Becerra’s Beltway record attacked in California governor fight

Becerra’s Beltway – In the closing days of California’s gubernatorial primary, Xavier Becerra’s nearly four decades in elected office—and especially his performance during his time as Health and Human Services secretary—has become the flashpoint for rivals. Opponents have accused

When Xavier Becerra surged from near-invisibility to front-runner status in California’s gubernatorial primary. it didn’t take long for his opponents to sharpen their message. In the final days of the long campaign. the focus is no longer his past in Sacramento or his years on Capitol Hill—it’s the Beltway years. and how much voters should believe he actually did while serving in President Biden’s administration.

Becerra, a California native, has spent nearly four decades in elected office. Supporters point to a deep grounding in policy. Critics see something else: a career path built around the failed status quo.

His biography cuts in both directions. He was elected to the California State Assembly in 1990 and served 12 terms in Congress. He later served as California attorney general. Then, for nearly four years, he ran the Department of Health and Human Services under President Biden.

That last stint is where the campaign fight has concentrated, with rivals charging that Becerra was AWOL during the COVID-19 pandemic and inept in his handling of unaccompanied migrant children. Opponents cite 85,000 unaccompanied children who were supposedly “lost” on Becerra’s watch.

The argument isn’t just about policy history—it’s about trust. Darry Sragow. a Democrat strategist who has spent decades running California campaigns. described how Becerra’s public image is being used as leverage against him. “You look at Xavier and he seems to be perceived as a thoughtful, credible, trustworthy choice. That’s what I hear when I talk to regular people who aren’t political insiders,” Sragow said. “So you see the people who want to take him out going after one of the words I just used here. which is ‘trustworthy’ and. to some extent. ‘credible.’”.

A recent mail piece backed by chief Democratic rival Tom Steyer leans hard into that effort. It features a grim-faced portrait of Becerra and accuses him of “mismanagement. ” “scandal” and “incompetence.” The mail piece also cites a 2024 quote from Susan Rice. a former Biden domestic policy advisor. describing the ex-Cabinet member as an “idiot.” Another epithet from Rice in the same Axios news report—“bitch-a—”—was apparently removed as unsuitable.

The mail piece also includes a quote from Xochitl Hinojosa. a Justice Department spokesperson in the Biden administration. who said Becerra “was not effective in government.” The attack. however. runs into a wall of uncertainty inside the story itself: the text notes that several people who worked in the White House could not think of any occasion. or any reason. Hinojosa would have meaningfully interacted with Becerra.

Beyond the mailer, the campaign argument widened into a chorus of anonymous critiques. Six former Biden administration officials were quoted by Politico reacting with “a mix of incredulity. mockery and resignation” to Becerra’s sudden ascendance in the governor’s race. Critics also unloaded to NBC News and other outlets, but they spoke anonymously.

That anonymity leaves the motives unclear—jealousy, ego, an attempt to stay politically relevant, or something harsher. The source material lays out the competing possibility as directly as the campaign claims: either Becerra was. in fact. a “feckless. flailing and thoroughly awful” Cabinet member deserving scorn and shame. or the criticism is being used as political theater.

Ron Klain, who served as Biden’s chief of staff during the first two years of his presidency, lands firmly on Becerra’s side. Klain doesn’t believe the record supports the attacks. He said, “I think he did an excellent job as HHS secretary and I think the record shows that.”

Klain pointed to Becerra’s work helping negotiate a drop in the price of prescription drugs and expanding healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

On COVID-19, Klain argued timing matters. Becerra “wasn’t confirmed until several months into the Biden administration,” Klain said. He noted that Dr. [Anthony] Fauci had been on the job and was already a well-known figure to Americans. “So, of course, he became more the face of the COVID response,” Klain said.

The immigration criticism, too, is contested in the telling. Klain said Becerra’s role was smaller than what the attacks often imply. “On immigration,” he said. “Xavier’s part was small and discreet. He wasn’t the secretary of Homeland Security. He didn’t run the border. He oversaw an office called the Office of Refugee Resettlement” responsible for processing children who crossed the border alone.

Klain added that he personally saw Becerra in meetings where he described Becerra as a “passionate and forceful advocate for these minors.”

Still, the controversy won’t disappear just because allies dispute it. The coverage acknowledges “legitimate questions,” even while criticizing Becerra’s responses—those dismissals that shift to “Trump! MAGA! Trump!”

One issue sits at the intersection of both arguments: the unaccompanied minors plan Becerra inherited. The piece states that Becerra inherited a plan to deal with unaccompanied minors drafted and phased in by Rice and her Domestic Policy Council.

That detail links the attacks to a deeper internal tension. The source describes an unhappy history between Rice and Becerra. including a 2022 article in the American Prospect accusing Rice of creating an “abusive and dehumanizing workplace. ” where Rice routinely berated others. including the Health and Human Services secretary.

On social media. Rice has continued to show contempt for Becerra. and the source says it carries “no small whiff of ax-grinding and score-settling.” Rice also highlighted the refusal of Biden’s Homeland Security chief. Alejandro Mayorkas. to endorse Becerra in the governor’s race—though the piece notes it would be surprising if Mayorkas. Biden. Kamala Harris. or any high-level Democrat picked a favorite in a fiercely contested primary.

Neera Tanden, who succeeded Rice as head of Biden’s Domestic Policy Council, is among Becerra’s most direct defenders. “I am not on or coordinating with the Becerra campaign,” Tanden said. “I just know these attacks are ridiculous.” She said, “Becerra ‘had big things to do and he got them done.’”

The question now is what voters will make of all this as the campaign heads toward Tuesday’s primary and, potentially, a November runoff. If Becerra makes it past the primary, the source argues his career will merit careful scrutiny—both the Biden years and everything before them.

For now, the political tactics are familiar: anonymous quotes, drive-by commentary, and incendiary mailers. But the stakes, in this stretch of California politics, feel anything but routine. Many voters are still getting to know Becerra. and the story they’re being sold about his time in Washington hinges on credibility—on whether the Beltway record is being fairly judged. or weaponized.

Xavier Becerra California governor primary Tom Steyer Ron Klain Susan Rice HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement COVID-19 unaccompanied migrant children Alejandro Mayorkas Neera Tanden