Why Xavier Becerra is rising in the California governor’s race

(CNN) — Xavier Becerra’s rise in the California gubernatorial race was made clear in a recent debate when a rival went after him.

“Mr. Becerra, you have all these lovely plans, but there are never any numbers, any revenue plan, any details, anything that pushes on the status quo,” former Rep. Katie Porter said during a discussion on lowering housing costs.

Becerra, as he’s done for much of his campaign, cited his experience to defend himself.

“That’s very rich to hear from someone who’s never had to actually run a government,” he responded to Porter.

In the wake of former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s exit from the governor’s race, Becerra’s campaign is drawing support as a potential safe harbor for Democrats lacking a clear front-runner. Becerra offers a long record in state and federal government as well as a steady, if understated, presence amid a race shaken by scandal.

A CBS poll published Monday had Becerra at 13%, with Republican Steve Hilton at 16% and Democrat Tom Steyer at 15%. The top two finishers in the June 2 nonpartisan primary will advance to the November election.

It’s a marked shift for a candidate who for months failed to catch on. The former congressman, California attorney general and Health and Human Services secretary only qualified for last Wednesday’s Nexstar debate due to a poll released a few days prior.

The question now is how he’ll withstand increased scrutiny from voters and rivals, particularly over his record at HHS and criticism from both inside and outside former President Joe Biden’s administration.

Becerra has already faced attacks on his record from San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and Steyer, the latter of whom released a new ad targeting Becerra.

“When you see that big of an explosion of movement towards Becerra, and there isn’t an underlying, quantifiable polling reason or explanation for it … you have to ask yourself the question, is this a durable, sustainable voting bloc?” said Mike Madrid, an anti-Trump GOP consultant based in California. “Or is it going to go away just as fast as it came?”

Becerra’s campaign announced he’d raised over $1 million in the week that ended April 18, a much-needed infusion. Last week, he was endorsed by more than a dozen state legislators, including Robert Rivas, the speaker of the State Assembly. On Friday, Becerra launched a seven-figure ad campaign.

Becerra’s campaign staff attributes his rise to smart planning and the candidate’s resume. They waited until late March to launch their initial TV ad and recently beefed up their social media operation.

Becerra argues that he’s already taken on many of the roles expected of the next governor, saying he’s balanced budgets and managed large, complex agencies as HHS secretary. As California attorney general, he sued President Donald Trump’s first administration more than 120 times.

“I’m running on my record, not on inflated promises,” Becerra told CNN earlier this month. “The experience that I bring to the table, no one has.”

But a long record can also be a gold mine for opponents. Allies say he’s a workhorse who avoids the spotlight and doesn’t care who takes the credit for wins. Critics, particularly those of his time as Health and Human Services secretary, said he wasn’t proactive enough in a critical role.

“All of them are going to work overtime to try to sully Xavier Becerra’s record,” Michael Bustamante, a senior adviser to Becerra’s campaign, told CNN. “We fully expect folks to do that.”

A rise through Latino politics

Becerra, the son of Mexican immigrants, was first elected to his Los Angeles-area US House seat in 1992, two years before California voters passed Proposition 187, which aimed to deny undocumented immigrants’ access to public health and education services. Prop 187, which was blocked by the courts, sparked a rise in Latino political power in the state that coincided with Becerra’s rise in California politics.

If elected, Becerra would be California’s first Latino governor in more than 150 years. While Latino voters aren’t a unified bloc, Becerra’s background and immigration advocacy could help him.

In Congress, Becerra helped write and pass the Affordable Care Act and was a longtime supporter of a single-payer health care system. Throughout his more than two decades in Congress, Becerra also focused on immigration issues.

Becerra overlapped briefly in Congress with Swalwell, who was first elected in 2012. He said on CNN recently that he and other lawmakers had “heard rumors” about Swalwell’s behavior. Swalwell exited the governor’s race and resigned from Congress earlier this month after CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle reported on allegations of sexual misconduct against him that he has denied.

Moderators at last week’s debate asked why Becerra, who served two terms as Democratic caucus chairman, never sought to investigate those rumors.

“You hear rumors all the time about all sorts of things,” he replied. “Rumors are not facts, and the Democratic caucus is not a place that adjudicates those things. Law enforcement does.”

In December 2016, former Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Becerra as attorney general. Four years later, former President Joe Biden nominated him as HHS secretary.

Some chalked up his nomination to the Biden administration feeling pressure to add a high-ranking Latino official. In their book “This Will Not Pass,” journalists Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns described the selection of Becerra as a “hasty choice” designed to quell frustration among the Congressional Hispanic Caucus about the diversity of Biden’s cabinet.

“Obviously we were looking for a diverse cabinet, but I will say that Xavier jumped to mind,” Ron Klain, Biden’s first White House chief of staff, told CNN recently when asked about that reporting.

Klain said that Becerra was a “very logical pick” for the job due to his role in helping write and pass the Affordable Care Act, as well as his work defending it in court against the Trump administration as California’s attorney general.

A mixed record inside the administration

While Becerra was praised for his defense of the Affordable Care Act and abortion rights, some criticized his handling of the key crises the administration faced, from the Covid-19 response to his department’s handling of a record surge of unaccompanied migrant minors who arrived at the US-Mexico border. The children were placed in HHS custody, with some languishing in emergency facilities. Some Biden administration officials accused Becerra of lacking urgency in his response to the surge.

Republicans attacked Becerra over the emergency sites and what they argued was the hasty release of minors to US-based sponsors. Critics argued that thousands of children were unaccounted for after being released by HHS, though former Biden officials and experts in the field refute that.

Steyer targeted allegations that HHS lost track of minors in his new ad. “If you lose children, you’re not fit to lead California,” the ad states.

Becerra’s campaign referred questions about his work at HHS to Klain, who fiercely defended Becerra’s work at the agency and is backing his gubernatorial campaign.

Klain said criticisms of Becerra’s handling of the surge of unaccompanied minors were “grossly unfair and grossly misguided.”

“There was no one who cared more about these children than Secretary Becerra,” Klain said. “He inherited a super, super tough situation, and worked night and day, day and night, to try to do the humane thing by these kids and get them reunited with their US family members.”

Becerra also faced criticism over HHS’ response to an outbreak of mpox, also known as monkeypox. Public health experts and leaders of LGBTQ advocacy groups accused the Biden administration and Becerra in particular of not acting with urgency to distribute the mpox vaccine.

“Becerra could not defend his record in Washington and a pretty abysmal record at HHS, from a slow response to monkeypox to losing track of tens of thousands of migrant children, some of whom were trafficked,” Mahan told CNN after a recent debate.

Klain said that while it took time to get the mpox vaccine from manufacturers overseas, the outbreak “was extinguished very quickly” because of Becerra’s leadership.

The increased scrutiny on Becerra has also mobilized some of his supporters, particularly in the immigrant rights community. Earlier this month, the board of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles, or CHIRLA, Action Fund unanimously voted to endorse Becerra after 60% of the group’s members recommended him. The group held a press conference Monday to push back on claims Becerra mishandled the efforts to place young migrants with sponsors.

Angelica Salas, the president of the CHIRLA Action Fund, said part of the reason CHIRLA members backed Becerra was that they’d personally seen him fight for them.

Some members who benefited from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program said they remembered sitting next to Becerra in the US Supreme Court as he led a successful coalition of states defending the program against the Trump administration.

“I always say, a lot of people love you in public, but don’t fight for you in private,” Salas said. “We need people who state their love for us and don’t keep us in the shadows.”

The story headline has been updated.

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CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.