After USC canceled the Tuesday gubernatorial debate, Republican candidate Steve Hilton called for the Department of Education to suspend federal funding to the university until an investigation takes place.
Hilton sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon on Tuesday morning, requesting the department pause federal payments to USC and called for President Beong-Soo Kim’s resignation.
USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future and ABC/KABC Los Angeles were scheduled to co-host the debate at Bovard Auditorium on Tuesday evening. Republican candidates Hilton and Chad Bianco were invited to take the stage alongside Democratic candidates Tom Steyer, Eric Swalwell, Katie Porter and Matt Mahan.
USC announced its cancellation of the debate on Monday night, less than 24 hours before it was scheduled to begin.
In a statement on Tuesday, Hilton attributed the cancellation of the debate to his current lead in the polls.
“What a total joke California Democrats have become,” Hilton said. “Hours before a debate, they kill it after their LPDs (Low Polling Democrats) whined about being excluded. These people can’t organize anything.”
Ahead of the debate, Democratic candidate and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra sent a letter to President Beong-Soo Kim addressing the exclusion of candidates of color including himself, Betty Yee, Antonio Villaraigosa and Tony Thurmond.
On March 20, the USC Center for the Political Future and ABC7/KABC-TV Los Angeles and Univision released a joint statement that denied allegations the debate eligibility criteria was biased.
The statement explained that Christian Grose, a professor of political science and public policy at USC, developed a “data-driven methodology to rank candidates’ viability for the debate,” that combined polling and fundraising performance, and the debate represents a “snapshot of where the California race currently stands.”
“All of the candidates in the race have served this state with honor and distinction,” the statement said. “We understand the frustration of those who aren’t included and have sought to address their questions directly.”
On Monday, March 23, political scientists sent Kim a letter in support of the integrity of Grose’s methodology. The letter, penned by 50 political scientists from across California, called on the university to “publicly and unequivocally affirm Professor Grose’s integrity as a valued scholar” and “urge USC to stand firm in rejecting all efforts to apply political pressure on its faculty and its overall academic mission.”
The university’s statement said it “vigorously defends the independence, objectivity, and integrity of USC Professor Christian Grose, whose data-driven candidate viability formula is based on extensive research and enjoys broad academic support.”
“At the same time, we recognize that concerns about the selection criteria for tomorrow’s gubernatorial debate have created a significant distraction from the issues that matter to voters,” the statement continued.
USC and KABC did not reach an agreement on increasing the number of candidates in attendance at the debate and “will look for other opportunities to educate voters on the candidates and issues.”
Mail-in ballots for the June 2, 2026, primary election are set to be sent out by county officials by May 4, 2026. In the coming weeks, information guides will be arriving in mailboxes between April 23 and May 12. Drop-off locations for ballots will open on May 5.
Voter engagement in this early phase will be critical, as the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, will move on to the general election.
Emily S. Chavez contributed to this story.