{"id":63170,"date":"2025-11-21T04:22:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T04:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/63170\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T04:22:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T04:22:06","slug":"villaraigosa-goes-after-becerra-in-new-attack-ad-nbc-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/63170\/","title":{"rendered":"Villaraigosa goes after Becerra in new attack ad \u2013 NBC Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 California gubernatorial race has reached a new chapter following months of cordiality and politeness in the growing field of mostly Democratic candidates: Antonio Villaraigosa<\/a> released a series of videos and a website against Xavier Becerra<\/a>, with the latest clip leveraging a campaign funds scandal.<\/p>\n

The Villaraigosa for Governor campaign Wednesday released a video on social media platforms, claiming the federal investigation into Becerra\u2019s longtime aide is the \u201cbiggest scandal to hit Sacramento in years.\u201d This is the third video released by the Villaraigosa camp to question Becerra\u2019s candidacy.<\/p>\n

Last week, a former top aide to Gov. Gavin Newsom was indicted for an alleged scheme to steal campaign money from Becerra<\/a>, who served as Health Human Services secretary in the Biden administration. The federal indictment accuses the Newsom aide of colluding with a longtime Becerra aide to steal $225,000 from a dormant campaign account from when Becerra ran for California attorney general.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Becerra has not been implicated in the investigation, according to federal officials. Becerra said he is voluntarily cooperating with authorities.<\/p>\n

The new video features footage from local TV programs and interviews with Becerra himself, making the argument that it was irresponsible of Becerra not to have been aware of the activity with his unused campaign account.<\/p>\n

In one of the television news segments used in the video, a panelist said he doesn\u2019t know how Becerra \u201cwould run away from\u201d the scandal, given that it involves the former California attorney general\u2019s campaign account and his adviser.<\/p>\n

It is not clear how many political candidates keep active tabs on their previous campaign accounts, especially after they are elected or occupy an office. When the alleged scheme happened, Becerra was two years into the Biden Cabinet job.<\/p>\n

The Villaraigosa camp also launched a new website, specifically targeting the former congressman and state attorney general, singling him out in the crowded field of candidates who hope to replace Newsom in 2026.<\/p>\n

Villaraigosa\u2019s spokesperson explained to NBC Los Angeles that the anti-Becerra videos and website aim to inform voters about \u201cthe truth about Xavier Becerra\u2019s past.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a former Attorney General, he admittedly knew the payments were happening. Are we supposed to believe he didn\u2019t know they were illegal?\u201d Kerry Jacob from Villaraigosa’s team said. \u201cIf he didn\u2019t know, then why should voters entrust Becerra to manage the state budget after turning a blind eye while his Chief of Staff fleeced him for $240,000?\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Becerra\u2019s spokesperson said Villaraigosa\u2019s camp is attacking Becerra because \u201cAntonio is trailing in every poll.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c(There\u2019s) a reason no one is attacking Villaraigosa: he\u2019s not a serious candidate,\u201d Owen Kilmer from Becerra’s campaign team told NBCLA in a statement.<\/p>\n

Kilmer also emphasized that Becerra was not involved in any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s also clear is Secretary Becerra\u2019s record: he took on the Trump Administration as CA Attorney General and won, delivered affordable care for millions, and negotiated lower drug prices to save California families thousands of dollars,\u201d the spokesperson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The latest poll<\/a> by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies showed, while 44% of the registered voters in California were undecided, 8% of them said they would support Becerra, after Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco (13%) and Katie Porter (11%). Villaraigosa was trailing in the fifth place with 5% of support as of late October.<\/p>\n

It may be no coincidence that Villaraigosa is starting to attack Becerra, one year before the 2026 midterm elections. With a number of parallels between the two prominent Latino candidates, they may be seeking support from the same or similar voting blocks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both are second-generation Americans after their parents immigrated from Mexico; both are fluent in Spanish with the ability to reach out to the most populous demographic in California; both spent decades holding public offices; both are considered moderate Democrats.<\/p>\n

Villaraigosa and Becerra hold a law degree although Villaraigosa\u2019s People\u2019s College of Law was unaccredited and lost its degree-granting authority<\/a> in 2023. Becerra is a graduate of Stanford Law.<\/p>\n

Villaraigosa\u2019s camp may also try to land the first punch before more candidates throw their hats into the race. That\u2019s because if Rick Caruso, who is also rumored to be considering running for governor, announce his candidacy, the entire dynamic of the contest will change.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Newsom has not officially endorsed any of the gubernatorial candidates, LA Mayor Karen Bass, who ran against Caruso, endorsed<\/a> Villaraigosa in September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 California gubernatorial race has reached a new chapter following months of cordiality and politeness in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7,38024,48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":{"0":"post-63170","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-decision-2026","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-headlines","12":"tag-la-news","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","15":"tag-los-angeles-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63170","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=63170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}