Becerra will be the manager of a work horse, not a show horse

from Dan WaltersCalMatters

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In the eight decades since the end of World War II, 11 men have done so served as governor of California — counting Jerry Brown twice.

Six, beginning with Earl Warren, have been Republicans, and the remaining five, including current Governor Gavin Newsom, have been Democrats.

However, there is another way of distinguishing their governorships – whether they were content to rule or whether they yearned for higher office. It’s also a 6-5 split, the majority having national ambitions and the minority focusing on governance.

Newsom has about six months left in his governorship, after which he will almost certainly launch his presidential campaign. He is in the same aspirational category as Warren, the 1948 Republican nominee for vice president who later became Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.

Another Republican governor, Ronald Reagan, sought and won the presidency. The other four – Goodwin Knight, George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger – largely stuck to management.

The same could be said for Democrats Pat Brown and Gray Davis, while Pat Brown’s son Jerry had two very different positions as governorwho ran twice for president and once for the U.S. Senate in his first eight years, but stuck with the post after returning to the governor’s office 28 years later.

This piece of gubernatorial history sets the stage for what will likely be another governing-oriented Democrat regime Xavier Becerra.

Becerra will against Republican Steve Hilton in the November general election and is the overwhelming favorite. It’s been two decades since a Republican won statewide office in California (Schwarzenegger’s 2006 re-election), and Democrats hold a very large advantage over the GOP in registered voters, 45% to 25%.

Given the odds in Becerra’s favor, some speculation about his upcoming governorship is warranted.

On a personal level, Becerra is a 180-degree departure from the verbose, ever-bragging Newsom. He is soft-spoken, obviously proud of his origins as the son of working-class immigrants in Sacramento, and staunch union ally. Instead of climbing the political ladder one rung at a time, as Newsom did, Becerra advanced largely through appointments.

After stints as a state Department of Justice attorney and legislative aide, Becerra served one term in the state Assembly, spent 24 years as a congressman from Southern California and was appointed attorney general in 2017 by Jerry Brown, filling the vacancy caused by the election of Kamala Harris to the Senate. Four years later, President-elect Joe Biden named him Secretary of Health and Human Services. He left office last year and launched his campaign for governor shortly after.

Becerra seemed stuck in the lower tier of candidates and was unlikely to make the primary until fate intervened.

In April, Congressman Eric Swwell, who was leading in the polls, withdrawn from the race and resigned from Congress amid allegations of sexual harassment and abuse, leaving billionaire Tom Steyer as the leading candidate.

But overnight, or so it seemed, business interests, unions and other elements of the political establishment poured money and other resources into Becerra’s campaign. That ultimately led to a top seed in the primary and a spot on the November ballot.

Given his background, it’s unlikely that as governor Becerra will try to garner attention, as Jerry Brown did in the 1970s and Newsom since 2019. He will have many issues that remain unresolved, including homelessness and housing crises, poverty and the loss of business and population from California to other states.

Becerra’s governorship will likely resemble that of Brown’s second stint, dealing with real issues rather than grandstanding. That would be a good role model.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.