Why California’s Canceled Debate Shows Democrats’ Incoming Race Problem

This week’s scheduled debate at USC between the plethora of Democrats vying for the California gubernatorial nomination had to be canceled. Not for any of the normal reasons debates get canceled — disputes about rules, moderators, venue, or the metrics used to determine candidate eligibility — all those were in order and agreed upon in advance. No, it had to be canceled for a more basic reason: all the candidates who qualified were noticeably, inconveniently, white.

The hue and cry that followed blamed a USC election professor for coming up with the racist popularity + money = viability metric, which has never previously been applied to politics, as each candidate demanded to be included and the university was afraid of saying no. Think of it as similar to California’s inability to pick a single state nut — it currently has almonds, pistachios, walnuts and pecans all occupying the same vaunted role. “[W]e have four state nuts, nobody wanted to be left behind,” Alex Vassar, the communications manager for the California State Library, told Politico this week. Only four California nuts? Have you seen the debate stage? It has Eric Swalwell, Katie Porter, AND Tom Steyer — there have to be more than four.

The problem that faced California Democrats presages the racial challenge they’re going to face in 2028, when their debate stage will almost certainly be dominated by white candidates. California’s own Gavin Newsom, former Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly all routinely rank in the top ten candidates in early polling for 2028. The only non-white candidates who share the same status are “falling out of a coconut tree” 2024 disaster Kamala Harris and Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Maybe if Jasmine Crockett had more of an opportunity in Texas, she’d sneak into the top ten — but no, the party chose another bland-looking white guy because they think that’s what dumb voters want.

Republicans would be wise to recognize the opportunity here. Having built an elitist left coalition overwhelmingly dependent on identity politics above all else — while offering minority voters nothing of substance when they hold power — Democrats are ripe to correct for Kamala in 2028 and nominate some white guy who they think is “safe” from a pool of candidates who all have to wear SPF 70 and above. When all the left has to offer is checking a racial box, it leaves an opening for the right to build on Donald Trump’s success in attracting voters who are tired of the visual pandering California Democrats think is more important than actual policy. If what they have to offer in 2028 connects with what people actually care about, maybe they can even do it with a white guy from Ohio. And as Kamala Harris showed us, play stupid DEI games, win stupid DEI prizes.