SACRAMENTO — Gov.-elect Xavier Becerra named the team that will oversee his transition and help build out his administration as he prepares to take office in early January. His transition team includes several of his former advisers, and others who worked for Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“This transition has one job: to ensure my administration is ready to deliver on day one,” Becerra said in a statement. “Together, we aim to make California a place people can afford, with results they can see and feel in their everyday lives. Our work starts now, to build a California we can afford and protect the California we can’t afford to lose.”
Longtime Becerra aide Liz Saldivar will lead the transition. Salvidar advised Becerra’s campaign and worked for him during his time in Congress and as state attorney general.
Serving as senior advisers to the transition will be Lindsey Cobia, a veteran of the Newsom administration who now runs his Campaign for Democracy PAC, and Kyle Layman, a Democratic operative who joined Becerra’s campaign early on.
Another former Becerra aide, Arsenio Mataka, will direct policy for the transition. Mataka advised Becerra on environmental policy at the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and the California Department of Justice. Also an alumna of Jerry Brown’s administration, Mataka most recently was a deputy at the Bay Area Air District.
After advising his campaign on policy, Nicole Elliott will serve as agency review director. Elliott advised Newsom on cannabis policy before he appointed her to lead the state Department of Cannabis Control in 2021. She first began working for Newsom in 2009, when he was mayor of San Francisco. Her husband Jason Elliott is a close adviser to Newsom who worked for him both as mayor and governor.
Leading external affairs for the transition are Courtni Pugh, a Democratic strategist close to Newsom, and Kenneth Maxey II, president of the Urban League of San Francisco Bay Area.
Becerra defeated Republican opponent Steve Hilton in the Nov. 3 election and will be sworn in on Jan. 4, 2027.
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