Isaac SchorrMay 7th, 2026, 2:36 pm

Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra has stunned his former Biden administration colleagues by emerging as the frontrunner in California’s gubernatorial contest.

“It’s like: ‘We need to figure out a candidate who can win!’ But then…him? Really?” one former official told Politico’s Eli Stokols. The same source revealed that polls showing Becerra at the top of the pack always get “the biggest laugh” in group chats composed of Biden alumni, and argued that “He ran one of the most consequential agencies in government at the height of the pandemic. But he took a backseat to Dr. Fauci and his team, didn’t visibly lead on implementation and had to go through layers to get to POTUS even as a Cabinet member.”

Another official described Becerra as “an unfortunate choice” for his old job, while still another recalled, “He would go to brief the president and was not prepared at all, almost to the point where it was an embarrassment.”

Former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain, on the other hand, argued that ” Secretary Becerra was one of the most effective members of the president’s Cabinet and delivered on the president’s agenda very powerfully and had a record.”

From Stokols’s report:

Some of the former Biden officials acknowledge that Becerra’s rise, while confounding on one level, makes sense in the context of a lackluster Democratic field and a desire among many voters in a solidly blue state to settle on an acceptable Democratic candidate in an effort to ensure at least one finishes in the primary in the top two — avoiding a Democratic lockout.

“Most people don’t care if he actually wins because he’s better than [Tom] Steyer, and what other choice is there?” a fifth former official said.

Still, there’s little sugarcoating the resignation and lack of enthusiasm for his candidacy, or anyone else’s.

“There are a lot of administration alumni running for office across the country and most of them have been endorsed by Biden and Harris,” the fourth official noted. “That hasn’t happened for Becerra and it’s obvious, at least to most of us, as to why.”

Becerra has seen his star rise after the campaign of the previous frontrunner, Eric Swalwell, imploded amidst numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against the then-congressman.

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