{"id":312293,"date":"2026-05-12T18:15:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/312293\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T18:15:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:15:29","slug":"california-gubernatorial-candidate-xavier-becerra-addresses-homeless-spending-gas-prices-in-ktla-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/312293\/","title":{"rendered":"California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra addresses homeless spending, gas prices in KTLA interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Xavier Becerra has seen his poll numbers surge<\/a> in the weeks since then-frontrunner Eric Swalwell abruptly ended his bid to become California\u2019s next governor.<\/p>\n

The former California attorney general and former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary recently sat down with KTLA\u2019s Annie Rose Ramos to discuss the key issues weighing on voters\u2019 minds. The interview got off to an awkward start, even before Ramos asked her first question.<\/p>\n

Becerra: By the way, this is a profile piece, this is not a gotcha piece, right?<\/p>\n

Ramos : Well, look, I think these questions are fair. It\u2019s in order to learn about you as a candidate.<\/p>\n

Becerra: So long it\u2019s about the profile.<\/p>\n

Ramos: I don\u2019t know how you define profile, but I\u2019d like to begin the interview.<\/p>\n

Becerra: The way I describe profile is you talk about all the things that I\u2019ve done, things I want to do, and along with some tough questions. But not only tough questions<\/p>\n

Homelessness<\/p>\n

Ramos: I want to begin with homelessness. We could not find a plan on your website when it comes to tackling this issue. So can you explain what your plan is.<\/p>\n

Becerra: Making sure we address the issue of accountability. If we\u2019re sending billions of dollars into cities and counties from the state taxpayer dollars, we have to make sure that people see the results.<\/p>\n

Ramos: So who is delivering results? In your mind, what city in California is doing this right?<\/p>\n

Becerra: I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s any city I would tell you that\u2019s doing it right. There are cities that are trying to do it, but when you still see that there are people living on the streets, you wonder, what can we do better?<\/p>\n

Gas Prices<\/p>\n

Ramos: Let\u2019s move on to gas tax. Mayor Matt Mahan is saying he\u2019d suspend it.<\/p>\n

Becerra: So did Mr. Mahan explain how we would try to fix those roads and bridges if he\u2019s going to suspend the gas tax.<\/p>\n

Ramos: But experts we spoke to this morning say California is on the verge of a gas crisis because the state\u2019s largest refineries are shutting their operations. What is your plan to bring down gas prices? Would you try and get any of these oil refineries to reopen?<\/p>\n

Becerra: Those refineries do something very important; they make it possible for California drivers to have access to the gasoline we need.<\/p>\n

Ramos: What are you doing here? Are you taking away regulations? Are you asking them to come back?<\/p>\n

Becerra: I want to work with them so they can continue to provide the gasoline.<\/p>\n

\"Xavier<\/a><\/p>\n

Xavier Becerra talks with KTLA\u2019s Annie Rose Ramos in May 2026.<\/p>\n

Affordability<\/p>\n

Ramos: Want to move on to affordability. As Governor, you say you will declare a state of emergency that would then allow you to quote, freeze utility rates, which continue to increase because these private investor utility companies are making profit.<\/p>\n

Becerra: You\u2019re paying a lot of money. I bet you couldn\u2019t explain why, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m saying it\u2019s time to freeze the rates right now. Let\u2019s get behind the curtain. Figure out why, and if the companies have a great explanation, we\u2019ll accept it. I think people will accept that.<\/p>\n

Housing & Human Services Secretary Tenure<\/p>\n

Ramos: Want to move on to your time as HHS Secretary. Some critics called you the quote invisible secretary.<\/p>\n

Becerra: I came in during the height of the COVID pandemic, when we left after 700 million covid vaccine shots in the arms of Americans, never once people having to pay a penny so they could be safe and not die<\/p>\n

Ramos: During your time as HHS Secretary, a New York Times investigation found the health department couldn\u2019t find some 85,000 children it had released.<\/p>\n

Becerra: That\u2019s not accurate. What you just read is not accurate. First, that\u2019s what I\u2019ll say, because it was never the case that we could not find kids. You\u2019re essentially, I don\u2019t know if you got those talking points, from Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Ramos: It\u2019s from a New York Times article.<\/p>\n

Becerra: That\u2019s not what the New York Times article said, The New York Times said that individuals, the children and their sponsors, did not respond to calls. They didn\u2019t say we couldn\u2019t find kids<\/p>\n

Ramos: Working overnight in slaughterhouses, replacing roofs, operating machineries and factories children as young as 14 years old.<\/p>\n

Becerra: That part occurred after these children had left the care of Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n

Ramos: Do you let these children go into those individual sponsors in their responsibilities?<\/p>\n

Becerra: Some of these kids, probably because they needed to earn some money, started working in places that were very exploitive.<\/p>\n

The Trump Administration<\/p>\n

Ramos: You\u2019ve said, We need a governor who is going to quote fight Donald Trump. Not agree with him. So how will you work with the president, Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Becerra: The way I did it when I was attorney general.<\/p>\n

Ramos: So you\u2019re going to continue to take them to the courts as governor.<\/p>\n

Becerra: What we\u2019ll also do is work on the other side, because it\u2019s not just about attack, attack, attack. We will defend ourselves as we must, but also work with them.<\/p>\n

Other candidates interviews:<\/p>\n

Chad Bianco<\/a><\/p>\n

Katie Porter<\/a><\/p>\n

Tom Steyer<\/a><\/p>\n

Steve Hilton<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Xavier Becerra has seen his poll numbers surge in the weeks since then-frontrunner Eric Swalwell abruptly ended his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[130819,7,9,8,38117,3707],"class_list":["post-312293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-annie-rose-ramos","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-health-and-human-services","tag-xavier-becerra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}