Xavier Becerra needed to hit the ground running, even more so than the five other candidates for governor of California who faced off in Wednesday night’s debate.
Instead, he slapped her.
He needed to boast about his many accomplishments in his 35-year career in Sacramento and Washington, to distinguish himself from the political elite around him.
Instead, Becerra multiplied his resume with the force of a fireman on his LinkedIn page.
He needed to lift Californians up with a vision of hope, when many felt the state was going in the wrong direction.
Instead, he gave a speech that amounted to a pat on the back.
No one was more vulnerable that night than Becerra, who went from being a thinker to a running mate after Eric Swalwell resigned from his seat in Congress amid allegations of sexual harassment.
Five weeks ago, Becerra and other voters of color were protesting their exclusion from the USC debate because they were all polling so low. Now, the 68-year-old has a chance to become California’s first Latino governor.
This may seem to turn on the silent majority of Californians – ranch libertarians turned off by right-wing politics but also roast They feel that politics has left them behind. People yearn for a no-nonsense, competent leader after eight years of Gavin Newsom and ten years of Donald Trump.
Becerra’s campaign, once as limp as a leaf in a river in a race so tumultuous for Democrats that many feared the two Republicans would win on June 2 and face each other in the general election, suddenly had an audible wave.
At the Los Angeles Times Book Festival last weekend, I saw people sporting Becerra’s campaign buttons fresh out of a gathering that was expected to draw a few hundred but instead had over 2,000 RSVPs. On social media, friends who never cared about the politics of the country suddenly announced that they are Becerra and fought with their remaining friends who think that he is a Latino Ned Flanders who is not ready for this difficult time.
Ignorant and talented are Becerra’s middle names, and they were featured in the interview – the best and the worst. This was his chance to show his new supporters and undecided voters that they can trust him as the next governor of California.
But where he needed to be vulnerable as a prizefighter, the former California attorney general was wound as tough as a Rolex.
While other candidates pressed their hands to the podium, ready to pounce on every question, Becerra folded his hands like an altar boy. When he made a move, his movement did not extend beyond his shoulders.
While others were reeling in shock at the response of their opponents, Becerra was rock-faced like Buster Keaton. He stumbled more than he should have – how could someone in his position mistake Iraq for Iran when criticizing Trump’s Middle East mudslinging? – and he rarely seemed relaxed, as if the weight of time and the luck of his surgery had hit him suddenly at the worst possible time.
California gubernatorial candidates, from left, Matt Mahan, Xavier Becerra, Chad Bianco, and Steve Hilton look on during a debate Wednesday, April 22, 2026, in San Francisco.
(Jason Henry / Associated Press)
Becerra’s supporters say a high-profile leader is what California needs. But voters almost never go for what they need – they choose what they want. And California wants someone who is loud, or at least louder than Becerra. There’s a reason why stalwarts like Republicans Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton and progressives Tom Steyer and Katie Porter have consistently topped the polls, while allies like Becerra, his opponent Antonio Villaraigosa and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan have lagged behind.
The irony is that Becerra knows how to argue. Wallflowers don’t go from a working-class Mexican immigrant family to Stanford Law School. Wimps don’t survive the pain of Eastside politics as an outsider to become a congressman at only 34 years old. Cowards aren’t filing more than 100 lawsuits against the Trump administration as California’s attorney general or tackling the coronavirus pandemic as President Biden’s health secretary.
I’ve met the Sacramento native a few times but I always come away impressed. In small crowds, he makes people laugh and cry. He is quick with ripotes, good with foreign words and has a very good aura that does not come across as saintly.
We saw the views of that Becerra in the interview. To Hilton, he scoffed, “You can be a talking head and not worry about the consequences of what you do” after the former Fox News host ranted about how one-party rule has failed in California.
After Porter accused him of not providing hard numbers on his economic plans, Becerra responded that he has a limited state budget larger than California’s. “It’s easy to say you didn’t do this, it’s easy to prove you did,” he concluded.
But after Becerra explained the dangers of legal racial profiling and Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, said California politicians need to stop thinking so much about race, it was Porter who responded with a verbal haymaker as Becerra watched silently.
You don’t fight like a choirboy in a battlefield. Becerra wasn’t bad at the debate but he wasn’t great either – and that won’t win him this race.
Voters want someone who will get the job done, yes – especially if you don’t have drama. They also want to elect someone who they think is a human being, not a joyless bureaucrat. So how did Becerra respond to the final debate question about what was the last series you aired?
Becerra flashed his biggest smile of the night. It was such a softball question that even a kindergartener could beat Shohei Ohtani.
“I wish I could tell you that I have time to watch the broadcasts,” he replied.
Brother. We’re all overworked, but everyone I know is relieved to watch a mindless drive (my current obsession is “Vanderpump Villa”). We all need to rest, even just for a moment. As my father says when he sees me wearing one column after another and begs me to take a break,”El trabajo nunca se acaba pero uno sí se acaba.”
Work never ends, but people do.
Xavier, you know you’re on the wrong side of California when the only other person who had the same answer was Bianco, who said he doesn’t watch television at all.
Caution has served you well, but this is the best opportunity of your life. You don’t have to be a fire starter, but some sparks can help. Six weeks until the premiere, so it’s time to get down — channel your inner cholo and go find what’s right for you.
