Former U.S. Health Secretary and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is the latest Democrat to enter the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2028, joining seven other Democrats and one Republican — a flush field that could be upended should former Vice President Kamala Harris decide to run.
Becerra officially declared his candidacy Wednesday in a video posted to his social media accounts following months of speculation among political insiders. The Sacramento native left his post in January as Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Joe Biden — a role now held by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He also had previously served as a congressional representative for a Los Angeles area district for 24 years.
In his announcement, Becerra said he was running for governor to tackle the state’s affordability issues and restore the “California Dream” achieved by people like his working-class parents. His mother immigrated from Mexico, and Becerra said he was the first in his family to graduate from a four-year college. He rose to become the first Latino to serve as U.S. Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2021.
“Can we do that today, with this affordability crisis?” he said in his announcement video. “We can do that, but you need a leader who can be tough.”
California Democrats have broadly pledged to make the state more affordable after the November election, when state Republicans made modest gains and support for President Donald Trump surged even in deep-blue locales like lower-income Bay Area cities, fueled in part by discontent with inflation and relatively high costs for staples like energy, gasoline and housing. Newsom quickly reoriented his rhetoric to focus more on economic issues after the election, and Democrats leading the California Legislature declared that affordability is their focus during the two-year legislative session.
In his announcement, Becerra touted his track record of standing up to Trump during his tenure as California’s attorney general from 2017 to 2021. Becerra sued the Trump administration more than 120 times. That litigation cost the state $42 million, according to Newsom’s office, and netted victories. In one case, California and New York successfully sued the U.S. Department of Energy in 2017 to allow energy efficiency standards to go into effect nationally, which were expected to save consumers $8.4 billion and prevent nearly 100 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Another victory won California $60 million in federal public safety grants, according to the governor’s office.
Becerra then led the massive U.S. Health and Human Services agency during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pundits have speculated that could be a political liability with some voters, who may associate Becerra with California’s stringent lockdowns aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.
Also as health secretary, Becerra said he helped negotiate lower prescription drug prices for seniors on Medicare. Biden’s signature climate bill, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, set a limit on out-of-pocket drug costs for people on Medicare and also capped the cost of covered insulin at $35 per month.
Becerra’s announcement comes just weeks after former Southern California Democratic Rep. Katie Porter declared her run for governor.
The other Democratic candidates so far are former state Sen. Toni Atkins, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, former state controller Betty Yee, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, entrepreneur Stephen Cloobeck and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
Republican Chad Bianco, the current sheriff of Riverside County, has also jumped into the race. His campaign is likely a long shot in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans two to one.
The field still remains in question amid speculation around former Vice President and Oakland native Kamala Harris, who will reportedly make her decision on whether to join the governor’s race by summer’s end.