From fading to front-runner, Becerra draws cheers at Sac State rally
Six weeks ago, Democrat Xavier Becerra’s campaign for governor was running on fumes, struggling to raise money or stand out in a crowded field.
All of that felt like a distant memory on Monday night, when Becerra, now the leading Democrat ahead of the June 2 primary, was met with roars of approval from a hometown crowd of at least 700 people at Sacramento State.
With early voting underway, the former state attorney general kept the event brief and upbeat. Becerra said he had the experience and leadership chops to take on “the big menace in Washington, D.C.” and lower costs for Californians. He took three questions, drawn from a pool collected by his campaign, and made final remarks encouraging supporters to vote. In all, Becerra was on stage for less than 25 minutes.
Becerra appeared visibly excited at his change in fortunes, smiling through much of the event. He kept his rhetoric expansive rather than drilling into policy details.
“I think people are hungry — hungry for something they can believe in, hungry for something they can trust,” he said.
Becerra peppered his speech with bursts of Spanish. If he wins, Becerra would be the first elected Latino governor in California history, just as he previously was the first Latino attorney general and first Latino to serve as U.S. secretary of health and human services.
“Yo tengo que andar,” Becerra said. “I know with whom I walk. I walk with you.”
The Sacramento native shot up in the polls after former Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race last month, catching all but his most stalwart supporters by surprise. A poll commissioned by the California Democratic Party released last week showed he was tied for first place with Republican Steve Hilton at 18% support.
Becerra’s campaign has scrambled to beef up staffing, fundraising and policy positions. It released a comprehensive housing plan last week, months after some other candidates in the race.
In debates and TV ads, rivals have questioned Becerra’s role in a corruption scandal involving a former campaign aide who pleaded guilty last year to diverting $225,000 from Becerra’s dormant campaign account to pad his salary.
Becerra has not been charged with any wrongdoing. In brief remarks to reporters Monday, he reiterated that he had cooperated with authorities in the investigation of the case and that he was “not involved in those actions.”
Becerra also responded to criticism stemming from his handling of child migrants while serving under former President Joe Biden. In 2023, the New York Times published a Pulitzer-winning investigation into a spike in child migrants forced into labor; it found Becerra encouraged faster processing of child migrants into homes that had not been fully vetted.
Speaking to reporters Monday evening, Becerra continued to characterize attacks on his record on the issue as “Trump lies.”
“We took over from an administration that had been putting kids in cages,” Becerra said. “We had to quickly be able to stand up the facilities to take care of children. And that’s what we did. What employers did after they left our care, after they left our jurisdiction where the exploitation of children may have occurred, was not on my watch.”
The attacks don’t appear to have dissuaded Becerra supporters like Martha Torres-Montoya, a retired health educator who said she’d known Becerra and his wife for more than four decades.
“He’s worked at all different levels in the system,” she said. “When you bring in a new politician who doesn’t know anything, they think they’re going to change it overnight. And come on, let’s be realistic.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "From fading to front-runner, Becerra draws cheers at Sac State rally."
