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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – MAY 26: California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra takes a selfie at an event while campaigning on May 26, 2026 in San Francisco, California. Becerra finished in first place in the state’s jungle primary for the governor’s office on June 2, ahead of Republican Steve Hilton. (Photo by Benjamin Fanjoy\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
In a striking break from the green orthodoxy that has dominated California politics for years, former Attorney General Xavier Becerra openly declared in May<\/a> that the state still needs Chevron and the reliable energy it produces. \u201cThey\u2019re not the bad guy,\u201d Becerra said. \u201cYou need Chevron. I need Chevron. My people of the state of California need Chevron.\u201d That pragmatic nod to energy reality helped propel Becerra to victory in the state\u2019s jungle gubernatorial primary, while billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer finished a distant third behind Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton. Steyer\u2019s also-ran finish came despite having poured more than $215 million of his own money into the race while pushing the Rockefeller-backed \u201cMake Polluters Pay<\/a>\u201d and \u201cKeep It in the Ground\u201d agenda.<\/p>\n This outcome should send a clear message to the entire climate-lawfare litigation complex: Even in deep-blue California, voters appear to be growing weary of policies that prioritize virtue-signaling over keeping the lights on and cars affordably fueled. <\/p>\n Steyer campaigned aggressively against \u201cBig Oil,\u201d utilities, and anyone associated with conventional energy production. But Californians, saddled with the nation\u2019s highest gasoline prices<\/a>, electricity rates, and insurance premiums thanks in large part to Sacramento\u2019s green agenda<\/a>, rejected the pitch. It\u2019s an indicator of a rising public realization that demonizing the companies that refine their fuel and supply their energy isn\u2019t a path to prosperity, but a shortcut to economic pain.<\/p>\n Energy Reality Prevails Over Comparative Extremism<\/p>\n Becerra\u2019s positioning as a comparative moderate on energy issues initially attracted skepticism among political pundits but may well have proved decisive. While he supports aggressive climate goals, his willingness to recognize Chevron\u2019s vital role in the state\u2019s economy and daily life set him apart from Steyer\u2019s rigid extremism. <\/p>\n That stance didn\u2019t go unnoticed in the corporate world. In June, Chevron made headlines<\/a> by donating $500,000 to a Super PAC supporting Becerra. That move triggered howls of outrage from Steyer and his allies, complete with billboards and attack ads accusing the former state attorney general of being \u201ccaptured\u201d by industry. Yet voters weren\u2019t swayed by Steyer\u2019s money, seeing the donation as a rational response by a company deeply invested in California to a candidate who at least acknowledges basic energy reality.<\/p>\n Democratic candidate Tom Steyer campaigns ahead of the California Gubernatorial Primary election alongside US actor Jane Fonda outside of Pan Pacific Park in Los Angeles, California on May 7, 2026. Steyer finished in a disappointing 3rd place in the primary despite spending a reported $215 million in the race. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n The contrast between the two leading Democrats was stark. Steyer ran as the ultimate embodiment of the long-running strategy promoted by the Rockefeller family and fellow billionaire interests to weaponize courts, legislatures, and public opinion against American oil and gas producers. The goal has long been clear: Impose massive retroactive liabilities through climate superfund schemes, tie producers up in endless litigation, and force an accelerated shutdown of reliable hydrocarbon production. <\/p>\n A Shift In California\u2019s Energy Playing Field<\/p>\n California has served as a friendly playing field for this more extreme agenda, with its legislature willing – \u201ceager\u201d may be an even more accurate word – to impose aggressive renewable mandates, cap-and-trade programs, electric vehicle mandates and subsidies, and refinery constraints. The results speak for themselves: A permanent affordability crisis in a state with the highest gasoline prices in the nation, chronic grid reliability concerns, resulting in businesses and residents fleeing the state<\/a> in droves. <\/p>\n Now, many of the state\u2019s voters appear to have finally connected the dots between their longtime voting habits and their struggles to pay the bills. \u201cMake Polluters Pay\u201d always meant \u201cMake Consumers Pay,\u201d and Californians have had enough.<\/p>\n This primary result carries profound implications far beyond the Golden State. If the full-throated \u201cKeep It in the Ground\u201d message, backed by unlimited money from a committed billionaire and amplified by a sympathetic media, can\u2019t prevail in California, it faces an even steeper uphill battle in more energy-realist regions like Pennsylvania, Texas, or the Midwest. It also casts serious doubt on the political viability of California\u2019s high-profile climate lawsuit<\/a> against oil and gas companies. Becerra, who declined to pursue such litigation during his time as AG, now sits in the driver\u2019s seat, while even current AG Rob Bonta remained neutral in the race – a telling retreat from earlier aggressive posturing.<\/p>\n No one should think that Becerra\u2019s win was about denying legitimate climate concerns or a rejection of reasonable government attempts to address them. Rather, it was about Becerra\u2019s rejection of Gavin Newsom\u2019s overt efforts to destroy the state\u2019s once-powerful industry. Newsom\u2019s agenda has decimated California\u2019s refining sector and convinced Chevron to move its company headquarters to Houston in 2024 after more than a century in the San Francisco Bay area.<\/p>\n Energy Reality Can\u2019t Be Litigated Out Of Existence<\/p>\n America\u2019s oil and gas industry delivers the cleanest, most responsibly produced hydrocarbons on the planet. Attempting to litigate and regulate it out of existence won\u2019t save the climate. Instead, it simply exports jobs, emissions, and energy security to adversaries like China and Russia.<\/p>\n Becerra\u2019s bet on energy moderation and the proposition that his state needs Chevron to remain a big player into the future turned out to be a winning one, an outcome no one would have seen coming a year ago. But the political ground around energy has evolved dramatically across the intervening months and energy reality is emerging as the clear winner, even, as it turns out, in California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – MAY 26: California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra takes a selfie at an event while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,119837,3720,86820,457,17382,25299,41130,3707],"class_list":["post-356222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-primary","tag-chevron","tag-gasoline-prices","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-steve-hilton","tag-tom-steyer","tag-utility-rates","tag-xavier-becerra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356222","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=356222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}