Culture

4.3 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2026

⏱️ 92 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On Friday, I moderated a forum with the top Democratic candidates for California governor, focusing on the state’s housing crisis. California’s current governor, Gavin Newsom, came into office in 2019 promising to build millions of homes. And in the years since, dozens of pro-housing laws have passed, designed to cut red tape and spur more construction. And yet the number of homes being built in California is basically the same as when he took office, and the state’s housing crisis remains, arguably, the worst in the country. So I wanted to know what the next governor would do about it. We taped this at the Calvin Simmons Theater in Oakland, Calif. The candidates on the stage were Xavier Becerra, a former attorney general of California and health and human services secretary under President Joe Biden; Matt Mahan, the mayor of San Jose and a tech entrepreneur; Katie Porter, a former U.S. representative; Tom Steyer, a former San Francisco hedge fund manager, a climate activist and a philanthropist; and Antonio Villaraigosa, a former mayor of Los Angeles and speaker of the California State Assembly. This panel was recorded live. The Times did not fact-check candidates’ remarks. Mentioned: “Cost to Build Multifamily Housing in California More Than Twice as High as in Texas” by RAND “What Worries Me Most About ‘Abundance’” with Derek Thompson and Marc Dunkelman, The Ezra Klein Show Book Recommendations: The Hour of the Predator by Giuliano da Empoli Rain of Gold by Victor Villaseñor Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke Why Nothing Works by Marc J. Dunkelman Ours Was the Shining Future by David Leonhardt Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs. This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu, Marie Cascione, Kristin Lin and Marina King. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld. Our recording engineer is Johnny Simon. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Michelle Harris, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Shows is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Argus HD.

Transcript

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0:00.0	On Friday, I moderated a forum with the top five Democratic candidates for governor in California.
0:07.0	We invited the Republicans too, but they didn't show up on housing costs and housing affordability
0:12.3	and what can actually be done about it.
0:16.4	I think if you're in California particularly, but even if you're not, how the Democrats running to lead the largest state in the nation, with arguably the worst housing crisis in the nation, seeing and hearing how they're thinking about actually trying to solve it is really, really instructive for where our politics might be going.
0:37.2	Enjoy.
0:52.3	Thank you. for where our politics might be going. Enjoy. It is my total honor and privilege to you,
0:57.0	Mr. Ezra Klein and the candidates who are participating in this event. All right, hello, Oakland.
1:07.0	All right, welcome to the beautiful Calvin Simmons Theater.
1:12.1	We are thrilled.
1:13.5	You're here.
1:14.9	The candidates on the stage tonight are, according to the polls, the five top Democratic candidates in this race.
1:21.8	Tom Steyer, Javier Bicera, Katie Porter, Matt Mahan, and Antonio Villargoza. Give him a hand. I should say we invited the top
1:37.4	Republicans to. Unfortunately, they cannot make it tonight. There have been, there have been a lot of
1:43.4	debates lately, a lot of debates this week.
1:45.9	This is not one of them.
1:47.7	What we're doing here tonight is a forum and on one topic, a topic that deserves 90 minutes of our attention, which is California's housing crisis.
1:56.8	We're going to have three sections.
1:58.9	Each section, I'm going to spend about six minutes talking with each candidate in turn.
2:03.1	I'll ask follow-ups if we have time.
2:05.2	I want to give people the opportunity to hear all of you thinking through these issues
2:09.7	aloud.
2:10.8	At the end of that six minutes, a bell will sound like this.
	...

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