Joined Harris on a side job, Democratic candidate for the loyalist of California Governor Woo Party

California’s most loyal Democrats have replaced Gov. Gavin Newsom at the annual convention of the state Democratic Party in Anaheim this weekend, with several ridicule former vice president and potential rival Kamala Harris.

Democrats running for governor in 2026 rushed to tell their personal stories at caucus meetings, floor speeches and gatherings and talk about their goodwill to address some of California’s most deeply rooted problems, including rising housing affordability and cost of living.

All handshakes and selfies were done in the absence of Harris, who will be the most prominent candidate in the game and has not yet said whether she will run for governor in 2026 or seek the White House again in 2028.

The most obvious candidates at the conference were former state Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, businessman Stephen J. Cloobeck, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and former state controller Betty Yee, former Rep. Betty Yee, former Rep. Katie Porter, Katie Porter, Katie Porter. Tony Thurmond and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa serve as public mentors.

The governor’s campaign remains in a difficult situation, mostly one year away. There were also two prominent Republicans in the game: Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton.

Many Democratic activists, donors and elected officials say they have been waiting to make up their minds until Harris is determined because her participation in the governor’s game may push some candidates to the ballot or to other statewide competitions.

“People are waiting for what she is going to do,” said Matt Savage, a representative from San Jose. “She needs to decide as soon as possible.”

Yee told the crowd: “We’re staying in no matter who plays the game.”

Businessman and gubernatorial candidate Stephen Cloobeck spoke to his canvas man on Friday after he spoke at the Democratic Labor Caucus meeting in Anaheim.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Political newcomer Cloobeck is surrounded by the name of the canvas man who calls Harris because Harris does not attend the Democrats’ gatherings after losing to President Trump in November’s presidential election.

“If she decides to play this game, it won’t show up to the most important person in the party, and that’s the people here today,” Crubeck said. “If she doesn’t have an IQ to show up, she’s deaf again.”

In the three-minute video, Harris told Democrats that Republicans are working to cut taxes to fight the wealthy and to remove climate change efforts, “things can get worse and then they get better.”

“But that’s not a reason to reach out,” Harris said. “It’s the reason why the sleeves are rolled up.”

Polls show that if Harris is going to run for governor, she will have a major advantage: a November survey of the UC Berkeley Institute for Government Research, co-sponsored by the Times, found that about 72% of Democrats are likely or likely to consider voting for her.

Crubeck said his campaign had spent “probably hundreds of thousands” on canvases, wearing royal blue shirts wearing his name and handing out sleek invitations on Comedy Night with “Grill General” comedian Jeff Ross. One Canvasser said he was paid $25 per hour and found the job on Craigslist.

At the party’s LGBTQ caucus meeting, Atkins, the only famous gay candidate in the competition, told the cheering crowd that she dreamed of getting California to work for others in the way it worked for her. Atkins, 62, grew up in southwestern Virginia by a coal miner and a clothing worker and moved to San Diego in his 20s.

“California gave me all the chances,” Atkins said. “I hope this promise is true to everyone.”

Governor’s candidate and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa addressed the Latino Caucus at the state Democratic Convention on Saturday.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

Villaraigosa said in the Latino Caucus that Democrats need to focus on the affordability crisis facing working-class Californians, many of them Latinos, by addressing high gas prices, housing prices, utility costs and other daily life challenges.

Villaraigosa, 72, has been out of the office of elected for more than a decade. He ran for governor for the last time, running for governor in 2018, and ranked third in the match between Newsom and Republican businessman John Cox. He noted that he also lost the 2001 mayoral game before winning in 2005.

“Sometimes it takes two,” Villaragoza told the caucus. “We are ready, we are not invisible. We will stand up for the working people and our communities.”

Thurmond told the crowd at the party meeting on Friday afternoon that education is “the heart of our democracy.” He said.

“We must continue to be a misleading policy against Donald Trump,” he said. “We will make sure that every student in the state has a high-quality education. While we do so, we will not allow ice to enter any of our school campuses.”

Four candidates made brief appearances at the party’s powerful organized labor conference, trying to prove that they will be the best choice for more than 2.4 million union members in the state.

In a 45-second speech, Krubeck told union members that he used union labor in the hotel development and promised that if he was elected, he would support workers to get “full pay, full wages” if they went on strike.

Yee said she will “protect and promote your valuable pension fund.” She made a pass during the Napa Valley (Covid-19) pandemic at Newsom’s famous dinner at the French laundry in Napa Valley. Newsom begged Californians to stay at home and avoid multifamily gatherings, attending lobbyists’ birthday parties at fine restaurants.

“I’m not about the head,” Yee said. “I’m the least flashy person.

Kounalakis said at the party’s labor conference that her father immigrated to the United States at the age of 14 and worked as a waiter at the Governor’s Mansion before setting up a successful development company in Sacramento.

She said her vision for the future of California is a substantial investment in water infrastructure, clean energy infrastructure, road infrastructure and housing: “We will build the future of the state and we will do it through union labor.”

Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and Governor candidate Xavier Becerra spoke to the state Democratic Labor Caucus on Friday.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

At the party’s senior core meeting, Bebera told Democrats that he was raised by working-class immigrant parents who bought their own home in Sacramento and then questioned whether a couple without a college degree could do the same thing today.

He touted his experience with Republican efforts to cut Social Security Disability Insurance as a member of Congress and lowered drug costs for President Biden’s health chief.

“We will fight for you,” Bebera said.

In the Women’s Caucus, Porter left Congress in January after running for the Senate, she said she was concerned that Trump’s budget cuts and policies would have a disproportionate impact on mothers, children and the LGBTQ+ community.

“S-Not happened on my watch,” Porter said.

Former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, a California gubernatorial candidate, awaits the Women’s Caucus at the California Democratic Convention on Friday.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Ann McKeown, 66, is president of Acton-Agua Dulce Democracy Club in the High Desert in Los Angeles County, said she wants Harris to be president “so bad”, but Porter is her best choice for the governor.

“Camara is better than Katie Porter, we don’t need to be good now,” McKean said.

Contra Costa County representative Jane Baulch-Enloe and her daughter spread the contents of their bag of Democratic stolen goods on the table, slicing flyers and campaign souvenirs, including Becerra for Converra Button, a clear plastic coin wallet from Yee and a Yee and Bluestone bookmark that read “ban, no books, no books.”

Baulch-Enloe, who teaches high school English and history, said she initially thought she would support Thurmond because he understood education.

“But there are a lot of people in the game right now, I’m not sure,” Baulch-enloe said.