Xavier Becerra drew criticism when he gave Gavin Newsom an “A for effort” on homelessness at the recent debate.

Talk about grade inflation. Homelessness is higher than it was when Newsom took office, despite modest recent improvements.

Becerra, too, has benefited from a kind of grade inflation as he has surged among Democratic candidates for governor.

No one knows why: He had no money, until recently, and still has no big endorsements. 

All that happened was that one Democratic consulting firm came out with a poll claiming he was surging.

The media suddenly had a frontrunner to replace Eric Swalwell.

That is a familiar pattern in Becerra’s career: He is unremarkable, until pushed into the limelight.

Becerra had been a junior player in Congress when then-Gov. Jerry Brown brought him back to California to fill in as attorney general after Kamala Harris left for the Senate. 

One problem: Becerra had not renewed his law license with the State Bar in over 20 years. 

Things went downhill from there.

For four years, Becerra did little, as crime surged across California. The one thing he did do was sue President Trump — over and over again. That remains his claim to fame among the candidates.

When Joe Biden won in 2020, he appointed Becerra to lead the Department of Health and Human Services — despite the fact that Becerra had no experience in, or knowledge about, health care.

In his new federal job, Becerra was responsible for enforcing the unpopular and unscientific vaccine mandates. His department also lost track of tens of thousands of migrant children during Biden’s border crisis.

Other than that, Becerra was mostly invisible.

His campaign for governor began with a fraud scandal: Dana Williamson, his former political adviser, and Sean McCluskie, his former chief of staff, were indicted for conspiring to steal money from Becerra’s former state campaign account. McCluskie has pleaded guilty. 

Becerra says he knew nothing about what was going on. But in a state rife with fraud from top to bottom, that does not inspire confidence about the kind of job he would do as governor.

Becerra is a status quo candidate. If elected, he will continue Newsom’s policies — which is why he is thought to be Newsom’s “dark horse” favorite.

If you think the status quo is working for California, Becerra is your candidate. 

(And there are half a dozen others who may also be your candidates, too.)

The Becerra surge is largely a creation of the media, and party insiders.

They are looking for a viable alternative to billionaire Tom Steyer, who appears out of touch, and former frontrunner Katie Porter, who appears to have a temper problem.

It’s possible Becerra will offer something new to voters. 

But there’s no evidence of that yet, nor any reason to distinguish him from the others.

California is at a crossroads. We need someone who is going to shake things up in Sacramento.

We haven’t heard Becerra make that case yet. If he wants the job, he needs to earn it.

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