There was no major gaffe, no knockout punch. In what was likely the last televised debate between candidates for California governor, seven of them largely hewed to the same themes they sounded throughout the spring.
That didn’t make it much easier for California voters trying to decide whom they want to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who cannot run again because of term limits.
The vast majority of voters are still mulling over their choices. With 19 days remaining until the June 2 primary, only 3 percent of ballots have been returned in California, according to Political Data Intelligence, a firm that tracks election data.
Over the course of 90 minutes at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco on Thursday, the candidates addressed several questions prompted by the concerns of California residents, on topics ranging from the high cost of living to climate change. At times they interrupted each other so much that the live audience tried to shush the interjecting candidates.
The two Republicans on the debate stage, Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, often supported one another and blamed Democratic policies for California’s problems.
The Democrats were less united and took opportunities to attack Xavier Becerra, the former state attorney general and Biden administration cabinet member who is a Democratic front-runner. The other four Democrats were Katie Porter, a former congresswoman; Tom Steyer, a progressive former hedge fund manager; Matt Mahan, the mayor of San Jose, Calif.; and Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles.
Here were five key moments from the debate.
A corruption case involving Mr. Becerra’s former aides took center stage.
The debate fell on the same day that Mr. Becerra’s former campaign strategist pleaded guilty in federal court to three felonies in a corruption case that also involved his former chief of staff.
The morning court appearance provided fresh fodder for Mr. Becerra’s opponents, who repeatedly tried to paint him as guilty by association.
“You shouldn’t be in this race,” Mr. Hilton said. “You should be preparing your criminal defense.”
Prosecutors have described Mr. Becerra as a victim of a scheme that his aides concocted to skim $225,000 from one of his campaign accounts. And Mr. Becerra repeatedly defended himself by pointing to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office that said, “No candidate running for governor has been implicated in any charging document.”
Ms. Porter said the statement did not exonerate Mr. Becerra. She said that it only referred to the three people in the case who had already been charged with crimes.
“That does not preclude an indictment from being issued against you,” she said to Mr. Becerra.
When a moderator asked Mr. Becerra if he could guarantee he would not be distracted by the case as he campaigned for the state’s top office, he replied, “I can, because, as I said from day one, I was not involved in the wrongdoing. I had nothing to do with that.”
After the debate, Mr. Steyer echoed Ms. Porter’s remarks, telling reporters that he worried about the potential for political interference from President Trump if Mr. Becerra made it to the general election.
“Do I think that they would pursue this case, if at all possible, in order to knock out a Democrat? That sounds a lot like the Department of Justice that I know in this administration,” he said. “I’m absolutely concerned about it.”
Porter gave a fellow Democrat the whiteboard treatment.
As a congresswoman, Ms. Porter gained national attention for her deft use of a whiteboard to illustrate economic lessons as she grilled executives who came before her committee.
The prop has become a recurring theme in her campaign for governor. While giving a speech at the California Democratic Party convention earlier this year, she held up a whiteboard with an expletive against President Trump. One of her commercials features a crowd of people holding whiteboards that display her campaign promises.
Ms. Porter attempted to use the prop again on the debate stage, almost treating Mr. Becerra as if he were a witness testifying on Capitol Hill. She pressed him on how he would manage the state budget by holding up a notebook on which she had written, “What is your revenue plan? Please Mr. Becerra.”
Mr. Becerra responded with a noticeable lack of detail. He said he would “change the tax code” and “make sure that everyone pays their fair share” but he did not specify what changes he would make or how much money they would bring in.
The only detail he gave was a mention of a new idea that Mr. Newsom proposed on Thursday to limit corporate tax credits.
“We have the resources to go out, create the revenue we need, and we’ll make sure that everybody’s paying their fair share,” Mr. Becerra said.
Ms. Porter seemed to roll her eyes and sarcastically echoed Mr. Becerra’s words. “We’ll make sure,” she said.
And she gave a Republican credit for part of her plan.
Ms. Porter answered a question about how to address affordability with a four-point plan that covered housing, child care, college tuition and income taxes. She said, as she has on many occasions, that she would eliminate income taxes for anyone who makes less than $100,000.
The surprise came when she said where she got the idea: from Mr. Hilton, a Republican opponent who has been endorsed by President Trump. Mr. Hilton also has campaigned with a promise to do away with income taxes for people who make less than six figures and mentioned the same proposal minutes before Ms. Porter.
“I’ll take good ideas,” Porter said as she looked across the stage at Mr. Hilton. “Even if they come from that guy.”
When in doubt, say Trump.
For Mr. Becerra, his primary opponent appeared to be someone who wasn’t invited to the debate.
He brought up President Trump with more frequency than any other candidate, often mentioning that he had repeatedly sued the Trump administration as California attorney general. In one 60-second answer, Mr. Becerra said “Trump” six times.
While defending his record as health and human services secretary, Mr. Becerra said to Mr. Hilton that he had worked to expand health care so that 300 million Americans were covered. “That was far beyond what Donald Trump, your daddy, gave us,” he added.
When he answered a question about whom he would vote for if he didn’t make the November ballot, Mr. Becerra, like almost all of the other Democrats, said he would support any of the Democrats on stage. But then he added he couldn’t vote for any candidate endorsed by Mr. Trump, a reference to Mr. Hilton.
“Because we would have a Donald Trump look-alike in the governor’s office, and we can’t afford to do that.”
A revealing rapid-fire question on abortion.
A question about abortion revealed a partisan divide over the issue, one that hadn’t surfaced much in previous debates.
The moderators brought up a recent case in which the state of Louisiana indicted a California physician for mailing abortion pills across state lines. Louisiana officials have asked Mr. Newsom to extradite the doctor for prosecution, but he has refused.
The moderators asked the candidates if they would extradite the physician if elected governor. The five Democrats emphatically said no, and the two Republicans were forceful in saying yes.
“This is a about one state trying to undermine another state’s laws,” Mr. Hilton said. “We don’t want Louisiana dictating our laws. We shouldn’t be dictating Louisiana’s.”
Lisa Bonos contributed reporting from San Francisco.
Laurel Rosenhall is a Sacramento-based reporter covering California politics and government for The Times.
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