November general election to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a>, rejected the notion.<\/p>\n\u201cWell, if I were trying to coast, I\u2019d be out on the coast right now instead of here with you all and making a nice visit to Little Tokyo,\u201d he said outside of an Asian-fusion gastropub on an oppressively hot, muggy afternoon. \u201cListen, this is all about making sure voters have a choice. We\u2019ll get out there and make sure we\u2019re front and center with them … even if it\u2019s a little hot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Becerra spoke with reporters after visiting Little Tokyo businesses and chatting with locals and visitors. <\/p>\n
When a group of young women pledged to vote for him in the gubernatorial race, Becerra urged them to vote against Proposition 39, a ballot measure that would require Californians to provide government-issued identification when voting and election officials to verify registered voters are U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease vote against that. That would deter people from voting,\u201d Becerra said, making a thumbs-down gesture. \u201cI\u2019m not joking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Becerra later told reporters that the proposition, which likely California voters oppose, according to polls, is a direct attack on the state\u2019s elections by President Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe president has insisted on trying to disrupt elections. When he can\u2019t do it in Washington, D.C., he\u2019s trying to do it in our state directly,\u201d Becerra said. \u201cProp. 39 is President Trump\u2019s effort to try to interfere in our election. We have to resist it. We have to oppose it. And I hope people know that Prop. 39 is just a prop for Donald Trump. And anyone who believes that we have to see more people vote, we have to see robust elections, should be voting against Prop. 39.\u201d<\/p>\n
Becerra also enjoyed a little shopping.<\/p>\n
At Japangeles, he purchased a ball cap with \u201cL.A.\u201d superimposed over Japanese characters for \u201cNihon,\u201d what the Japanese call their own country; at Cafe Dulce, he picked up a fruit tart; and at a 123-year-old Japanese confectionery, he bought sweet mango mochi wrapped in a thin, fluffy pancake.<\/p>\n
His visit Tuesday came during the community\u2019s annual Nisei Week festival, which celebrates Japanese American culture and history. Becerra represented the area during his time in Congress. He ran into several people he had known over his long political career, including former Los Angeles City Councilmember Jan Perry, and Brian Kito, the third-generation owner of the Fugetsu-Do Bakery.<\/p>\n
Kito showed Becerra a picture of the then-congressman swearing him in as a neighborhood council president more than a decade ago. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a nice reunion,\u201d Kito said. \u201cHe\u2019s a true gentleman. … I\u2019m hoping nothing but success for him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democrat Xavier Becerra pledged on Tuesday to participate in more than one debate against Steve Hilton, his GOP…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[29238,173495,7,9,8,23661,26532,25662,8642,173496,16437,3020,1920,2211,5408,225,68,1522],"class_list":["post-437204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-becerra","tag-brian-kito","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-community-leader","tag-debate","tag-election-official","tag-hilton","tag-l-a-times-poll","tag-little-tokyo","tag-president-trump","tag-prop","tag-race","tag-reporter","tag-state","tag-tuesday","tag-voter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437204","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=437204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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