California’s likely future governor Xavier Becerra continued his streak of awkward moments with the press — stumbling over a fundraising question and botching the name of a Dem ally in an excruciating interview with a San Francisco news outlet.
The Democratic frontrunner, who has a considerable lead over his Republican rival Steve Hilton, was pressed by the San Francisco Standard’s comedy correspondent Sophia Garrow on some key details of his campaign.
In the new interview, Garrow asked Becerra if there are any companies he wouldn’t accept money from — alluding to criticism that the former HHS secretary took huge checks from Big Oil and other special interests during the gubernatorial primary campaign.
“Sure,” Becerra responded.
What followed was an agonizing pause, then a small laugh.
“Such as?” Garrow followed up.
“Name some,” Becerra replied.
The longtime California Dem said he wouldn’t accept money from Palantir, which has reportedly provided data analytics software and other technology to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He said he’d be okay with defense contractor Lockheed Martin, however.
There was a back-and-forth about Purdue Pharma, as Becerra shared he had sued the company for allegedly causing the opioid crisis as attorney general.
“But would you accept money from them?” Garrow asked.
He answered: “I mean if it’s a legitimate business and they’re doing business in a way that isn’t destroying lives — “
“But they sparked the opioid crisis,” she noted.
“I mean, that’s why you go to jail, if you commit a crime, and you served your time, you get to come out. That doesn’t mean for the rest of your life,” he later said, adding he believed in “redemption” for bad companies.
During the primary race, Becerra caught heat from Democratic rivals for accepting huge corporate donations from the likes of Chevron, which gave his campaign a max contribution of $39,200.
To the dismay of environmentalists, the former AG defended the money and said Chevron is “not the bad guy” back in April.
The Standard also displayed in a screen grab of Becerra’s endorsement page, which touted his support from “Mayor David Lurie” of San Francisco. The mayor’s name is Daniel.
“What’s your relationship like with David?” Garrow asked.
“Growing,” Becerra responded. “He’s done a number of important things, amazing things.”
“Do you think David’s been good for San Francisco?” she continued, using the wrong name.
“I think San Franciscans would say, on the whole, he has,” the candidate replied without ever correcting her.
The Post viewed the endorsement page late Tuesday, which appears to have fixed the name.
Though the interview was meant to be a bit, many on social media found the clips hard to watch.
“Brutal watch,” one user commented.
“He doesn’t even know Mayor Daniel Lurie name… Hell NO! He won’t catch nothing,” another said.
In a similar interview with Hilton, The Standard’s Garrow roasted the Republican about his positions on ICE, transgender athletes, the cost of bananas and more.
Regardless, Becerra’s chances of winning the governor job look like a cakewalk.
About 58% of 4,512 likely voters surveyed from Sept. 15 to 20 said they supported Becerra, a former Health and Human Services secretary under former President Joe Biden, over the 33% who backed Hilton, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump.
The two candidates are scheduled to meet Wednesday in a nationally televised debate in Burbank hosted by CNN.
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