Candidates for governor faced off on healthcare and economic issues on Friday, November 7, 2025, on the campus of UCR, Riverside, CA.

Riverside, CA — Four California gubernatorial contenders highlighted health equity, environmental justice and Inland Empire investment during the “Health Matters: A Conversation with Our Next Governor” forum at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) on Nov. 7, pledging to address affordability gaps and chronic illness disproportionately impacting Black and Latinécommunities in the region and statewide.

Hosted by UCR and statewide health foundations, the event brought together candidates Xavier Becerra, Tony Thurmond, Antonio Villaraigosa and Betty T. Yee, alongside community leaders and residents.

“We’re here because health matters,” said Richard Tate, president of the California Wellness Foundation, during the forum.

Moderator and Black Voice News publisher Dr. Paulette Brown-Hinds opened the discussion by noting the forum’s purpose was “to lift up voices and experiences that are too often left out of statewide policy discussions.”

In the midst of a turbulent relationship between California’s leadership and the federal government, former U.S. Health and HumanServices Secretary Xavier Becerra argued that California has a responsibility to defend and expand health access.

“We will not take a knee to what Donald Trump has done to health care,” he said. “We are on the verge of giving every Californian achance to see the doctor, without having to go bankrupt.”

Becerra tied long-term outcomes to early support and environmental justice.

“It is always better to prevent than to remediate,” Becerra told Inland Valley News (IVN), adding that underserved communities often live “where all the pollution goes.”

He also stressed the compounding impact of inequity.

“If you live in an underserved community, you’re going to start to show the impact of that quickly, whether it’s your health or your economics,” he said.

On caregiving, he emphasized family support.

“If I’m governor, home care will be compensated,” Becerra said.

California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond called for culturally competent care and clean-job growth.

“We will have health care for every single Californian,” he said.

In a post-forum interview with IVN, he addressed the Inland Empire’s struggle with environmental inequality.

“The Inland Empire has the worst air quality of any region in the country,” he said, calling for jobs “that don’t have the environmental impacts.”

Thurmond also said maternal health disparities demand representation in medicine.

“We need more doctors of color and doctors with cultural competency who can take care of Black families,” Thurmond said.

Black birthing people in California face some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the state, with 49.7 deaths per 100,000 live births from 2019 to 2021, according to the California Department of Public Health.

That rate is more than three times higher than that of white birthing people, who experienced 14 deaths per 100,000 births in the same period.

The California Health Care Foundation notes that these disparities persist even when controlling for income, education and insurance status.

Former State Controller Betty T. Yee emphasized community-rooted solutions and maternal health equity.

Yee said the state’s health system must adapt to regional realities.

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all,” she said, highlighting the importance of “proximate leadership” from those most impacted.

In her interview with IVN, Yee addressed Black maternal health disparities.

“We have to be much more deeply focused on the unique challenges of Black maternal health,” she said.

Yee said building a culturally competent local health workforce is essential.

“We need to build up a health care workforce that’s actually going to be much more competent in dealing with unique community needs,” Yee said. “We need to grow it right there in the region.”

Former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa highlighted air quality and economic balance.

Speaking about regional air quality concerns in the Inland Empire, he claimed that some of the “respiratory issues” plaguing local communities stem largely from “dirty diesel trucks.”

He also discussed the need to balance environmental and economic priorities.

“We’ve got to grow our businesses, particularly our small businesses, which mostly look like you and me,” Villaraigosa said.

Becerra, referencing his tenure as California’s attorney general, said that he noted climate-related disparities in health outcomes for the state’s residents.

“The people first and worst hit by climate change and degraded environment are Black and Brown communities because we live where all the pollution goes,” he said.

Candidates tied housing affordability to health outcomes. “We’re going to build 2 millionhousing units,” Thurmond said.

Community voices contrasted candidate pledges with lived realities.

Michelle Decker, CEO of the Inland Empire Community Foundation (IECF), said the forum opened doors for future conversations but could have benefited from more precision.

“I don’t know that we quite heard the exact specifics,” she said. “We end up not fixing the problem because we’re not willing to look at the data and invest where we need to.”

Pastor Samuel Casey, executive director of COPE, said candidates largely aligned but missed key issues.

“What was most surprising was how greatly they were aligned,” he said, adding that California could “reverse and fix” taxes by making “top” corporations pay “their fair share.”

The general election for California’s next governor is scheduled for Nov. 3, 2026.