Xavier Becerra is not governor material, according to former colleagues and Biden administration staffers who worked with the one-time Health and Human Services secretary.
In a scathing set of anonymous interviews with Politico, six Biden staffers spoke candidly about their view of the candidate, who is now the front-runner to succeed Gavin Newsom.
“It gets the biggest laugh every time we send around a poll,” one staffer told the outlet, referring to the numbers Becerra has managed to secure with just under a month until the June primaries.
Former colleagues who served in the Biden administration are struggling to wrap their heads around the concept of a Gov. Becerra.
“It’s like: ‘We need to figure out a candidate who can win!’ But then…him? Really?’” one told Politico. “It’s amazing.”
Another said he has become the face of the race for one simple reason: “What other choice is there?”
“Most people don’t care if he actually wins because he’s better than Steyer,” the former staffer added.
One staffer said Becerra was an “unfortunate choice” when Biden picked him to lead the federal department responsible for public health, health care, and human and social services.
“He ran one of the most consequential agencies in government at the height of the pandemic. But he took a backseat to Dr. Fauci and his team, didn’t visibly lead on implementation and had to go through layers to get to POTUS even as a Cabinet member,” a former staffer told Politico.
Another person said he was “very good at being a politician,” but fell short when it came to doing his job.
“When he was attorney general, the formula was: you file a lawsuit. When you’re a member of Congress, you help your constituents and you introduce legislation,” the individual said, discussing Becerra’s previous roles in government.
“When people noticed he wasn’t cut out for [the Cabinet] was when there was a crisis — it was clear he didn’t know how to handle that.”
Another telling sign is the lack of high-level endorsements for Becerra. While Newsom has stayed relatively removed from the race and not endorsed a successor, he reportedly favors Becerra.
Biden, who put him on the national stage, has not endorsed him — all while showing support for other former staffers.
“There are a lot of administration alumni running for office across the country and most of them have been endorsed by Biden and [Kamal] Harris. That hasn’t happened for Becerra and it’s obvious, at least to most of us, as to why,” one staffer said.
Other issues dogging the former Health secretary are his handling of the COVID-19 response and the migrant crisis at the Mexican border.
“He would go to brief the president and was not prepared at all, almost to the point where it was an embarrassment,” one staffer recalled. “Biden would pepper him with questions and he would not be able to answer them.”
Biden’s former Justice Department communications director, Xochitl Hinojosa, said Becerra was ineffective after his CNN debate Tuesday.
“A lot of people in the Biden administration are talking about this because they realize that he was not an effective HHS secretary,” she said. “And if you ask any Cabinet secretary, they would tell you the same thing.”
One former White House staffer who has endorsed Becerra for governor dismissed these concerns as coming from “more junior people.”
“I think Secretary Becerra was one of the most effective members of the president’s Cabinet and delivered on the president’s agenda very powerfully and had a record,” Ron Klain told Politico.
A late-April EMC poll found Becerra leading the entire race with 24% support from likely voters, with Trump-endorsed Republican Steve Hilton trailing just behind at 23% and billionaire Democrat Steyer at 15%.
Another recent poll paid for by the California Is Not For Sale PAC also had Becerra tied for the lead with Hilton at 19%.
The California Post contacted Becerra’s campaign for comment.
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