Three Biden administration alumni are heading general-election campaigns for governor, giving a group of Democratic nominees connected to the former president a potential test of his political standing.
Former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra became their parties’ nominees in New Mexico and California this week, according to the Associated Press. Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served as a senior adviser to Biden, clinched the Democratic nomination in Georgia’s governor race last month.
The three Democrats represent the most direct carryover of Biden administration figures onto the 2026 statewide ballot. Haaland, a former New Mexico congresswoman, had been interior secretary from 2021 through January 2025. Becerra, previously California’s attorney general, led the Health and Human Services Department for four years. Bottoms was a two-term Atlanta mayor before joining the White House as a senior adviser and director of the Office of Public Engagement.
The races are unfolding as a rift among Biden allies, including some who worked in the White House, becomes public. The disagreement, reported by the AP, centers on the Biden family’s reemergence in public view five months before the midterm elections. Hunter Biden has been active on social media, engaging with both supporters and critics. Jill Biden is promoting a new memoir that recounts the tumult of Biden’s 2024 campaign withdrawal. Joe Biden has a book of his own scheduled for release later this year.
Neither the campaigns of Haaland, Becerra, nor Bottoms has indicated whether or how they intend to leverage the former president’s endorsement or support. Political analysts have pointed to President Donald Trump’s continued influence over Republican primaries and general-election dynamics as a counterweight to any Biden effect.
Haaland, in New Mexico, will face a Republican opponent yet to be determined. Becerra advanced under California’s top-two primary system, securing a spot in the November runoff. Bottoms is set to campaign against the Republican nominee in Georgia, a state where Biden narrowly won in 2020 but where his approval sank by the time he left office.
The AP noted that the prominence of Biden administration figures on the gubernatorial ballot represents a near-term referendum on the Biden legacy, although Biden himself is not on any ballot this year. His approval ratings at the end of his term were underwater, and internal Democratic polling has shown voters remain ambivalent about the ex-president’s role in the party’s future.
The contests in California, Georgia, and New Mexico are among the most closely watched governor races of the cycle, with implications for redistricting, state policy, and national party momentum.