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<\/a><\/p>\nFive California gubernatorial candidates \u2014 from left, Steve Hilton, Matt Mahan, Tom Steyer, Eric Swalwell and Antonio Villaraigosa \u2014 appear on stage at the Jewish California Governor Candidate Forum at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, where antisemitism emerged as a defining issue in the 2026 race. (Asaf Elia-Shalev)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
At a packed gubernatorial forum Thursday night at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, five leading candidates \u2014 Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, entrepreneur Tom Steyer and Republican businessman Steve Hilton \u2014 competed to present themselves as the strongest defenders of Jewish safety.<\/p>\n
Three other candidates who met the forum\u2019s viability criteria \u2014 former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former Rep. Katie Porter \u2014 were invited but did not attend.<\/p>\n
The event, organized by a coalition of major Jewish groups including Jewish Federation Los Angeles, Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area and Jewish California (formerly The Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California), drew more than 1,000 attendees and was livestreamed on YouTube. With Gov. Gavin Newsom term-limited and widely seen as a likely 2028 presidential candidate, the contest to succeed him is one of the most closely watched gubernatorial races in the country.<\/p>\n
California is home to an estimated 1.2 million Jews \u2014 second only to New York among U.S. states \u2014 and its public schools and universities have become central battlegrounds in the national debate over Israel and antisemitism since Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.<\/p>\n
That tension was on vivid display this week. The forum coincided with three major antisemitism lawsuits filed in rapid succession against California educational institutions.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights and StandWithUs sued the state of California, its Department of Education and several school districts, alleging that officials allowed antisemitic harassment of Jewish and Israeli students to \u201cfester\u201d in K-12 schools. The lawsuit seeks court-ordered oversight of campus antisemitism and limits on funding for districts that fail to enforce nondiscrimination policies.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the week, the Trump administration\u2019s Justice Department filed suit against UCLA, accusing the university of permitting a hostile work environment for Jewish and Israeli employees following pro-Palestinian encampments in 2024. And at UC Santa Barbara, former student body president Tessa Veksler sued the university, alleging it failed to protect her from antisemitic harassment after she condemned the Oct. 7 attacks.<\/p>\n
Against that backdrop, antisemitism was the dominant theme at Thursday\u2019s forum. <\/p>\n
Candidates pledged to enforce Assembly Bill 715, a law signed last year aimed at combating antisemitism in K-12 schools, and to ensure its implementation across districts. They denounced the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and affirmed Israel\u2019s right to exist, even as some voiced criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government.<\/p>\n
Swalwell made protecting Jewish Californians central to his pitch. \u201cMy job is to protect all Californians and with antisemitism on the rise and violence on the rise, that especially includes the Jewish community,\u201d he said. Calling Los Angeles home to a Jewish population larger than Jerusalem\u2019s, he added, \u201cThis is a large community that is living under fear and insanity right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Villaraigosa rooted his response in biography. \u201cAs some of you know \u2026 I came out of the civil rights movement,\u201d he said. \u201cI have stood against racism, antisemitism, homophobia, my entire life because of the learning and education I got back in Boyle Heights\u201d Recalling growing up alongside Jewish neighbors he said he had attended \u201ca bris\u201d and \u201cbar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs\u201d and learned early about the Holocaust\u2019s impact on local families.<\/p>\n
Hilton, the lone Republican on stage, framed antisemitism as part of what he described as a broader ideological problem in public institutions. After describing visiting UCLA following campus protests, he said, \u201cThis is unacceptable,\u201d arguing that \u201cwe have an attitude, a mindset, an ideology that infected so many of our institutions in this state. We\u2019ve got to root this out.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mahan struck a managerial tone, emphasizing implementation. \u201cPassing rules, passing new laws, doesn\u2019t matter if we don\u2019t fully implement and enforce them,\u201d he said, promising that on \u201cday one\u201d he would accelerate staffing for the state\u2019s antisemitism prevention coordinator and civil rights office. <\/p>\n
Steyer placed antisemitism within what he described as a larger breakdown in democratic norms. He argued that combating antisemitism requires coalition-building across communities. \u201cLet\u2019s have a positive way of reaching out for a different vision of what this state stands for,\u201d he said, \u201cso we\u2019re not just dealing with the problems. We\u2019re creating the solution in our behavior and our language.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite sharp disagreements over immigration, artificial intelligence and how to relate to President Donald Trump, the candidates were largely aligned in tone and substance when it came to Jewish safety.<\/p>\n
For Jewish leaders, that alignment reflects both political clout and deep anxiety.<\/p>\n
Jews comprise roughly 3% of California\u2019s population but account for a disproportionate share of reported hate crimes in the state. In recent years, high-profile campus protests, lawsuits and heated school board battles over ethnic studies curricula have made antisemitism a defining concern for many Jewish parents and students.<\/p>\n
In his opening remarks at the forum, Tyler Gregory, the CEO of the JCRC Bay Area, said the evening\u2019s event offered a model for how to respond to the challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not overcome the headwinds that we face as a community if we face them divided or face them alone,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cIt is only by forging trust relationships across diverse communities and with our elected leaders, like we\u2019re doing tonight that we will succeed in ensuring our Jewish future in the state of California.\u201d<\/p>\n