Xavier Becerra
Xavier Becerra is an American attorney and politician who served as the 25th United States secretary of health and human services under President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, Becerra previously served as the 33rd attorney general of California from 2017 to 2021 and as a U.S. representative from California from 1993 to 2017. He is a candidate for governor of California in the 2026 election.
Standing...
Stories...
Jul 17, 2026
Center
Leads in a new poll for the California governor's race against Steve Hilton.
Moderates watch this race as a test of whether a mainstream Democrat can hold off a Trump-aligned challenger in a blue state.
Jun 10, 2026
Center
Becerra advanced to the California governor's general election after Tom Steyer, who lost the Democratic primary, endorsed him following his concession.
Centrists will note that Becerra now faces Republican Steve Hilton in a general election, testing whether California's Democratic coalition can consolidate around an establishment figure after a fractured primary.
Jun 9, 2026
Center
Former California Attorney General and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra is projected to advance to the California governor general election, where he will face Trump-backed Republican Steve Hilton.
Moderates see Becerra as a reliable but uninspiring institutionalist whose general election viability against a media-savvy Trump-endorsed opponent like Hilton is genuinely uncertain, and the race will test whether California's political center still holds.
Jun 6, 2026
Lean Left
The former HHS Secretary under Biden has advanced to the November general election in the California governor's race, per CBS News projections from Friday's primary.
Becerra is viewed cautiously by the lean-left as a credentialed establishment Democrat whose HHS tenure produced incremental healthcare gains but fell well short of the structural Medicaid expansion and drug pricing reform many progressives demanded, making his governor's race a test of whether the California Democratic Party moves toward or away from bolder policy.