Tipsheet

Six Takeaways From the First California Recall Debate

Carson Swick
Carson Swick  |  August 10, 2021 3:30 PM

Four Republicans hoping to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in next month’s recall election took to the debate stage last Wednesday in Yorba Linda, speaking about a variety of issues plaguing the Golden State.

The debate, which was hosted by the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and moderated by Nixon Foundation President Hugh Hewitt, included candidates: businessman and 2018 GOP gubernatorial nominee John Cox, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, state legislator Kevin Kiley, and former congressman Doug Ose.

Other moderators included former United States National Security Advisor Robert C. O’Brien, as well as Christine Devine and Elex Michaelson of FOX 11 Los Angeles.

The four candidates largely stuck to conservative talking points and gave predictable responses. Still, there is plenty to unpack from this debate:


1. The elephants not in the room: Newsom, Larry Elder, and Caitlyn Jenner.

Gov. Newsom, conservative radio host Larry Elder, and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner were all notably absent from the debate. According to the Nixon Foundation, Newsom did not respond to an invitation to face off against any of his challengers. Jenner was busy filming a program in Australia, a decision potentially reflective of the former Olympian’s tanking status in the polls.

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Elder, on the other hand, opted to campaign at a Bakersfield country club. He tweeted that engaging in a “circular firing squad” with other Republican candidates would only help Newsom survive the recall. As Townhall reported on July 27, a recent Los Angeles Times poll seems to back up Elder’s thinking — 18 percent of the voters in favor of recalling Newsom named Elder as their preferred candidate.


2. Little separates these candidates ideologically, yet they all named different top priorities.

All four candidates slammed Newsom for enabling the drug crisis and Chinese influence in higher education, as well as abusing his powers during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. But in response to Michaelson’s question about their top priority in working with a supermajority-Democratic legislature, each candidate focused on a different issue.

Cox named the housing crisis as California’s most severe problem, and said that the cost of housing “drives the middle class into poverty and out of this state.” He called the process of residents and businesses leaving a “wage-price spiral upwards,” and vowed to call a special legislative session to address housing upon election.

Faulconer vaguely echoed Cox’s statement, promising to make California more affordable. He explained the need to cut taxes and cited his success in working with San Diego Democrats to pass tax cuts at the local level.

Kiley railed against California’s “broken” state government, which he blamed on a “political class that serves the special interests rather than the people.” He vowed to end corruption, and reminded the audience that he was California’s only state-level politician to not accept any special interest money.

Ose expanded on Kiley’s point, saying that immediately firing the progressive bureaucrats restricting both water storage construction and the incarceration of violent criminals. He also prioritized replacing those at the California Department of Education pushing “foolish” curriculum like critical race theory.


3. John Cox is a businessman. He wants everyone to know this.

Cox largely debated as an advocate of deregulation and tax cuts, and he mentioned several times that his buildings are much cheaper to construct in Indiana than in Los Angeles. He argued that the country’s most popular governors are businessmen while slamming California’s terrible business climate. And in true businessman fashion, he said that the ideal minimum wage is $0, as wages should ideally be set between the employer and employee.

Cox gave a solid performance, although he is generally polling in a distant third and would likely lose again to Newsom in a direct election, but the recall format ensures that Cox has a fighting chance — even if his wife and children are embarrassed by his nose hair.


4. Kevin Faulconer took some heat.

Faulconer was first challenged by Doug Ose, who attacked his record of handling homelessness in San Diego. Faulconer dismissed the criticism by arguing that, under his leadership, San Diego was the only city to reduce homelessness by “double digits.”

Faucloner also spoke about how Black Lives Matter activists compelled him to fight harder against those trying to defund the police in his city.

Faulconer said that he opposes mask mandates but initially refused to commit to taking executive action to ban them when pressed by Hugh Hewitt. GOP governors around the country, like Florida’s Ron DeSantis, have already attempted to strike down local mask mandates.


5. Kevin Kiley is a fast talker.

The representative from Rocklin took full advantage of every second allotted to him during the debate, speaking noticeably faster than everyone else. Kiley’s “elevator pitch” style allowed him to offer many specific policy solutions while dunking on Newsom’s failures at every turn.

Of Newsom, Kiley criticized the governor’s slow vaccine rollout, and his decision to jam California Secretary of State Alex Padilla into Kamala Harris’ U.S. Senate seat, as opposed to letting the voters elect their new senator.

At age 36, Kiley would become California’s youngest-ever governor if elected. However, Kiley’s low name recognition could hurt his chances of trying to catch well-known candidates like Elder and Faulconer.


6. Doug Ose has the one-liners.

In contrast to Kiley, the former congressman from Sacramento adopted a soft-spoken demeanor and delivered two of the evening’s better sound bytes. When asked about Faulconer, Ose doubled down on the comments he made last week criticizing Faulconer’s handling homelessness in San Diego.

Ose had called Faulconer a “plastic man” for changing the way his city counted homeless people to reduce the total number of homeless.

Later, Ose lit into the bureaucratic incompetence of California’s Employment Development Department (EDD), arguing that there is no good reason for the time it takes for the department to process requests for unemployment aid. Ose said that the EDD needs to “answer the damn phone!”

Like Kiley, Ose is a lesser-known candidate receiving consistently below 5 percent support in the polls.

The Nixon Library will host a second debate on Sunday, Aug. 22, just over three weeks before the recall election on Sept. 14. All eligible voters in California will be mailed a ballot beginning on Monday, Aug. 16.