Xavier Becerra bets on decades of experience in California governor race

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Democrat Xavier Becerra is trying to convert his decades of experience into momentum in California’s governor race, positioning himself as a ready operator even as rivals argue his record carries risk heading into the June 2 Democratic primary. The campaign has been shaped by both outside endorsements and the evolving lineup of contenders, including the exit of Democrat Eric Swalwell, which has left Becerra as a more central target in the final phase.

Becerra, a former California attorney general and President Joe Biden’s health secretary, has said the governor’s office is not “a place with training wheels,” a line his campaign has repeated as it argues that the role requires hands-on governing experience. According to the AP report, Becerra spent more than 35 years in state and federal office, including leadership roles in the U.S. House and serving during Donald Trump’s first term as California’s attorney general.

As voting gets underway ahead of the primary, the AP report describes the sharp contrast Becerra faces: supporters say his résumé gives him credibility to “portray himself to the voters as having been through the fight,” while critics focus on specific vulnerabilities. Matt Barreto, a faculty director of the University of California, Los Angeles, Voting Rights Project, said Becerra has “this breadth of experience that none of the other candidates have,” adding that it gives the candidate a narrative advantage in presenting his record to voters.

Becerra’s campaign also points to a field shift and increased support. The AP report says Becerra has benefited from endorsements from influential labor groups and Latino state leaders, and it says his fundraising, once described as anemic, has “swelled” after Swalwell’s exit. In debates, the AP report says Becerra has been the prime target of attacks from Democratic rivals, which the report characterizes as an indication that his opponents see him as the candidate with momentum.

Still, the AP report says some observers argue Democrats are gravitating to Becerra as a “safe choice.” At the same time, rival candidates have used his federal service as a platform for attack—particularly his time as health and human services secretary—while Becerra has dismissed the criticism as campaign mudslinging. Becerra told reporters, “We’re going to talk about the truth and we’re going to move forward,” the AP report said.

In Congress and as attorney general, the AP report says Becerra points to his record advancing the Affordable Care Act and defending it against Republican attacks. The AP report also says he has supported abortion rights and received an endorsement from Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. But it adds that rivals have pressured him for clearer positions on health policy in ways that reflect how his views have shifted, including his discussion of private health insurance versus a government-run approach.

The AP report also says affordability is central to Becerra’s platform, including a proposal that would declare a state of emergency to address high costs of living and housing shortages. Under his plan, Becerra says he would freeze home insurance rates as Californians struggle to obtain or afford coverage amid the state’s worsening wildfires. The report notes that insurance commissioners and other candidates in the race have argued a governor cannot legally do that, but Becerra has said he would challenge any legal obstacle, telling a debate audience that he was “willing to go to court to tell you that I could call that freeze.”

Criticism of Becerra’s federal health record has been a recurring theme. The AP report says Steyer has hit Becerra over his handling of the influx of unaccompanied migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021, most of whom arrived fleeing violence, poverty or natural disasters in Central America. The report describes how children were processed in tents before being placed into emergency shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services, and it says child welfare advocates criticized conditions at the time.

A New York Times investigation in 2023 found, according to the AP report, that the health department failed to thoroughly vet sponsors, that many children went on to work in exploitative jobs, and that the agency could not reach tens of thousands of minors after they left federal care. The AP report says Steyer argued the federal government “lost” children on Becerra’s watch, and it notes that historically the federal government has not tracked unaccompanied children once they are released to adult care. The AP report says Becerra called the criticism “Trump talking points” and that some California immigrant rights groups and members of the Biden administration have defended his record.

The AP report adds that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Becerra was largely out of the spotlight, with others such as Dr. Anthony Fauci acting as a public face of the administration. It also cites Xochitl Hinojosa, a former spokesperson in Biden’s Department of Justice, who on CNN earlier this month said she did not have faith in Becerra’s leadership abilities, adding, “He was not effective in government.”

Beyond policy disputes, the AP report describes Becerra’s outreach strategy to Latino voters. It says he embraced TikTok early and focused on Spanish-speaking voters, and it details how a Latino creator, Jay Gonzalez, invited Becerra and other candidates of color to speak to followers after they had been excluded from a planned debate due to low polling and fundraising. The report says Gonzalez has since been hired by the campaign and that some creators are encouraging their followers to back Becerra and show up at rallies, including the use of “Tío Xavier” on social media to portray him as a familiar figure.

The report also notes that Latinos are the largest ethnic group in California and that primaries often have lower turnout in that community. Kim Nalder, director of the Project for an Informed Electorate at California State University, Sacramento, told the AP that identity can shape how voters choose when the options are close, saying there is “some evidence that folks — if they have choices that are close like in a primary — will choose based on identity groups, sometimes.”