Political Scandal Threatens Xavier Becerra's Bid For CA Governor

Xavier Becerra has made headlines in recent days, but not in ways likely to help his bid for California governor next year.

President Joe Biden's former Health Secretary isn't being accused of any wrongdoing, but a massive scandal involving his closest aides is raising questions about his competency.

The former state attorney general, who served in Congress for 12 terms, reportedly didn’t learn that he and other top Democrats' aides had allegedly conspired to siphon money from their own campaigns until federal investigators approached him.

While the spotlight was initially focused on Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has publicly weighed a 2028 presidential run, that attention has shifted over to Becerra's own bid for Newsom's seat.

“If I was a voter looking at this, [I’d ask] why don’t you know?” Doug Herman, a Los Angeles-based Democratic consultant, told Politico. “And isn’t it incumbent upon people in those positions to know those answers? That’s why we elect them. That’s what we look to them to know."

In an opinion piece published by the Los Angeles Times on Monday, columnist George Skelton wrote, "I can hear it already: 'If the man who wants to be governor can’t protect his own political funds, he shouldn’t be trusted to safeguard your tax money.'"

"That might not be fair, but this is big-time politics. And the word “fair” isn’t in the political dictionary," Skelton penned.

Becerra sought to shift the conversation back to his record during a recent Politico interview, emphasizing that his qualifications — not the scandal surrounding his team — should guide voters’ judgments. He pointed to his legal battles against the Trump administration, his management of the Covid-19 response and his work lowering Medicare drug costs as accomplishments that outweigh the misconduct of former aides.

“We did some phenomenal things. We’ve had some great successes, and those successes included some of these folks who now are going to pay the price for wrongdoing,” Becerra said. “That doesn’t mean that we didn’t achieve some great things.”

Newsom's former chief of staff, Dana Williamson and two other political operatives associated with the state's most powerful Democrats — Greg Campbill and Sean McCluskie — have been accused of fraud and siphoning campaign funds for themselves. All have agreed to plead guilty, according to multiple reports.

McCluskie was an aide to Becerra for years, following Becerra to Washington in 2021 to be his top aide.

Williamson and McCluskie have been accused of conspiring to siphon monthly payments from a dormant Becerra state campaign account.

Prosecutors said $225,000 was pilfered from Becerra's account over two years.

The news comes as recent controversies also damaged Orange County Rep. Katie Porter's chances at winning the 2026 governor's race, a new poll indicates.

While Porter was initially the front-runner for Newsom's seat, she has now dropped below Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, according to a poll released last week by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies.

And despite speculation, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla announced last Tuesday that he would not enter the governor's race.

The poll found that just 8 percent of voters would support Becerra, while 13 percent would support Bianco.

“The results suggest that the governor’s race remains wide open; with many Democratic voters still far from decided," IGS Co-Director Eric Schickler said. "Now that Proposition 50 has passed, the candidates will need to now seize the opportunity to get voters’ attention."