Candidates Xavier Becerra, Katie Porter, Tom Steyer and Eric Swalwell make case for California’s climate leadership amid economic pressures
Download photos HERE
Credit: Matei Horvath/Getty Images for California Environmental Voters
Forum Recording HERE
Full transcript and clips available upon request
LOS ANGELES, CA – California Environmental Voters (EnviroVoters), UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE), The Climate Center Action Fund, and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Action Fund hosted California’s first climate-focused gubernatorial forum.
As Californians face an affordability crisis driven by the climate crisis, voters are hungry for leadership that will protect communities and make our economy sustainable for the long haul. This virtual forum assessed candidates on clean energy, energy affordability, corporate accountability, insurance affordability, public lands, water, resilience, and other voter priorities, giving them the stage on the impacts the climate crisis has on Californians’ homes, wallets, and health.
The event was hosted in Pasadena, just over a year after the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires devastated this and neighboring communities across Southern California, including Altadena, La Cañada Flintridge, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and the San Fernando Valley. The Los Angeles wildfires forced almost 180,000 Southern Californians to evacuate their homes and has since been hailed as one of the costliest climate disasters in our nation’s history.
Moderated by Sammy Roth (Writer, Climate-Colored Goggles) and Louise Bedsworth (Executive Director, CLEE), the recorded forum is available HERE. Highlights include:
“We can’t leave the hardest-working, lowest-earning families behind. They have to be part of this process and believe that whatever we do will help them,” said Xavier Becerra, Civil Rights Attorney. “That’s why I said, in the first 100 days, one of the first moves I’ll make is to freeze utility rates and freeze insurance premiums on homes, because I think the California public is now due a clear, transparent response on why those costs have gone so high before we move forward.”
“The question about affordability and the environment really shows that what people want is both of those things, and that’s good news, because clean energy is less expensive,” said Katie Porter, Consumer Protection Attorney. “So, if we’re going to be able to achieve our climate goals and our affordability goals we have to move away from the energy sources of yesterday. We shouldn’t be doing more drilling.”
“What we’re seeing is corporate power, corporate arrogance, and a sense that they don’t have to obey the law. In the state of California, that absolutely can’t be true,” said Tom Steyer, Business Leader and Climate Advocate. “And it’s got to be the governor’s job to prioritize the needs of people who have been damaged and to make sure that the people that are responsible — the companies — live up to their legal responsibilities and their moral responsibilities.”
“The next governor is going to have to do everything left of the next fire to make sure that we’re resilient and we’re ready. So, yes, we can always be the fourth-largest economy in the world, but what does that mean if the biggest beneficiaries of that are creating more problems than they’re solving,” said Eric Swalwell, US Representative. “There has to be an expectation that if you’re going to benefit from being in the fourth-largest economy in the world, the greatest workforce in the world, the most educated talent in the world, that you have to contribute to solving the problem.”
The forum also referenced new statewide polling from California Environmental Voters Education Fund (EnviroVoters Ed Fund), in partnership with David Binder Research. The findings show voters are clear about what they want from their next governor: leadership that delivers affordable energy and insurance, safe and reliable water, and real accountability for corporate polluters.
“This forum proved that our candidates for governor understand that climate justice and environmental protection are big priorities for voters — that they are accurately diagnosing the affordability problem as rooted in climate impacts and corporate greed,” said Mary Creasman, Chief Executive Officer, EnviroVoters. “We are encouraged by today’s robust and visionary conversation. EnviroVoters looks forward to continuing our process of selecting a leader who will be a real fighter — not just for California, but the entire country.”
The top six polling candidates were invited based on publicly available polling and the poll conducted by EnviroVoters Ed Fund. Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton were invited, but their campaign teams did not respond to our invitation. Tony Thurmond, State Superintendent of Public Instruction; Antonio Villaraigosa, Public Policy Advisor; and Betty Yee, Nonprofit Leader have been invited to submit videos answering questions to allow voters to hear their positions on key topics
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CONTACT:
Erika Guzman Cornejo
(310) 755-1615
erika@envirovoters.org
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ABOUT CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL VOTERS
California Environmental Voters (EnviroVoters) believes the climate crisis is here and this moment requires transformative change. California has the policy solutions to stop climate change but lacks the political will to do it at the rate and scale that’s necessary. EnviroVoters exists to build the political power to solve the climate crisis, advance justice, and create a roadmap for global action. We organize voters, elect and train candidates, and hold lawmakers accountable for bold policy change. We won’t stop until we have resilient, healthy, thriving communities, and a democracy and economy that is just and sustainable for all. Join us at www.envirovoters.org and on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. See more press releases.
