Democratic voters in California played it safe Tuesday — opting for practicality over passion as they chose their next governor from a lengthy list of candidates.
They wavered on progressive candidates who promised a state-funded health care system and vowed to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Instead, they bolstered Xavier Becerra, a candidate who leapfrogged from the back of the line into the lead — all with a middle-of-the-road approach. Voters saw Becerra, whose own allies have called him boring, as their best bet.
Becerra’s rise defies national trends during a midterm season in which fiery, insurgent candidates in both parties are currying favor with voters. For the Democrats, who are reckoning with a base shifting to the left, Becerra’s early lead shows voters often pick practical candidates over outspoken ones when they view the stakes as high. More pressing to some Democratic voters in California was ensuring at least one candidate from their party made it to the general election — and that the candidate would combat the Trump administration, as term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has.
Under California’s “jungle” primary system, all candidates run on the same ballot regardless of party. The top two vote-getters go to the general election. Tuesday’s early returns showed Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, in the lead, and Becerra in the second-place spot, with billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer trailing in third. The Associated Press has not called the race, and the state could take days, or weeks, to finish its count.
In two overnight social media posts, President Donald Trump alleged “BIG cheating” by Democrats and blaming mail-in voting for the delay. He has sought to limit the practice, claiming without evidence that it is vulnerable to fraud and citing it in his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Democratic voters — even as they fretted over California’s notable struggles with homelessness and rising costs — appeared equally worried about the prospect of a GOP governor in their deep-blue state, said Andrew Acosta, a Democratic consultant who is not affiliated with any of the gubernatorial campaigns. They kept a close eye on the latest polls, several of which showed Becerra in the lead, before returning ballots.
“I don’t know if anyone could even articulate what Becerra’s plan was when it came to utility companies, right?” Acosta said.
Democratic voters backed traditional candidates in other California races Tuesday. In Los Angeles, embattled Mayor Karen Bass is likely to advance to a runoff, though not without a struggle. In California’s 11th Congressional District, which includes San Francisco, state Sen. Scott Wiener was the top finisher in the primary to succeed Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D), advancing to a November matchup with Connie Chan, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The pair defeated progressive Saikat Chakrabarti, who was once chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York). Establishment-backed Democrats also notched wins elsewhere in the country — namely Iowa, where state Rep. Josh Turek won his primary for a key Senate seat in a race that tested the influence of Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York).
At his election night watch party, Becerra called his campaign an “underdog story.”
“Almost immediately he’s counted out, an afterthought, overlooked by many, outspent by a ton, even called along the way to drop out and save us all the trouble,” Becerra told a cheering crowd in Los Angeles. “Well guess what, the underdog stayed in the fight.”
Becerra’s main selling points: He had the most experience and the least amount of baggage. Those, coupled with the lack of heavy-hitters in the race and California’s jungle primary, compelled voters to see him as their most viable path to a Democratic governor, political strategists said.
Because there were so many candidates splitting the vote on the ballot, voters worried that the two leading Republicans would lock Democrats out of the general election. In other words, Democratic voters had incentive to rally around a single, consensus candidate, even if it meant sacrificing candidates who promised progressive more policies.
Barbara Lynn, a 75-year-old retired teacher, said she voted for Becerra because he had the best shot at coalescing Democrats.
She knew there were more progressive candidates, including Steyer and former congresswoman Katie Porter, and she’d read the news stories about Becerra’s former colleagues who described him as mediocre. Still, she valued his government experience and felt endeared to him as he spoke about being the son of immigrants.
“Becerra’s more realistic,” Lynn said.
Becerra and his allies have touted his time in President Joe Biden’s Cabinet, where he ran the Department of Health and Human Services for nearly four years, as evidence that he can lead large organizations. He has also served as California’s attorney general and spent more than two decades as a congressman in Washington.
In an interview with The Washington Post last weekend, Becerra said he wasn’t surprised by his late surge in the race, arguing that the collapse of former congressman Eric Swalwell’s campaign helped provide an opening to make his case.
“It just took a lot longer than I expected for it to shake out,” Becerra said, adding that he expected voters before the election would decide if they wanted a candidate with “lots of experience” in government to serve as the state’s next leader.
Despite that résumé, he attracted some criticism from former co-workers that he was ineffective. Big-name California politicians, some of them Becerra’s former colleagues, declined to endorse in the race, including Biden, Newsom, Pelosi, former vice president Kamala Harris and California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Some fellow former Biden officials have argued that voters would be attracted to Becerra’s promise that he was a pragmatic, seasoned official who would be ready on Day 1 to lead the state. Neera Tanden, who served as Biden’s domestic policy adviser, said in an interview last week that Becerra was a reliable leader who knew how to get things done.
“HHS has the second-largest budget next to any federal agency next to the Pentagon,” Tanden said. “It is in charge of life-and-death decisions. Things go horribly wrong in that agency, and it can have huge consequences.”
Karen Skelton, a former senior Biden official and a longtime friend and colleague of Becerra, acknowledged that he was not the most flamboyant politician.
“As he says himself, he’s not going to be your ‘most exciting guy’ — I mean, I think he’s a great person to be around, interesting, and he has an easy, generous laugh — but what the hell does that matter?” she said. “Do we want him to address the cost of living in California? Do we want him to be able to balance a budget?”
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