Early look at 4 Dems running for governor

Four Democrats looking to replace termed-out Gov. Jerry Brown next year will share a stage in San Francisco on Tuesday, giving voters an unusually early look at the candidates and the themes of the 2018 campaign.

State Treasurer John Chiang, former state Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and onetime Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will field questions on health care, education, housing and immigration at the lunchtime event sponsored by The Chronicle, called “State’s Big Issues: Do Democrats Have the Ideas and the Resolve to Meet Them?” A similar event is in the works for

the GOP candidates for governor. The event, starting at noon, will be live-streamed on The Chronicle’s Facebook page.

Although there’s nothing unusual about candidate debates or forums, it’s the timing that sets Tuesday’s 75-minute event apart. It will take place more than a year before the Nov. 6, 2018, general election and seven-plus months before the June 5 primary election that will trim the list of candidates to two.

There’s no guarantee that the participants in The Chronicle’s Democratic and GOP forums will still be in the contest come June. And since the filing deadline for the governor’s race isn’t until March 9, there’s plenty of time for additional candidates to open their campaigns.

But there’s an advantage to giving voters an early look at the prospective governors, said Chronicle Editorial Page Editor John Diaz, who will moderate the event.

“It’s only fair that all California voters have a chance before the 30-second TV spots get rolling to assess the candidates’ ideas for taking on the state’s critical challenges,” Diaz said. “We’re going to keep this discussion focused on big issues, rather than trying to induce ‘gotcha’ moments or dueling talking points about which of the Democrats most despises President Trump.”

Tuesday’s forum is early in the campaign for the candidates, too, which is likely to make them wary of making any groundbreaking pronouncements, said Jessica Levinson, a law professor and political commentator at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

“This is the rehearsal dinner for the candidates, not the wedding,” she said. “It’s practice being on stage, working out the kinks and getting to know each other,” a preparation for battles closer to election day.

As the candidates size each other up, they’ll find plenty of differences that can be exploited between now and the June primary.

Newsom, for example, is the former San Francisco mayor who has an early hold on progressive voters and a reputation for being in front of issues like same-sex marriage, gun control and legalized marijuana. Villaraigosa can portray himself as a can-do former mayor of the nation’s second-largest city, with Sacramento experience as Assembly speaker.

Chiang’s years of experience dealing with the myriad details of California’s financial affairs play to a certain audience, while Eastin’s education expertise can pull along the discussions on that issue.

The forum will also give the candidates a chance to try to pin down their opponents on stances that could prove uncomfortable in the months to come. But the beauty of an event this far in advance of the election is that there’s plenty of time for candidates to make up for any missteps.

“The vast majority of people who are going to be voting in next year’s election aren’t paying much attention yet,” Levinson said. At Tuesday’s forum, “something extremely unusual will have to happen to affect the race, and by that I mean something extremely bad.”

That doesn’t mean the debate doesn’t count. It’s a chance for the candidates to make an early impression on the state’s opinion makers — the pundits, political junkies and deep-pocketed contributors who play an outsize role in California elections.

The forum “is especially important for the people who read about and follow politics all the time,” Levinson said. “It’s an audition for donors.”

After being live-streamed Tuesday starting at noon, the event will remain archived on The Chronicle’s Facebook page. Admission to the forum itself costs $75, including luncheon at 11:30 a.m. and the forum starting at noon, at the City Club of San Francisco, 155 Sansome St. Tickets are available at http://bit.ly/ 2zEozJT. Chronicle senior political writer Joe Garofoli contributed to this report.