{"id":414551,"date":"2026-07-28T00:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T00:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/414551\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T00:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T00:32:12","slug":"xavier-becerra-leads-democrats-war-on-california-voter-id","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/414551\/","title":{"rendered":"Xavier Becerra leads Democrats’ war on California voter ID"},"content":{"rendered":"

California Democrats are launching a multimillion-dollar fight to block a Republican-backed voter ID measure<\/a>, and gubernatorial frontrunner Xavier Becerra is leading the charge. <\/p>\n

A new campaign committee \u2014 \u201cNo on 39 \u2013 Block Trump\u2019s Election Rigging\u201d \u2014 will be led by Becerra and California Speaker Robert Rivas as honorary co-chairs. <\/p>\n

The effort, which also has the backing of SEIU California and Planned Parenthood, marks Democrats\u2019 most aggressive push yet against Proposition 39, a ballot initiative that would establish new voter requirements.<\/p>\n

Xavier Becerra\u00a0could be trying to take the mantle on California leaders fighting against President Trump.\/ David Buchan for Ca Post<\/p>\n

Speaker Robert Rivas joined Becerra as an honorary co-chair of the \u201cNo on 39\u201d committee. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump\u2019s election rigging has no place in California,\u201d Becerra said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs attorney general, I took Trump to court \u2014 and won \u2014 when he tried to intimidate voters and suppress the vote. Prop. 39 is his playbook coming to California.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Becerra\u2019s new role as the leader of the resistance to Trump \u2014 at least in terms of voter ID \u2014 may be part of a larger playbook. <\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom has traditionally been the state\u2019s leading foil to Trump, but the governor\u2019s expected 2028 presidential ambitions \u2014 Newsom already has two federal political actions committees and a Super PAC \u2014 along with Becerra\u2019s state-focused ambitions in November could explain the change in casting this fall election season.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Newsom said the governor intends to announce his endorsements for the November election next month.<\/p>\n

The SAVE Act, backed by Trump and being debated in Congress<\/a>, would require documentary proof of US citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, with supporters arguing it protects election integrity and critics warning it could make voting more difficult for eligible citizens.<\/p>\n

President Trump is pushing his own legislation on election integrity. AP Photo\/Alex Brandon<\/p>\n

Becerra is leading the race for California governor as the Democratic frotnrunner. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Proposition 39 would require voters to present government-issued identification when voting in person or provide the last four digits of a driver\u2019s license, Social Security number or another government-issued identification number when voting by mail.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It also would require the state to issue voter identification cards upon request, increase citizenship verification efforts and mandate additional election audits.<\/p>\n

A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll released this spring found 56% of likely voters initially supported the proposal after reading a neutral description, but support declined after respondents heard arguments from both supporters and opponents.<\/p>\n

The opposition committee launched with more than $2 million but trails supporters of Proposition 39, who have raised more than $12 million. Politico<\/a> was first to report on the new committee.<\/p>\n

Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) has been pushing for stronger voter ID for years. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Attorney General Rob Bonta infuriated Republicans by changing the language for voters on Proposition 39. MediaNews Group via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Prop. 39, which is backed by Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) and Reform California, qualified for the November ballot after supporters submitted enough signatures earlier this year. Democrats are explicitly tying the initiative to Trump as they seek to turn the election into a referendum on the president rather than a debate over voter ID.<\/p>\n

The campaign\u2019s rollout comes days after a separate fight erupted<\/a> over Attorney General Rob Bonta\u2019s rewritten ballot title and summary for Prop. 39. Supporters accused Bonta of bias after the official voter guide described the initiative as one that would \u201cprohibit\u201d citizens from voting without government-issued identification and \u201cinvalidate\u201d mail ballots that fail to comply with identification requirements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mail-in ballots could face changes under Prop. 39. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Voting in person requirements would also be revised. Katie Avery for CA Post<\/p>\n

Earlier language while signatures were being gathered described the measure as establishing additional voter identification and citizenship verification requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia politicians know that a super-majority of California voters support Prop 39\u2019s bipartisan solution for Voter ID \u2013 so now they are corruptly trying to rig the election by putting a biased and dishonest title on this common-sense measure,\u201d DeMaio previously told The Post.<\/p>\n

Bonta\u2019s office rejected accusations that it was attempting to influence the election, saying state law allows ballot language to change before an election and noting that all nine citizen-backed initiatives on this year\u2019s ballot received revisions to provide greater clarity for voters.<\/p>\n

Even some Democrats are questioning the fight over voter ID. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Voter ID efforts could block legal voters from casting ballots, according to opponents of Prop. 39. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The opposition campaign is arguing that voter ID requirements would disproportionately burden minority voters and others who face barriers to obtaining government-issued identification.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump and his MAGA cronies like Carl Demaio want to make it harder for California citizens \u2014 especially communities of color \u2014 to exercise their right to vote,\u201d Rivas said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump can\u2019t handle the fact that he lost California by 20 points. He\u2019s trying to rig the system and make it harder for you to exercise your constitutional rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jodi Hicks, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, accused \u201cfar-right MAGA activists\u201d who have attempted to roll back women\u2019s reproductive rights as the same people behind the voter ID initiative.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey want to take away our fundamental freedoms \u2014 and that starts with denying Californians access to the ballot box,\u201d Hicks said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the momentum may be turning on the issue of voter ID. Earlier this month, billionaire developer Rick Caruso broke with California\u2019s Democratic establishment by putting $25,000 behind Prop. 39<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last week, veteran Democratic strategist James Carville warned that Democrats have lost the public\u2019s trust on voter fraud<\/a> and should stop opposing voter ID laws and focus on other issues.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Voter fraud] barely exists, and it just doesn\u2019t make any sense,\u201d Carville said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving said that, we are not going to win the war against some kind of ID. It doesn\u2019t make any sense. It doesn\u2019t fix anything, but maybe you just go along with it and move to the next thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California Democrats are launching a multimillion-dollar fight to block a Republican-backed voter ID measure, and gubernatorial frontrunner Xavier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,46666,9,8,536,457,13,3586,76275,3707],"class_list":["post-414551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-governor-election-2026","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-donald-trump","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-politics","tag-us-news","tag-voter-id-law","tag-xavier-becerra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414551","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=414551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}