A California gubernatorial debate was called off because of criticism that the stage would only feature white candidates who qualified for the event. The debate was set to be co-sponsored by the University of Southern California and the Los Angeles TV station KABC. BREAKING: University of Southern California (@USC) has CANCELED their planned CA gubernatorial debate because… The only candidates attending were White people. No, this isn't a joke. — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 24, 2026 NBC News explained further: The sprawling field includes eight prominent Democrats and two major Republicans, as well as several other lesser-known candidates. USC had faced condemnation for using polling and fundraising criteria for participation in the debate that had resulted in the exclusion of all the nonwhite gubernatorial candidates. In a statement from late Monday night, USC said that the “concerns about the selection criteria” for the debate had “created a significant distraction from the issues that matter to voters.” “Unfortunately, USC and KABC have not been able to reach an agreement on expanding the number of candidates at tomorrow’s debate. As a result, USC has made the difficult decision to cancel tomorrow’s debate and will look for other opportunities to educate voters on the candidates and issues,” the university said in that statement. The school added that it “vigorously defends the independence, objectivity, and integrity” of the formula it used to determine whether candidates qualified for the debate, saying it was “based on extensive research and enjoys broad academic support.” According to ABC7 Los Angeles, six of the candidates in the wide-open race qualified for the event. “THEY CANCELLED THE DEBATE. So we’re holding our own. Tonight on X Spaces — all candidates welcome. California deserves answers, not silence,” said Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate. THEY CANCELLED THE DEBATE. So we’re holding our own. Tonight on X Spaces — all candidates welcome. California deserves answers, not silence. Link below pic.twitter.com/IcdlGWhhTS — Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) March 24, 2026 More from ABC7 Los Angeles: The debate was scheduled to air on ABC7 Los Angeles, in addition to the ABC stations in San Francisco and Fresno, with six of the candidates in the race. Those candidates were selected according to objective criteria widely used to set debate participation nationwide based on polling and fundraising. Many scholars have come forward to defend the methodology, saying its criteria are “among the most widely accepted indicators of candidate viability in both academic research and applied practice.”