My takeaways from the CA gubernatorial candidate housing forum, which I attended in person. Opinions delivered in order of who sat closest to moderator Ezra Klein:

Tom Steyer dressed tech casual, wearing slacks and a jacket in lieu of traditional suit. He could have pulled off the rakish appearance but downgraded the outfit with obnoxiously thick-soled Nike sneakers. Comfortable, maybe, but not gubernatorial

Xavier Becerra looked like a local branch banker. Perfectly professional, no swag. Also ugly tie

Katie Porter wore a tasteful dress (it was very springy weather outside), stripped down jewelry, modest shoes. She looks funky in the only half-decent photo I got but the fit holds up

Matt Mahan’s pants were noticeably too short. He’s not a tall guy so it’s particularly strange he didn’t have pants the right length. His suit jacket was good but he would have benefited from a tie—as the young’un of the race, he looks childish without one

Antonio Villaraigosa wears a suit well: Nice tailoring, good shoes and belt. His tie could have had a bit more contrast to the suit but it worked well overall. Alas, though he was best dressed, he is not a serious candidate.

On actual housing policy, I found things left unsaid as interesting as the candidates’ comments: Nobody talked about giving back local control for cities to block housing. Nobody talked about rolling back flagship housing legislation like SB 79, California’s recently passed upzoning near transit. In fact, all of the candidates aligned on enforcing state laws and further strengthening them. Good!

Article coming soon with my opinion about the candidates’ actual comments. Teaser: Katie Porter had the best lines, Matt Mahan got in some good digs, Tom Steyer presented a bold positive vision but didn’t speak very well, Xavier Becerra seemed like he didn’t know very much on the topic, and Antonio Villaraigosa acted like everyone’s slightly aloof non-biological uncle—someone the other candidates humor even though it’s not quite clear why he is still around