What you need to know about the California governor debate

After months of an extraordinarily quiet race, in which Gov. Gavin Newsom has barely even acknowledged his own campaign for re-election, the Democrat came out blazing Sunday in the only gubernatorial debate, relentlessly attacking his Republican challenger as a stooge of oil companies who has obstructed his every effort to solve the biggest problems facing California.

The barrage — at times remarkably personal, as when Newsom warned that his “extreme” anti-abortion opponent would force 10-year-old incest victims to carry a pregancy to term — seemed to stun Brian Dahle, a state senator and farmer...