{"id":341653,"date":"2026-06-01T17:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T17:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/341653\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T17:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T17:28:09","slug":"a-few-thoughts-on-xavier-becerras-rise-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/341653\/","title":{"rendered":"A few thoughts on Xavier Becerra’s rise in California"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The last time I spoke to Xavier Becerra in person, it was January 2025, his time as the nation\u2019s health secretary was running out, and his next steps were beginning to take shape.<\/p>\n

We sat in the conference room attached to Becerra\u2019s office in the hulking, notoriously ugly<\/a> Hubert H. Humphrey building \u2014\u00a0a concrete fortress against the blustery, chilly Washington weather outside. Becerra was flanked by his chief of staff and other aides as we did a wide-ranging exit interview<\/a> on his achievements and regrets in four years as America\u2019s top health official.<\/p>\n

I was particularly curious how Becerra thought his team had worked to shore up Americans\u2019 trust in public health, particularly given that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u00a0\u2014 who capitalized<\/a> on widespread pandemic frustrations \u2014 was looming as Becerra\u2019s potential replacement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have to be more transparent,\u201d Becerra said, as the interview wrapped up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, in terms of being transparent \u2014\u00a0are you running for California governor?\u201d I asked him, referencing recent reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Becerra laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely want to be transparent, but by law \u2026 until you get rid of the Hatch Act, I\u2019ll have to defer that question\u201d until leaving office, he replied.<\/p>\n

Share<\/a><\/p>\n

Becerra did end up running for California governor \u2014\u00a0and after being stuck in the middle or even back of the crowded pack, he\u2019s recently surged to become the favorite. Recent polls show him at around 25 percent support, up from 5 percent just two months ago.<\/p>\n

Californians on Tuesday will vote to advance two candidates to a general election. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spoken to Becerra a few times since his campaign began, and I wrote about his prospects in The Washington Post over the weekend<\/a>. If Becerra survives the primary and faces off against a Republican in the general election, he\u2019ll likely win, given the state\u2019s political dynamics.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve only watched the California race from afar. I have no special insight into any candidate beyond Becerra. Polls can be misleading, and this post could be moot in two days if he\u2019s boxed out.<\/p>\n

But after spending four years covering Becerra in Washington, there are a few things that stuck out to me about the potential next governor of the nation\u2019s most populous state.<\/p>\n

1) Becerra\u2019s rise in California has reminded me, a bit, of how he ended up as the nation\u2019s health secretary. <\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t on anyone\u2019s radar in 2020, until he suddenly was. Other candidates \u2014\u00a0governors like Gina Raimondo for the job six years ago, and former congressmen like Eric Swalwell now \u2014\u00a0were far more favored at first.<\/p>\n

Given that Becerra has billed himself as ready to lead on Day 1 in California, it\u2019s worth noting that his arrival at HHS wasn\u2019t the smoothest transition six years ago, either. <\/p>\n

Biden and his people didn\u2019t seem to really know him; the incoming president made a pretty bad flub when he first announced his selection. <\/p>\n

\"X<\/p>\n

Howard Mortman@HowardMortman<\/p>\n

“Xavier Becerra was a surprise pick to be Joe Biden\u2019s health secretary…The California Democrat was so unfamiliar to the incoming president that Biden badly mispronounced his name at introductory news conference.”
\n— @ddiamond
\nwashingtonpost.com\/politics\/2026\/\u2026<\/a>
\nHere’s the 12\/8\/2020 video: <\/p>\n

4:17 PM \u00b7 May 31, 2026 \u00b7 58.7K Views<\/p>\n

6 Replies \u00b7 20 Reposts \u00b7 252 Likes<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Yes, Becerra had been a congressman and California attorney general. But several health officials told me at the time: this guy is a cipher to us, and we think he\u2019s going to face some big challenges taking the reins of this giant department. Even someone like Alex Azar \u2014\u00a0Trump\u2019s last health secretary \u2014\u00a0was a more known commodity when he got tapped by Trump because he had spent years working at HHS in the Bush administration and had then gone into the pharmaceutical industry.<\/p>\n

Some of the awkwardness was likely exacerbated by the pandemic, with many Biden officials working remotely for months. (More on that in a moment.) <\/p>\n

Becerra\u2019s nomination also became a major fight in the Senate, delaying his confirmation until mid-March. By the time Becerra was sworn in, Biden and his deputies were already wrestling with some big issues, such as a surge of migrant children in HHS custody.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve asked Becerra a few times over the years about his start at HHS and whether he faced a learning curve. Becerra says he knew what he wanted to do on Day 1, but has acknowledged the huge scope of his new job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know all the personnel, I didn\u2019t realize how vast this agency\u2019s jurisdiction is and the magnitude, as much as I thought I did,\u201d he told me last year.<\/p>\n

2) The frustrations with him during the Biden administration were real.<\/p>\n

There have been stories in a bunch<\/a> of outlets<\/a> recently about Biden officials being befuddled or even unhappy about Becerra\u2019s rise in California, arguing<\/a> he was a mediocre Cabinet secretary who would be a disappointment as governor.<\/p>\n

Rival candidates like Tom Steyer have reached back to Becerra\u2019s time as HHS secretary to pluck headlines and quotes from years earlier \u2014\u00a0including from a story<\/a> that I did in 2022 alongside Yasmeen Abutaleb and Tyler Pager, a pair of terrific reporters.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to read more on this, I got into some detail on the complaints and Becerra\u2019s rebuttals in our story this weekend:<\/p>\n

Having written about Becerra at the time, I know that those years-old frustrations were real, issued by credible people. <\/p>\n

For instance, White House officials and others felt that Becerra wasn\u2019t doing enough to lead on the pandemic response, despite serving as the nation\u2019s health secretary. I also heard complaints about Becerra, or at least his chief of staff, not always being on top of key issues and managing internal frustrations.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the New York Times ran a series of stories<\/a> by Hannah Dreier in 2023 that detailed HHS\u2019s lapses in tracking and care for migrant children. That sparked a serious policy and political crisis for Becerra, who has maintained that his role in those decisions was limited and that his agency got the problems under control.<\/p>\n

3) Some of the frustrations with Becerra have receded over time.<\/p>\n

I spoke the other day with a Biden official who had often criticized Becerra\u2019s public health leadership to me a few years ago. That person now conceded \u2014 maybe Becerra wasn\u2019t so bad after all. <\/p>\n

Plus, their differences suddenly felt small in a world where President Trump is cutting public-health programs, questioning vaccines and remaking government, the person said.<\/p>\n

A few people also pointed out to me: There may be non-political factors here, too. Remote work, the stakes of the public-health crisis, and the general stress level of the country amplified frustrations and workplace fights at HHS (and frankly, in many organizations) circa 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that many of Becerra\u2019s closest Biden colleagues have gone on the record to tout his leadership. I\u2019ve heard stories about his firm, steady decision-making during the pandemic, or his willingness to be a good soldier even as the Biden White House took aim at him in public. <\/p>\n

Neera Tanden, Ron Klain and other key leaders during the Biden administration have vouched for Becerra in public with me and other reporters. David Kessler, who helped oversee the Biden administration\u2019s vaccine work, said he witnessed Becerra effectively lead in ways that would transfer to the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would drive the group to the right answer,\u201d said Kessler, the former dean of the UCSF School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

And yes, he can be boring, Becerra\u2019s allies acknowledge \u2014 but that\u2019s a feature, not a bug. He\u2019s reliable and will deliver for California, they insist.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll find out Tuesday if he\u2019ll get an opportunity to prove it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last time I spoke to Xavier Becerra in person, it was January 2025, his time as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-341653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341653","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=341653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}