Rebecca

NEWS: In the frantic hours after USC cancelled a TV debate in the race for California Governor, @MattMahanSJ and @TomSteyer scrambled to organize a backup event that included the four candidates USC didn’t invite. But those four candidates would only agree on one condition. They wanted to make a pact with all the leading candidates for future debates: "either we’re all invited onto the stage or none of us shows up.” They couldn’t get that commitment from their fellow candidates. California Superintendent @TonyThurmond, Former L.A. Mayor @AVillaraigosa, former HHS Secretary @XavierBecerra, former Controller @BettyYeeforCA were not invited to appear on the USC stage after the university said they failed to meet their debate criteria. All four are Democrats who happen to be candidates of color. Everyone who qualified for the stage happen to be white. Four Democrats earned invites: Rep. @ericswalwell, former Rep. @katieporterca, businessman Steyer, and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. Two Republicans were invited: Riverside County Sheriff @ChadBianco and former FOX host @SteveHiltonx. Swalwell, Porter, Bianco, and Hilton have consistently polled ahead of the other candidates in the race. Thurmond, Villaraigosa, Becerra, and Yee were especially frustrated that Mahan was extended an invite even though he’s hit similar polling averages in recent public polls. The Speaker of California’s Assembly, Robert Rivas, and the leader of the state Senate, Monique Limon, joined other state lawmakers in writing a letter to USC President demanding that they change their “biased” criteria. USC cancelled the debate after 11pm the night before it was supposed to happen. In the following hours, there was a mad scramble to figure out what to do next. The candidates and their staffs communicated amongst themselves to talk about possible backup plans either on TV or off. The local television station KNBC was in discussions to potentially host some sort of forum. But in the end, all the candidates could not come to an agreement. The next scheduled televised debate is April 22. So far, Nexstar has only invited Swalwell, Hilton, Bianco, Steyer and Porter. The primary election ends in June. In California, the top two candidates advance regardless of party. Recent polls suggest there is a possibility that the Democratic Party splits their vote amongst so many candidates that two Republicans could advance to the November runoff. This would be a startling result in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by about two to one.

BREAKING: USC cancels gubernatorial debate amidst roiling controversy about methodology that excluded every candidate of color latimes.com/california/sto…