Six of the top-polling candidates in California’s race for governor faced off at a debate in San Francisco Wednesday night.

This marked the first debate since former East Bay Congressman Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race for governor and resigned from his seat. Despite Swalwell’s exit as well as the departure of Betty Yee from the race, no clear Democratic frontrunner has emerged.

The debate was hosted by Nexstar/KRON in San Francisco.

The candidates at this debate included four Democrats: former Congresswoman Katie Porter, former California State Attorney General Xavier Beccera, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, and billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer. The two Republicans at this debate included former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.

All candidates are trying to make an impression ahead of the June 2 primary. Ballots will be mailed out to California voters in early May.

Political analyst Larry Gerston examines the first California governor’s race debate since Eric Swalwell dropped out, hosted by Nexstar/KRON in San Francisco.

It’s too early to say that the Rockies have been reborn, but they sure look recharged, revitalized and rejuvenated.

Their 8-3 victory over the Padres on Wednesday night at Coors Field offered the latest proof.

One night after losing a 1-0 game at home for the first time since Aug. 1, 2006, the Rockies rebounded with an impressive performance and snapped their seven-game losing streak to San Diego. Behind a strong start from Tomoyuki Sugano and a huge night at the plate from Hunter Goodman, Colorado improved to 10-15, including a 7-5 record at Coors.

Great shakes? No, but compared to a year ago, it’s baseball nirvana.

“There is a lot of confidence in this group and we have shown that we can do good things,” said Goodman, who hit 3 for 4 with a solo home run and two doubles. “You are not going to keep us down to three hits. You’re not going to do that a lot, and I think we have confidence as a group that we are going to bounce back, especially in this ballpark.”

After the first 25 games of last season’s 119-loss debacle, the Rockies were 4-21 and had already suffered a six-game losing streak and an eight-game losing streak, and they were three games deep into another eight-game skid.  In 2025, the Rockies did not win their 10th game until June 2, to improve to 10-50.

Sugano, who pitched poorly in Colorado’s 7-1 home loss to the Dodgers last Friday, handled the Padres for 5 2/3 innings. The veteran right-hander allowed one run on five hits, struck out four and walked one. He was never in serious trouble, though he departed the game with Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts on base after back-to-back, two-out singles. But reliever Jaden Hill cleaned up the mess by getting Gavin Sheets to ground out to second.

“Sugano has been fantastic,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “He’s locating the heater, and tonight the slider was really good, and the sweeper was good. He was just competing and attacking the zone. He’s a professional, and you can tell that when he goes out there.

“I think every time out there is probably a different pitch working for him. Tonight it was the sweeper and the slider.”

Sugano, who improved to 2-1 with a 3.42 ERA  through his five starts with Colorado, said he’s enjoying his time in Colorado.

“It’s a new team, new coaching staff, new environment, and good teammates,” he said through his interpreter, Yuto Sakurai. “Overall, it’s a very good environment for me so far.”

Last season, the Rockies’ offense often got stuck in a rut and stayed there, spinning its wheels. In their 1-0 loss on Tuesday night, the Rockies managed just three hits. But they pounded out 15 hits on Wednesday, and scored five of their eight runs with two outs.

Goodman launched a 427-foot leadoff home run in the eighth, his sixth homer of the season, tying Mickey Moniak for the team lead.

Moniak continues to rake. He hit two doubles and drove in a run, and has hit safely in his last seven games, slashing .346/.393/.654 during the streak. Rookie first baseman TJ Rumfield drove in Goodman with an RBI single in the fourth and scored Moniak with a double in the sixth. Rumfield and Moniak are tied for the team lead with 13 RBIs.

San Diego veteran right-hander Walker Buehler dominated the Rockies on April 10 at Petco Park, pitching six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits, walking none, and striking out four. Wednesday night, he got the hook after just 2 2/3 innings. The Rockies wrecked Buehler for four runs on eight hits, and he walked three.

The differing results were not solely due to different ballparks. The Rockies attacked Buehler differently this time around.

“It’s another step forward for us,” Schaeffer said. “Just the fact that we forced him to throw so many pitches within the first three innings (82), just tells me we are spitting on the balls.

“It’s so simple. I don’t want to make too much out of it, but it’s baseball. It’s spitting on the balls and offering at pitches in the zone. That’s what we did tonight. It was good and we have to do it again tomorrow.”

Colorado will attempt to win its third series of the season on Thursday afternoon vs. the Padres. Last season, Colorado didn’t win its third series until July 18-20, when it took two of three games from Minnesota at Coors.

Pitching probables

Thursday: Padres RHP Matt Waldron (0-1, 14.73 ERA) at Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (1-1, 6.00), 1:10 p.m.

KALIHI KAI, Oahu (KHON2) — Tuesday afternoon’s line of backed-up traffic came in part after equipment on a truck hit the Gulick overpass, the lowest overpass on the island.

“Every time (Gulick overpass) gets hit, it takes us an hour to four hours to clear it,” said Ed Sniffen, Hawaii Department of Transportation director. “First, our people have to get out in traffic to get there, and second, we have to make sure we check the structure, the integrity of the structure and remove any loose concrete that might be there.”

The trucking industry said it takes precautions to ensure accurate and safe routes for its trucks, but accidents can still happen.

“Sometimes when we do get orders to deliver things, we go by what the person who’s doing the initial order is, we go by what their weight and their height is, and sometimes it’s not correct,” said Tina Yamaki, Hawaii Transportation Association managing director.

Tuesday wasn’t the first time the Gulick overpass has been hit, which is why raising it is a top priority for the DOT. They said the entirety of the overpass should be closed by June, with work expected to last for about a year.

“The Gulick overpass is our lowest clearance in the state right now, it’s at 14.3, the next nearest one is at 14.7, and it never gets hit,” said Sniffen. “Gulick overpass has been hit in the last five years at least four times.”

DOT is currently installing a pedestrian overpass to connect nearby schools and homes in the area, which will be installed by early June, and a complete shutdown of the area is expected by the end of June.

The raising of the overpass is part of the larger project to expand Middle Street to five lanes.

“The project itself is over 100 million dollars, very important for this area,” said Sniffen. “It’s an area that we always have back-ups during peak times, and non-peak times, and we always have a lot of weaving in those areas because of the merge that we have there.”