By The Epoch Times | Created at 2025-04-03 01:11:24 | Updated at 2025-04-03 22:35:36
21 hours ago
Xavier Becerra joins a growing field of top-tier candidates vying to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.
President Joe Biden’s former health secretary, Xavier Becerra, wants to be California’s next governor, he announced April 2.
“I watched my parents, a construction worker and a clerical worker, achieve the California dream,” Becerra said in a social media video Wednesday. “Can we do that today with this affordability crisis? Very tough. But we’ve taken on these tough fights.
“California has succeeded in those tough fights and become the economic engine of this country,” he said. “We can do that, but you need a leader who can be tough.”
Before leading Biden’s pandemic response, the 67-year-old politician served in the state legislature from 1990 to 1992, and spent 24 years as a United States congressman representing Los Angeles, and then as California’s attorney general from 2017 to 2021.
Becerra said California needed a “leader who can be tough.”
“I’ve been in those tough fights, whether if it was as a member of Congress when we helped draft and pass the Affordable Care Act, when I was attorney general for our great state of California, and I took on the Trump administration the first time ... or whether as secretary of Health and Human Services, I took on the pharmaceutical industry, and we negotiated lower prescription drug prices for seniors under Medicare,” Becerra said.
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Becerra filed over 100 lawsuits against the first Trump administration, he said in his video Wednesday.
“Real change comes with our participation,” Becerra added. “I’m looking forward to seeing you, because together we will rebuild the California dream.”
He was born in Sacramento, Calif., and is the son of working-class parents, according to his federal biography. His mother was born in Jalisco, Mexico, and immigrated to the United States after marrying his father, a day laborer and later construction worker.
He was the first in his family to earn a four-year degree—a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University. He also earned a law degree from the Northern California private university.
Becerra is married to Carolina Reyes and has three daughters.
COVID-19 Work
Biden chose Becerra during the COVID-19 pandemic to oversee the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Food and Drug Administration, among other departments.
Health Secretary Xavier Becerra speaks during a press conference at HHS headquarters in Washington on June 28, 2022. He vowed to fight for Californians in a video announcing his bid for the California governor's seat on April 2, 2025. Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
In 2021, Becerra approved a federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate by the CMS for health-care workers at federally funded facilities, which was challenged and eventually upheld in the Supreme Court.
A lawsuit filed in January in U.S. District Court for the District of Colombia on behalf of Paul Brundage, who says he was injured by a COVID-19 vaccine, alleges Becerra failed to include the vaccine in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which provides financial compensation to individuals who are found to have been injured by a qualified vaccine.
According to the federal government, 13,706 claims in the United States have been filed through the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program for alleged severe injuries or deaths caused by federal countermeasures to COVID-19, including the vaccine, as of March 1.
A nurse fills up syringes in Waterford, Michigan, on April 8, 2022. Former U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra approved federal mandates for the COVID-19 vaccine. Emily Elconin/Reuters
A December 2024 report by the House Energy and Commerce Committee also found Becerra failed to sign legal documents and follow the legal process required by the Constitution and federal law in the reappointment of 14 National Institutes of Health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Crowded Field
Becerra joins a growing field of gubernatorial candidates vying for the top spot in California. The two candidates with the most votes in the primary will move to the 2026 general election, regardless of political affiliation.
Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) speaks during a rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on June 22, 2023. She is one of several candidates for California governor in 2026. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Some of the big-name Democrats running to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom include former Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), former state Sen. Toni Atkins, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, state public schools Superintendent Tony Thurmond, former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former State Controller Betty Yee, and former deputy secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency Michael Younger.
Sheriff Chad Bianco of Riverside County speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on May 15, 2024. Bianco, a Republican, is running for California governor. Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
Public speculation has also swirled around a possible run by former Vice President Kamala Harris, though she has not made a formal statement about entering the race.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, has also launched a bid for governor.
