SACRAMENTO — Xavier Becerra will be the next governor of California.
The Democrat beat Republican Steve Hilton on Tuesday, the Associated Press projected, and will succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom. Becerra, a former state attorney general, former U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services and longtime Los Angeles congressman, will be California’s first Latino governor since 1875.
Oakland saw it coming
One week before the election, Becerra met with Black elected officials, faith leaders, labor representatives and civic leaders at Oakstop, a Black-owned co-working space in Oakland, California Black Media reported. Black Women Organized for Political Action had already endorsed him.
Ken Maxey, president and CEO of the Urban League of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, didn’t wait for the returns. “We are blessed to be able to say that Xavier Becerra will be our next governor,” Maxey said that night.
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee was there too. “I’ve known Xavier and I know what he will do as governor,” she said. “He’s grounded. He’s steady. He listens.”
At that reception, Becerra promised to expand affordable housing, improve health care and education, support Black-owned businesses and defend diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
“I didn’t run to make history. I ran to make a difference,” Becerra told supporters in West Sacramento, CalMatters reported. He said his parents, Mexican immigrants, arrived in California with $12.
He described his goal as “simple but not straightforward: deliver a California we can afford, and defend a California we can’t afford to lose.”
Californians, he said, “just want a government that works, a government that can build things.” And to anyone afraid of what’s coming out of Washington: “There’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s got a law degree and a union card.”
Hilton concedes
Hilton conceded about an hour after polls closed, speaking to supporters in Garden Grove. “Change may be delayed, but change is coming,” he said. He wished Becerra well.
What’s next
Becerra ran on experience more than sweeping promises. He backs the state’s recent push to build more housing and its shift to clean energy, and says he wants to bring down gas prices. He takes office in January.
This report draws on the Associated Press, CalMatters and California Black Media.
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