The Democrats are known for being radical these days. But one Democrat is more radical than the rest.
And this extremist Democrat just made a huge election announcement with stunning consequences.
Becerra’s Gubernatorial Bid: A Radical Abortion Extremist Eyes California’s Top Job
Xavier Becerra, the former health secretary under President Joe Biden and one of the most uncompromisingly radical Democrats on abortion, has thrown his hat into the ring to become California’s next governor. In a move that promises to shake up an already crowded field, Becerra announced his candidacy on Wednesday in a short, no-frills video shared first with POLITICO. The former California attorney general, who has been eyeing the state’s top job for over a year, is diving headfirst into a race that could see him squaring off against Vice President Kamala Harris—though his campaign insists he won’t back down even if she joins the fray.
“I watched my parents — a construction worker and a clerical worker — achieve the California dream,” Becerra said in his bare-bones, direct-to-camera pitch. “Can we do that today, with this affordability crisis? Very tough. But we’ve taken on these tough fights. … We can do that, but you need a leader who can be tough.” It’s a gritty, everyman appeal from a man whose career has been defined less by relatability and more by his relentless pursuit of far-left causes—none more divisive than his unyielding push for unrestricted abortion access.
Becerra’s entry injects fresh drama into a gubernatorial contest that had been languishing as Democrats and their big-money donors waited to see if Harris would make a move. The race has recently heated up, with former Rep. Katie Porter launching her bid last month and other hopefuls taking sharper jabs at Harris for her indecision. But Becerra, at 67, isn’t waiting around. He’s framing himself as the seasoned warrior ready to tackle California’s sprawling challenges and take on President Donald Trump, whom he sued over 120 times as attorney general during Trump’s first term. Yet it’s his radical stance on abortion that casts the longest shadow over his candidacy—and raises the most troubling questions about what kind of governor he’d be.
As California’s attorney general from 2017 to 2021, Becerra turned the office into a battering ram for abortion extremism. He notoriously prosecuted undercover journalists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt for exposing Planned Parenthood’s alleged sale of fetal tissue, charging them with 15 felonies in a case critics decried as a blatant attack on free speech and a favor to the abortion industry.
He also sued the Trump administration to defend California’s mandate forcing pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise abortion services—a policy the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in 2018 as a violation of free speech. Becerra’s contempt for pro-life advocates didn’t stop there; he championed laws requiring insurers to cover elective abortions and fought to ensure abortion remained unfettered, even as other states moved to protect the unborn.
His tenure as Biden’s health secretary only doubled down on this agenda. Becerra used his perch at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which he touted as managing over 85,000 employees, to prop up the Affordable Care Act and aggressively defend abortion rights.
He pushed to expand access to abortion pills and backed policies that critics say steamrolled conscience protections for healthcare workers opposed to the procedure. While he faced flak for the administration’s botched response to migrant children at the border and his limited influence on Covid policy, Becerra found his stride in turning HHS into a megaphone for abortion-on-demand—a legacy that’s less a badge of honor than a red flag for Californians who value life.
Ironically, Becerra’s campaign launch coincided with the Trump administration’s purge of HHS, a department he once led. He’s been on the airwaves calling the firings a “man-made disaster,” but his own record there is hardly spotless. Democrats reportedly had little faith Biden would keep him on for a second term—or that he’d even want to stay. Now, he’s betting his decades in public office—30 years in California’s legislature and Congress, plus his stints as attorney general and health secretary—will convince voters he’s the steady hand to lead the nation’s most populous state.
Becerra’s resume is long, no doubt. He climbed the ranks in Congress, serving on the Ways and Means Committee and as Democratic Caucus chair, and played a key role in the failed Obama-era immigration reform talks. Appointed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown to replace Harris as attorney general, he became the face of California’s legal resistance to Trump. Yet for all his time in the spotlight, he remains a relative unknown to many voters. Polls peg his support in the single digits, though his 2018 attorney general win—netting nearly 7.8 million votes—shows he can turn out the base when it counts.
Aiming to be California’s first Latino governor in 150 years, Becerra could tap into the state’s huge but fickle Latino voting bloc. He’s not alone in that quest, though—former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state schools chief Tony Thurmond, both Latino, are also in the mix, threatening to split that vote. Becerra and Villaraigosa’s rivalry adds another layer of intrigue; both hail from Los Angeles and ran for mayor in 2001, where Becerra flamed out with just 5 percent while Villaraigosa came closer to victory. This time, Becerra hopes his statewide and national experience will give him the edge.
His campaign team is stacked with Democratic heavyweights, including Kyle Layman, who helped Adam Schiff win a Senate seat, and AL Media handling his ads. But the real question isn’t about logistics—it’s about ideology. Becerra’s refusal to bend on abortion, even at the expense of free speech and religious liberty, paints him as a radical unfit to lead a state as diverse as California. His tough-talking video may nod to affordability and the California dream, but his track record screams a different priority: a governor who’d sacrifice anything—and anyone—to keep abortion unrestricted. Voters deserve better than that.
The Federalist Wire will keep you updated on any major news ahead of the 2026 California gubernatorial race.
