The Walt Disney Company’s television station in Los Angeles is partnering with the University of Southern California’s Dornsife Center for the Political Future to produce a debate featuring the state’s gubernatorial candidates.
The debate will air on Tuesday, March 24 across three Disney-owned ABC stations in California and one Univision station in Los Angeles, with national coverage available via the online news streams of the three Disney-owned stations.
The stations that will air the debate are:
- KABC (Channel 7) in Los Angeles
- KFSN (Channel 30) in Fresno
- KGO-TV (Channel 7) in San Francisco
- KMEX (Channel 34, Univision) in Los Angeles
Six candidates are scheduled to participate in the debate: Chad Bianco, the Republican Riverside County Sheriff; Steve Hilton, a Republican Fox News contributor and former adviser to former British Prime Minister David Cameron; Matt Mahan, the Democratic Mayor of San Jose; Katie Porter, a Democrat and former U.S. Representative for California’s 47th Congressional District; Tom Steyer, a Democrat entrepreneur and former presidential candidate; and Eric Swalwell, a Democrat and U.S. Representative for California’s 14th Congressional District.
The English-language broadcast will air for one hour, with an additional hour of coverage from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Pacific Time that will only be available on streaming news channels. All three ABC stations and the Univision station will make both hours of the debate available on their streaming news channels.
KABC anchor Marc Brown will moderate the debate. He will be joined by KGO political reporter Monica Madden, KFSN anchor Warren Armstrong and KMEX anchor Gabriela Teissier, who will participate as panelists and question the candidates.
Candidate invitations were determined using independent criteria developed by USC Professor Christian Grose and the USC Democracy and Fair Elections Lab at the request of the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future.
California’s gubernatorial primary election is scheduled for June 2, with the general election set for November 3.
