Amid Xavier Becerra’s surge to the top of California’s gubernatorial primary pack, large corporations started spending millions to boost his bid — a sign that they see him as the safe option over fellow Democratic front-runner, progressive billionaire Tom Steyer.
A pro-Becerra committee recently received significant cash dumps from major companies like McDonalds, which contributed $500,000, and Meta, which gave $950,000. Realtors, the California Medical Association, and tribes have also collectively given millions to support Becerra, who most recently served as President Joe Biden’s Health and Human Services secretary.
Energy companies in particular have shelled out to bump Becerra and block Steyer, a longtime climate activist who signed a pledge not to take fossil fuel money (opens in new tab) and said that he would take on big oil companies (opens in new tab) and break up the state’s major utilities as governor — long-shot promises that would require some assistance from the state Legislature but that have nonetheless appealed to young liberal voters.
Steyer has blasted Becerra’s financial ties to oil and gas companies as disqualifying for the next governor of California, a state on the frontier of clean energy policies.
He has pointed to a $500,000 donation this month from Chevron to the committee, which adds to the $39,200 the company gave directly to his campaign in June 2025.
Meanwhile, an anti-Steyer committee has raised some $33 million to block his rise, which includes more than $13 million from Pacific Gas and Electric and a union representing electrical workers and nearly $12 million from a pro-business committee that has received roughly $7 million combined from PG&E, Sempra Energy, Edison, and Chevron.
“Big Oil didn’t spend millions on Becerra by accident,” Steyer’s spokesperson Danni Wang said in a statement. “They’re buying ‘flexibility’ on drilling, and Californians will pay for it at the pump and in the air we breathe. Tom has spent his career fighting and beating these companies to bring costs down — that’s exactly why they’re trying to stop him.”
The flood of money comes as Becerra and Steyer duke it out in the polls for a shot out of the June 2 primary and onto the November ballot. Becerra, who was polling in the single digits only a handful of weeks ago, has emerged as the clear Democratic front-runner in recent polls, with Steyer and Republican Steve Hilton close behind.
Becerra supporters argue that the money flowing into his campaign and supporting committees is nothing compared to the more than $210 million Steyer has dumped into his bid from his fortune. And while Steyer has pitched himself to voters as a climate champion who will run Big Oil out of business, Becerra’s backers have noted that his billions came from his success at Farallon Capital (opens in new tab), the hedge fund he started in the 1980s that invests in the fossil fuel industry.
“‘Tom Steyer is a climate champion’ is a fallacy,” said Amelia Matier, a spokesperson for the anti-Steyer PAC California is Not for Sale. “The man claims to not take any donations from oil and gas, but he just spent $217 million of Farallon capital … which is energy money, on his own vanity project. The largest chunk of corporate money in this race comes from Tom Steyer’s own bank account.”
Similar criticism was cited in a cease-and-desist letter Becerra’s team sent to a pro-Steyer PAC on Saturday to stop an ad that tried to implicate the former HHS secretary in a corruption scandal.
“[Steyer] took every shortcut available to extreme wealth: sacrificing California’s environment and the health of historically marginalized communities on the altar of his own personal riches by expanding fossil fuel and coal development,” the missive read (opens in new tab).
Becerra’s campaign has also pointed to his time as California’s attorney general battling with the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency and his legal actions against the fossil fuel industry as proof that he isn’t beholden to their interests. They also noted his campaign has raised more than $3 million from small-dollar donors.
Matt Abularach-Macias, political and organizing director for California Environmental Voters, which endorsed Steyer, said it’s clear why oil and gas companies are interested in the race. The governor oversees the state budget, which dictates how much money goes into clean energy infrastructure, and has power over appointments to regulatory bodies that oversee the corporations making donations.
Whoever becomes California’s next governor will also have a say in the future of oil and gas production in the state and will be responsible for accomplishing ambitious climate goals that outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom has set during his time in office.
Abularach-Macias said California has experienced a “bit of a stall” in “advancing bold climate and energy policy.” Abularach-Macias said it’s not clear what Becerra’s climate agenda is or whether it’s aggressive enough.
“What is his climate agenda?” Abularach-Macias said. “What use is his record if he does not have a plan for what he would do as governor?”
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