Overview: The Inland Empire Health Matters Forum, hosted at the University of California, Riverside, saw four of the six invited gubernatorial candidates discuss a range of pressing issues, including aging Californians, homelessness, mental health, environmental justice, and California’s relationship with the federal government. The candidates, including former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, former Speaker of the California State Assembly and 41st Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, and former California State Controller Betty Yee.
Breanna Reeves and Alyssah Hall
Hundreds of community stakeholders, nonprofit leaders and health advocates gathered to hear from California’s next governor during a nonpartisan health forum hosted at the University of California, Riverside on Nov. 7.
With less than a year from the June 2026 Midterm Elections, gubernatorial candidates are making their way across the Golden State to address health issues and affordability concerns of local communities. The Inland Empire Health Matters Forum was the brainchild of 11 California foundations focused on health equity and co-moderated by Black Voice News/IE Voice Publisher Dr. Paulette Brown-Hinds and NBC4 News Anchor Colleen Williams.
Six candidates were invited to join the forum, but just four of the candidates participated in the conversation: former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, former Speaker of the California State Assembly and 41st Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, and former California State Controller Betty Yee.
“I know at the SCAN Foundation, we are really concerned and focused on older adults. So, as you think about the Inland Empire, you have racially diverse, low income populations here, and what we’re worried about is the lack and affordability of long-term care, housing and just overarching equity when we think about access to quality health services,” shared Sarita A. Mohanty, president and CEO of The SCAN Foundation, one of the forum’s organizing foundations.
The forum touched on a variety of topics, including aging Californians, homelessness and housing affordability, mental health, environmental justice and California’s relationship with the federal government.
California’s affordability crisis
In a one-on-one interview with Black Voice News, Villaraigosa identified affordability as the biggest issue facing California. The rising cost of food, rent, gas prices and health care costs are some key concerns for Californians. According to a survey by the California Health Care Foundation, more than half of all Californians (53%) skipped or delayed care in 2023 because it cost too much. For families with low incomes, that number increased to 74%.
“Next year, we’re looking at anywhere from $12 to $20 billion worth of deficits, and so the next governor is going to have to really balance a whole lot. But my whole life, this has been an issue for me,” Villaraigosa said. “I believe strongly that the government has always functioned for the rich and powerful. It’s got to function for the least among us.”
During the forum, when candidates were asked about health care and revenues, Villaraigosa said the state has to “grow the pie,” but didn’t quite elaborate on how when Williams pressed.
Thurmond shared ambitious ideas on how to address affordability in the state as he introduced ideas to provide a tax break to Californians, build two million affordable housing units by 2030 and create “good paying jobs” where employers are expected to provide health care to their employees in any sector. And for employers who require their employees to use Medi-Cal public assistance, they will pay additional fines.
“As a progressive candidate, I’m going to be very clear that my focus is taking care of working people in this state and that those who are wealthy have to do their fair share,” Thurmond said during the forum. “We can’t ask Californians to pay any more, and no one should go without access to health care or a good paying job.”
Becerra responded by explaining the state must reexamine tax codes and ensure the state is receiving appropriate revenue. He asserted that too much money is being misspent in the state, and that needs to be addressed as costs differ for many across the state.
“We are the fourth largest economy in the world, but too many families are saying, ‘I don’t feel it,’” Becerra said.
As the former state controller, Yee was responsible for managing the state’s finances and ensuring funds are spent appropriately. Her responses to moderator questions reflected her experience.
“How do we build economic resilience against further federal actions, possibly, that could be hurting Californians and so this has to be about future orientation, about what this economy would look like, and ways that we can attract friendly business from all parts of the world,” Yee explained. Yee commented that priorities for addressing tax and costs have to include growing the economy and making sure people have basic needs so they can be able to participate and contribute to the economy.
“If we build economically sustainable communities that include housing and we’re incentivizing business development in our communities, we can take care of the public,” Yee continued.
In another building across the UC Riverside campus, students at the School of Medicine (SOM) gathered for a watch party as the forum was livestreamed by NBC4 and Telemundo 52. The campus watch party was hosted by Dr. Michelle Burroughs, who works in the SOM.
Shaleta Smith, an executive specialist who works under Burroughs, believes that heart health, all cancers and asthma are health issues in the IE that the gubernatorial candidates should be concerned with.
“Unfortunately, in the IE, the Black community, the brown community, we suffer the most. Me and my boss, we do work really hard to try to fix that issue. We educate Black folks and brown folks on how to advocate for themselves, how to take their health seriously… It’s something that we really hope that we can change in the future,” Smith said.
California’s aging population
Among the topics, aging was a concern that each candidate had a personal stake in. All four candidates shared an experience about being a caregiver to a loved one. Villariagosa cared for his mother for the last three-and-a-half months of her life before she passed away.
According to California’s Master Plan for Aging, nearly five million Californians identify as family caregivers.
Yee is a caregiver for her 102-year-old mother who resides in San Francisco. As governor, she intends to professionalize the careforce industry and package Earned Income Tax Credits, federal refundable tax credits for low-to-moderate-income workers and their families, in a way that can be utilized by aging adults and the labor industry.
“This is an area that, frankly, we saw coming. We should have been preparing for it already. How do we look at being sure that when we talk about care, that it is also about care in community settings as well as in institutional settings?” Yee questioned during a one-on-one interview with Black Voice News. “I think, given that many of our older adult loved ones want to age in place, I think we do need to look at it from a community perspective.”
Similarly, Thurmond is caring for his cousin; the same cousin who took him in as a child after the loss of his mother. Thurmond addressed the need to strengthen programs like In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), increase wages for caregivers and create a long-term care system in the state.
Becerra is a caregiver for his 92-year-old mother and shares the responsibility of care with his sisters, who each take over their mother’s care each quarter.
“Unfortunately, most families that do that never get compensated,” Becerra explained. “If I’m governor, home care will be compensated. If you are a family member, that should not discriminate against you from being able to get some compensation for giving them the ability to actually go out and work and earn more money. It will cost us more to have your loved one, leave your home and go into a facility and get care.”
“If we are smart, we will treat health care not like a commodity, but like an indispensable part of a family’s life,” Becerra continued.
Another watch party attendee was Eryn Young, who is a community health educator in the IE. Young shared that access to quality health care makes a big difference and should be a priority for the candidates.
“If you are in a space of experiencing disparity or a disability, or you don’t have the finances that you like to have. You have to juggle taking off time from work, to go to a place that’s further out, and that’s like a double cost for the same issue,” Young explained. “So, if you’re able to have care that actually fits what you need in a local area, it does more, not just for your family, but also for the community because that’s less traffic translating to more time with family.””
California and the federal government
As Gov. Gavin Newsom continues to go toe-to-toe with President Donald Trump, the state has felt the impacts of the president’s ire. Since January, California has been a target as the Trump administration deployed the National Guard without approval from the governor; instructed ICE agents to flood communities of color; and recently, been involved with a lawsuit against the administration over delayed CalFresh (SNAP) food benefits.
Moderators asked how candidates will work with the federal governor with the state’s current strained relationship with the Trump administration.
“Let’s recognize that the federal government is our largest partner. We must work with them. We will not take a knee,” Becerra said. He emphasized that California taxpayers send the most money to the federal treasury, and that California will get that money back, “either by working with them in collaboration and partnerships or by taking them on.”
In response to the moderator’s question, Thurmond shared his shock at the president’s attempt to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. Thurmond recently sponsored two bills that were signed torestrict ICE from entering school grounds. He also supported legislation that aims to restrict mICE agents from entering hospitals and emergency rooms.
Yee acknowledged that there are issues in the state that require collaboration with the federal government such as border pollution along the Tijuana river. She emphasized the need to push back when it comes to using California tax dollars on the construction of detention centers and enhancing enforcement and other things that don’t align with California values.
Like Becerra,Villaraigosa explained that he intends to work with the federal government, but criticized ICE agents’ actions, as he noted they are “dressed head-to-toe like the Ku Klux Klan, unidentified, coming in, terrorizing our community, separating kids from their families.”
“I want to work with them, but we will fight them wherever we have to, and particularly around these ICE raids, around due process, around freedom to speak about what they’re doing in the UCs, trying to change academic freedom and everything else. I want to work with them, but he’s made it clear he wants to hit us in the month,” Villaraigosa said.
A few attendees of the SOM watch party shared the concern that the candidates seemingly glazed over the topic of immigration. They expressed that the candidate’s responses on the issue of immigration seemed generalized and “skirted” by.
Notably, topics like diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility were not discussed, though dozens of local nonprofit organizations are facing the threat of losing federal funding as a result of federal anti-DEIA restrictions.
Pastor Samuel Casey, community leader and founding executive director of Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement (C.O.P.E.), shared that while he was impressed by the candidates, he believes they “skirted” around the moderator’s question regarding taxes and revenue.
“What I was hoping that I would have heard them talk about was California reparations for Black residents of the state of California,” Casey said. “Then going back to that tax question, I wish they would have addressed the reality that California can fix its financial crisis overnight, if they would repeal Proposition 13 (limits increases in residential and commercial property taxes).”
“In the next governor, I’m looking for someone who will listen to the ground, those who are closest to the problem,” Casey continued. “This [forum], for me, signaled for the Inland Empire that we’re not only on the map, but that we actually matter…You got to now stop by the Inland Empire and take us seriously and hear from us.”