Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton each acknowledge that AI poses real risks. But when pressed on concrete policy — including two measures Newsom directed state agencies to study Friday — both candidates offered more caution than commitment.

The issue has taken on new urgency after an Anthropic researcher resigned last week, warning on social media that the people developing AI “earnestly believe it could kill us all by the end of the decade.” That declaration has reignited debate in California, home to much of the nation’s AI industry, over how aggressively the state should regulate the technology.

In an interview Thursday, Hilton called AI safety a “very urgent priority” and said he’s open to requiring AI developers to submit to outside safety reviews. But by Friday, he had ruled out backing Newsom’s proposal to require a so-called “kill switch” that could shut down AI systems during an emergency, dismissing the idea as “a gimmick.” He also declined to endorse mandatory third-party monitoring, saying he’s wary of rushing into “really bad regulation” amid the current wave of public alarm.

Becerra’s campaign did not make him available for an interview but issued a written statement asserting that “California cannot accept technology that poses catastrophic risks to public safety.” Spokesperson Jonathan Underland said that as governor, Becerra “will set firm guardrails around real harms — including harms that could emerge when AI accelerates dangerous capabilities or operates beyond human oversight — and ensure California’s AI safety laws are actively enforced.”

Becerra currently holds a commanding 22-point lead over Hilton, according to a new Public Policy Institute of California survey released this week, as the two prepare to face off in November to succeed Newsom.

Newsom, for his part, issued an executive order Friday directing state agencies to draft AI safety recommendations — including external evaluations and kill-switch requirements — by Nov. 16. That timeline has fueled speculation that the governor could call a special legislative session before leaving office to push the proposals into law. Notably, Newsom vetoed similar legislation, Senate Bill 1047, two years ago.

Underland would not say whether Becerra intends to adopt whatever recommendations emerge from Newsom’s review. Hilton, despite rejecting the kill-switch idea, said he supports the broader effort to convene an expert panel and would do something similar if elected.

Advocates pushing for stronger AI oversight argue California’s role is increasingly critical, especially as President Donald Trump has downplayed AI safety warnings in favor of accelerating development to compete globally. “The incoming governor has a really grave responsibility to make sure we get this right,” said Scott Wisor, policy director at the national Secure AI Project. “I think it should be the very top priority for them when they come into office.”

Public anxiety over AI is growing nationwide — roughly half of Americans say they fear the technology could cost someone in their household a job — and concerns about data center construction have become a bipartisan flashpoint heading into the November election. Still, California remains one of the few states actively working to address the most extreme AI risks, such as the potential for an AI system to help create a bioweapon or disrupt the power grid.

Last year, Newsom signed Senate Bill 53, which requires large AI developers to disclose how they manage catastrophic risks — defined as incidents that could cause 50 or more deaths, unleash chemical or biological weapons, or result in more than $1 billion in damages. The law also mandates that companies report safety incidents involving death, injury or “materialized catastrophic harm.” Industry advocates, however, continue to caution against overregulation, wary of driving away a sector that has become a major economic engine for the Bay Area and a significant source of state tax revenue.

The political climate around AI has shifted dramatically in a short time. State Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, a Napa Democrat who chairs the Legislature’s privacy and technology committee, recalled that just two years ago, any conversation about AI risk had to be immediately balanced with optimistic talk about the technology’s potential to cure diseases. “There is no doubt the conversation has changed,” he said.

That shift follows a string of unsettling incidents. Over the summer, hundreds of OpenAI’s automated agents reportedly broke free of a controlled testing environment, accessed the internet and coordinated a cyberattack against the startup Hugging Face. Both OpenAI and Anthropic have since disclosed additional cases of AI systems behaving unpredictably.

Some industry leaders are now embracing outside oversight. Both Anthropic and OpenAI have pledged, as part of broader calls to slow development, to grant external evaluators employee-level access to their systems. Seve Christian, California policy director at Encode AI — the group behind the law requiring disclosure of catastrophic risks — wants the state to go further and establish minimum safety standards AI products must meet before public release, comparable to how regulators certify the safety of aircraft or pharmaceuticals. Christian said his organization, which has donated to Becerra’s campaign, is “cautiously optimistic” about the candidate’s general stance on tougher rules.

Bahrad Sokhansanj, a senior research scholar at the Institute for Law and AI, said California also needs to ensure it has the legal authority to intervene directly and shut down a rogue AI system in an emergency — for instance, if one were found orchestrating a cyberattack on critical infrastructure like a power plant. “Everything we have now was designed for malware, or the cybersecurity problems of 10 or 15 years ago,” he said.

When asked directly this week whether Becerra supports mandatory kill switches and third-party monitoring, Underland offered only a general commitment, saying Becerra “will ensure California’s existing AI safety requirements are actively enforced, he will close the gaps that allow bad actors to evade accountability, and strengthen standards as the technology evolves.” Underland said the campaign has consulted with AI researchers, economists, advocates and industry figures but declined to identify them.

Hilton, meanwhile, has been openly skeptical of the industry’s own doomsday warnings, calling them “reckless and irresponsible.” “If they really believed what they were doing, that they’re about to try and raise money to do more of, would end the human race, they would stop working on it immediately,” he said. “It’s just obvious that they don’t really mean it.”

Instead, Hilton has emphasized narrower, more immediate steps. He said that on his first day in office, he would push for a statewide ban on AI use in public schools, following the lead of school districts in New York and Los Angeles. He has also endorsed Senate Bill 947, now awaiting Newsom’s signature, which would bar employers from relying solely on automated systems to discipline or terminate workers — a position that aligns him with the California Labor Federation and puts him at odds with the California Chamber of Commerce, both of which have endorsed Becerra.

Underland said Becerra supports “clear, proportionate, and workable transparency and human review standards for high-stakes automated decisions that affect a person’s livelihood,” though he stopped short of endorsing the specific bill.

Original source: CalMatters

The post Becerra, Hilton Stop Short of Endorsing Newsom’s AI Safety Proposals appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Hilton, who has been endorsed by President Trump in the governor’s race, told supporters he would dismantle the DMV and shift its responsibilities to a mix of online systems and county-run offices. He’s also floating a flat $73 annual vehicle registration fee — a sharp cut from what some Californians currently pay, with certain registration bills climbing as high as $1,000.

The proposal carries echoes of a similar political moment more than two decades ago, when Arnold Schwarzenegger rode voter frustration over vehicle license fee hikes under Gov. Gray Davis to the governor’s office in 2003, famously blasting Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” at campaign stops.

Hilton described the DMV as a “bloated, nanny state, bureaucratic agency” and argued that eliminating it fits into his broader affordability push. He noted that California is among a small group of roughly 10 states that still operate a standalone DMV.

“You’re being ripped off by your government,” Hilton said. “They are gouging you with the DMV and vehicle registration. They charge the highest vehicle registration in the country for the worst roads in the country.”

Under his plan, the state’s nearly 170 DMV field offices scattered across California would be repurposed as afterschool programs and job-training centers.

Hilton is scheduled to face Democratic rival Xavier Becerra in their first one-on-one debate, a CNN-hosted event set for Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. in Los Angeles. Hilton, who has pushed for multiple debates, told reporters he was glad to finally get Becerra “out of the basement,” pointing to his opponent’s limited public appearances since winning the June primary.

**Other stories making news across California**

Voters this November will decide between two Democrats — state Sen. Ben Allen of El Segundo and former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim — for California’s next insurance commissioner. The job carries more weight than many residents realize: the office regulates whether insurance is available and affordable, and holds companies accountable, particularly as wildfire risk drives up premiums statewide. Last year, Commissioner Ricardo Lara introduced rules letting insurers factor in future catastrophe risk rather than relying solely on past data — a shift expected to push rates higher for many homeowners.

The Trump administration has backed off proposed housing rules that would have restricted how fair housing groups pursue discrimination cases. Nearly a dozen states, including California, sued over the rules in March, which threatened funding for organizations investigating bias based on sexual orientation, gender identity, language, criminal history or income source. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development agreed last week not to enforce the restrictions, though separate litigation over a related grant program overhaul remains unresolved after a federal judge blocked those changes in August.

State regulators have ordered Health Net, one of the nation’s largest Medicaid insurers, to keep providing assisted living benefits through the end of the year. The company had planned to end coverage for some members as early as October, a move that would have affected roughly 3,500 low-income Californians who depend on the benefit to afford assisted living care.

Original source: CalMatters

The post California Should Scrap the DMV, Hilton Says appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

If the Democratic candidate’s promises sound vague to the California voters who polls show favor him heavily heading into November, he has an explanation rooted in a decision he made more than three decades ago.

As a freshman congressman from the Los Angeles area, Becerra campaigned against the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993, only to be talked into voting for it after being assured that labor protections and a domestic loan program would shield American workers and small businesses from foreign competition. Within a few years, he recalled in an interview with CalMatters, American jobs disappeared anyway.

For the young lawmaker, it was a formative lesson that has stuck with him ever since: don’t back anything until you’re certain.

“Nobody gets my vote unless I know with absolute certainty who I’m voting for,” he said.

Becerra went on to serve twelve terms in Congress, rising into House Democratic leadership, before becoming California’s first Latino attorney general and later the nation’s first Latino secretary of health and human services. Now, as he closes in on the governor’s office, he’s bringing that same instinct for caution — along with a determined effort to avoid overpromising.

As a result, he has largely avoided laying out specific policy targets, resisting pressure to take firm positions or commit to measurable goals. Instead, he leans on his record, arguing that his best pitch to voters is a demonstrated ability to run government effectively.

To fund the state’s public health programs, he says he wants to cut administrative waste and fraudulent billing — without detailing how or how much that would actually save. On housing, he has criticized fellow Democrats for setting what he calls unrealistic targets, like building 2 or 3 million new homes in a four-year term. Yet even as he considers a more modest goal — perhaps doubling the state’s current housing production of roughly 106,000 units annually — he hesitates to commit, worried it “could end up being an overpromise.”

No Incentive to Take Risks

That caution stands in sharp contrast not only to the Democratic rivals Becerra defeated in the primary, but also to his Republican opponent, Steve Hilton, who has rolled out a long list of specific policies and bold pledges — $3-a-gallon gas and halved electricity bills through a deregulation agenda chief among them. Outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fellow Democrat, won office in 2018 on a platform loaded with ambitious promises: millions of new homes, universal health care, aggressive climate rules, universal preschool and more. He didn’t deliver on all of them.

While this year’s other candidates zeroed in on proposals to rein in insurance regulations or utility spending as a way to address the state’s high cost of living, Becerra has instead proposed declaring a state of emergency so officials can study the root causes of high electricity and insurance rates — effectively putting off decisions on what to do about them until later.

He’s also been noncommittal about whether he’d keep California’s mandate phasing out sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035.

“If we invest in it, it’s absolutely doable,” he said on stage at a Politico event last week. “If we don’t invest in the infrastructure, then it’s not doable.”

He also said there’s “a lot of room for improvement” in AI regulation and that the state “could acquire stakes in AI companies to make sure we all benefit from this new technology.” But speaking to reporters afterward, he backed away from endorsing such a policy outright, saying only that “if something like that existed, it wouldn’t be entirely far-fetched.”

Becerra’s vague positioning is “a classic example of political science,” said Melissa Michelson, a political science professor at Menlo College.

Given California’s heavy Democratic voter registration advantage, Becerra is likely to win his general election matchup against Hilton regardless. He doesn’t need to do much to win over fellow Democrats — just enough to motivate liberal voters to actually turn out in the final weeks before November, Michelson said.

“He has no incentive to take risks on policy,” she said. “He doesn’t want to mess up, he doesn’t want to do anything crazy.”

But Becerra’s risk aversion appears to run deeper than simply avoiding controversy. Asked on stage last week what voters could expect from him as governor, he declined to name a single concrete policy commitment.

“I’d rather not build my campaign on overblown promises,” he said. “I’ll run on my record.”

Weighing Things Carefully

Born in Sacramento to working-class Mexican immigrant parents and educated at Stanford Law School, the 68-year-old Becerra rose to political prominence during a wave of Latino political activism in the early 1990s.

In 1990, he won a State Assembly seat in a surprise victory representing suburbs east of Los Angeles. Two years later, he was elected to Congress in a reliably Democratic district, where he served until 2017. During those years, he and his wife, OB-GYN Carolina Reyes, relocated to Washington, D.C., and raised three daughters. The couple has since resettled in Sacramento.

Former colleagues describe Becerra as meticulous — the kind of boss who would send back memos over spelling errors and treat even a few thousand dollars in costs as a potential “fiscal impact” worth scrutinizing when reviewing legislation affecting the attorney general’s office. On policy matters, they said, he consistently focused on how proposals would affect immigrants or lower- and middle-income Americans.

“I think he always kept people like his parents in mind,” said Sirat Attapit, who worked for Becerra in Congress and later served as his liaison to the California Legislature when he was attorney general. “You could tell from the kinds of questions he asked that it was always on his mind.”

Attapit said Becerra’s reputation for slow, careful decision-making reflected sound policymaking, allowing him to weigh multiple viewpoints “even if we had diametrically opposed positions.” In the early 2010s, Becerra was part of a bipartisan group of House members who met privately to hash out immigration reform.

“He was thoughtful and methodical, to the point where maybe some of his colleagues thought he overanalyzed things or took too long to decide,” Attapit said. “To make a decision, he needed to be well informed and hear from all the stakeholders. He wanted to hear from everyone who had an opinion.”

That approach was on full display in one of his more controversial decisions as attorney general. In 2019, he declined to release police misconduct investigation records as required under a new state transparency law. Police unions had challenged the law in court, arguing it could jeopardize officers’ privacy.

Becerra said he would wait for further guidance from judges on whether the law applied retroactively to older records sought by journalists — even after an appeals court ruled those records were public. Brian Marvel, president of the influential Peace Officers Research Association of California, said he appreciated the attorney general’s caution.

“He just wanted to make sure there was clear direction on what needed to be released,” Marvel said.

But David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, said it was clear the law covered the records being requested and called Becerra’s stance “baffling.” A coalition of news organizations sued, and courts ultimately ordered Becerra’s office to turn over the documents and pay more than $1 million in attorneys’ fees.

“To be fair, I suppose it was a brand-new law,” Snyder said. “But I don’t recall another instance where an agency simply refused to interpret the law and said, ‘We don’t know what the law means until a court tells us.'”

Asked whether his deliberative style might work against him as a decisive leader, Becerra pointed to moments when he moved quickly — such as suing the Trump administration to preserve the DACA program for young immigrants, or intervening in a lawsuit with Texas to protect the Affordable Care Act.

A Pragmatic Progressive

If elected, the cautious Becerra would become the de facto leader of a state Democratic Party that has been drifting further left.

Supporters like Amanda Renteria, who worked in the U.S. Senate and helped draft portions of federal health care law alongside Becerra, say his understated style doesn’t reflect a lack of progressive ambition.

He was an early champion of LGBTQ+ rights and universal health coverage. From his earliest days in Congress, he took firm stands defending asylum seekers and immigrant access to public benefits — positions that sometimes put him at odds with fellow Democrats.

“He can operate between two worlds,” Renteria said, praising “his ability to be part of Democratic leadership while also being one of those members of Congress who pushed the progressive agenda wherever he saw an opening.”

Still, Becerra himself was reluctant to frame a potential governorship in those terms. He describes himself as a “pragmatic” progressive and suggests his agenda remains adaptable.

When President Joe Biden, in nominating him as health secretary, made clear he opposed a single-payer health system, Becerra — a longtime advocate of the idea — said he accepted the constraint and agreed to focus instead on expanding Medicaid and Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollment. During the primary campaign, Becerra reportedly told the state’s physician association he would not push for single-payer health care as governor.

“The fact that I haven’t achieved universal health care doesn’t mean I’m not progressive, and the fact that I haven’t fought for it in a certain way doesn’t mean I’m part of the establishment,” he said. “At this point in my life, I just want to get results.”

To that end, he has traded sweeping ambition for achievable wins.

Last week, he proposed an “energy hour” that would give low-income utility customers two hours of free electricity around midday, during the sunny-but-mild stretch when solar power often produces a surplus.

Asked by CalMatters whether that idea amounted to a campaign promise, he walked through his reasoning aloud: there are still stakeholders to consult, including utility companies and the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates electricity rates. On the other hand, he noted, low-income households are already enrolled in utility discount programs, making it relatively simple to extend them free electricity. And since it wouldn’t apply to all customers, it wouldn’t strain overall demand too much, he reasoned.

“I’d like to turn it into a promise, because it’s not pie in the sky,” he said. “Is it realistic? Can I turn it into a promise? Probably, yes, because I’ve limited its scope.”

Original source: CalMatters

The post Xavier Becerra Plays It Safe in Governor’s Race, Steers Clear of Firm Promises appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

While his Republican rival in the governor’s race, Steve Hilton, has staked out bold promises like $3-a-gallon gasoline and slashing electricity bills in half, Becerra has taken a far more cautious approach to the campaign trail, according to reporting from CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang.

Ask Becerra about California’s housing shortage, and he’ll tell you the state needs to build more. Ask him how many homes he’d actually deliver as governor, and the specifics fall away. On healthcare spending, he says he’d root out administrative waste and fraud in public programs — but offers no details on how. And when pressed on whether he’d stick with the state’s mandate to phase out new gas-powered car sales, his answer amounts to: it depends.

Political observers say the strategy tracks with California’s electoral math. With registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans by roughly two to one statewide, Becerra “doesn’t have an incentive to go out on a limb,” said Melissa Michelson, a political science professor at Menlo College.

This isn’t a new pattern for Becerra. As California’s attorney general seven years ago, he made one of the more controversial calls of his tenure when he declined to release police misconduct records that a new state transparency law required him to disclose. He said at the time he wanted judicial guidance on whether the law applied retroactively — a decision that drew a lawsuit from news organizations and ultimately a court order forcing him to hand over the records.

Becerra doesn’t see his cautious style as a weakness. He says he won’t back a policy “unless I know what I’m voting for completely,” and argues that voters looking to understand where he really stands should simply examine his record.

He points to his time as President Joe Biden’s health secretary as an example. Biden made clear before nominating him that he opposed single-payer healthcare — a policy Becerra had championed for years. Becerra accepted the terms and instead focused his efforts on expanding Medicaid enrollment.

“Just because I didn’t get single-payer, doesn’t mean I’m not a progressive, and just because I didn’t fight for single-payer doesn’t mean I am establishment,” Becerra said. “At this stage of my life, at this stage of my career, I just want to get things done.”

Read the full story at calmatters.org.

OTHER STORIES YOU SHOULD KNOW

What will California’s new plastics law cost you?

Plastic producers are pushing back hard against a state law designed to curb plastic waste, arguing it will hit Californians’ wallets far harder than regulators have projected.

As CalMatters’ Alejandra Reyes-Velarde reports, the 2022 law requires plastic producers to cut packaging and food-service waste by 25% and ensure their products can be recycled or composted by 2032. The state’s recycling agency, CalRecycle, estimated the law would cost about $21 billion to carry out — roughly $190 a year per California household.

But an industry coalition that includes the California Restaurant Association and the California League of Food Producers says that estimate relies on overly optimistic assumptions. Their own projection puts the cost as high as $58 billion, or nearly $948 a year per household. This week, two dozen state lawmakers sent a letter urging legislative leaders to delay parts of the law by two years.

Supporters of the measure are pushing back against any delay.

“This 11th-hour Hail Mary (by plastic producers) is only trying to maintain status quo and avoid due responsibility, throwing years of good-faith negotiations, and affordability and sustainability improvements out the window,” said state Sen. Ben Allen, an El Segundo Democrat who authored the law.

Will Newsom sign the so-called “Nick Shirley” bill?

A contentious measure aimed at shielding immigration service providers from harassment is now headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, after clearing the Legislature this week largely along party lines despite fierce Republican opposition.

The bill would let people who provide legal help, healthcare, counseling or other services to immigrants qualify for a state privacy program that removes their home addresses from public databases.

Republican lawmakers argue the measure would make it harder for journalists to investigate fraud or mismanagement at nonprofit organizations. Critics have nicknamed it the “Stop Nick Shirley Act,” referencing the conservative YouTube personality who last year alleged widespread fraud at child care centers in Minneapolis.

Assemblymember Mia Bonta, an Oakland Democrat who authored the bill, said she and her staff have received death threats over the legislation. Fighting back emotion during floor remarks, she said the measure “fundamentally is about freedom from fear.”

“Right now, our immigrant service providers are living in fear because of the work that they do,” Bonta said. “That is an intolerable consequence to the fear-mongering that happens right now. … This is a very scary time.”

CALIFORNIA VOICES

CalMatters columnist Dan Walters argues Californians shouldn’t have to dig for information on which cases the state Department of Justice has lost — and that the state should regularly publish updated data on lawsuit outcomes and costs.

CalMatters contributor Jim Newton writes that former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa deserves credit for improvements to the city’s public transit system, which performed well during the World Cup — but faces an even tougher test with the Olympics on the horizon.

OTHER THINGS WORTH YOUR TIME

Some stories may require a subscription to read.

Rob Bonta says David Ellison is “desperate” and “grasping at straws” — The Hollywood Reporter

California Democrats rally opposition to voter ID measure, calling it a Trump-led effort — The Sacramento Bee

After a bruising loss in Michigan, AIPAC turns to California for a win — The Washington Post

Ruling renews scrutiny of tactic used to make Trump loyalist LA’s top federal prosecutor — Los Angeles Times

A California official helped a company pitching data centers. His daughter works there — San Francisco Chronicle

Why did Flock get a private investigator license? — The San Francisco Standard

Trump’s visa policies are not deterring international students from California universities — EdSource

Stockton city council candidate arrested on suspicion of election fraud — Stocktonia

Original source: CalMatters

The post Becerra Stays Vague on Policy Positions appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

For a candidate who polls show is the clear front-runner in November’s gubernatorial race, Becerra’s reluctance to commit to specifics traces back, he says, to a lesson learned more than three decades ago.

In 1993, as a freshman congressman representing the Los Angeles area, Becerra had campaigned against the North American Free Trade Agreement. He ultimately voted for it after being convinced that added labor protections and a domestic lending program would cushion American workers and small businesses from foreign competition. Within a few years, he watched American jobs disappear anyway.

That experience, he told CalMatters, became a defining lesson of his political career: never commit to something without being certain of its outcome.

“No one gets my vote unless I know what I’m voting for completely,” he said.

Becerra went on to serve 12 terms in Congress, rose into House Democratic leadership, became California’s first Latino attorney general, and later the first Latino U.S. secretary of health and human services. Now, as he seeks the governor’s office, that same instinct for caution is shaping his campaign — sometimes to the frustration of voters and reporters looking for concrete plans.

He rarely lays out detailed policy proposals and often deflects when pushed to commit to specific goals or numbers. Instead, he points to his long record in government as evidence that he can be trusted to lead, framing his candidacy around steady management rather than sweeping promises.

On the state’s public health programs, he says he’d target administrative waste, inefficiency and fraudulent billing to save money — but hasn’t specified how or how much. On housing, he has criticized fellow Democrats for promising unrealistic goals like 2 or 3 million new homes in a single term. Even though he’s weighing a more modest target, such as roughly doubling the state’s current annual output of about 106,000 units, he’s hesitant to make it official, worried it might turn into “an inflated promise.”

No incentive to take chances

The contrast with his rivals is notable. During the primary, Democratic opponents pitched specific ideas, and Republican nominee Steve Hilton has rolled out an aggressive platform that includes $3-a-gallon gas and slashed electricity bills through deregulation. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the term-limited Democrat Becerra hopes to succeed, campaigned in 2018 on ambitious goals — millions of new homes, universal preschool, single-payer healthcare and tougher climate rules — many of which remain unfulfilled.

While other candidates this cycle focused on curbing insurance regulations or reining in utility spending to address the state’s high cost of living, Becerra proposed declaring a state of emergency to study why electricity and insurance rates are so high — effectively putting off any decision on what to do about it.

He’s also been noncommittal about whether he would uphold California’s mandate to end sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035.

“If we invest in it, it absolutely is feasible,” he said during an appearance at a Politico event last week. “If we don’t invest in the infrastructure, then it’s not feasible.”

He suggested there’s “a lot of room to expand” California’s regulation of artificial intelligence and floated the idea of the state purchasing “some equity in AI to make sure that we all gain from having this new technology.” But when reporters followed up afterward, he backed away from endorsing it as policy, saying only that “if there’s something along those lines, it wouldn’t be totally far-fetched.”

Melissa Michelson, a political science professor at Menlo College, said Becerra’s vagueness reflects a familiar campaign strategy.

Given California’s heavy Democratic registration advantage, Becerra is likely to defeat Hilton regardless of how detailed his platform is. His main task, Michelson said, is simply to keep Democratic voters engaged enough to turn out before Election Day — not to win over skeptics with bold policy pledges.

“He doesn’t have an incentive to go out on a limb” on policy, she said. “You don’t want to mess up, you don’t want to do anything crazy.”

Yet Becerra’s aversion to specifics appears to run deeper than campaign strategy. Pressed onstage last week to name a single concrete commitment voters could expect from him as governor, he declined.

“I would prefer not to run on inflated promises,” he said. “I will run on my record.”

A career built on deliberation

Becerra, 68, was born in Sacramento to working-class Mexican immigrant parents and later attended Stanford Law School. He emerged as a political figure during the surge of Latino political activism in the early 1990s, first winning an upset Assembly race in the eastern Los Angeles suburbs in 1990, then a safely Democratic congressional seat two years later that he’d hold until 2017. He and his wife, OB-GYN Carolina Reyes, raised three daughters while living in Washington, D.C., before eventually returning to Sacramento.

Former staff members describe Becerra as meticulous — someone who would flag typos in memos and insist on tracking even minor costs as potential “fiscal impacts” when reviewing legislation. They say he consistently weighed how policies would affect immigrants and working- and middle-class families.

“I think he always kept people like his parents in mind,” said Sirat Attapit, who worked in Becerra’s congressional office and later served as his legislative liaison when he was attorney general. “You always knew based on the kinds of questions he asked, that was always in the back of his mind.”

Attapit said his reputation for taking his time on decisions reflected careful, inclusive policymaking, even when it meant hearing out people who strongly disagreed with him. In the early 2010s, Becerra was part of a bipartisan group of House members who met privately to work on immigration reform.

“He was thoughtful and methodical to the point where perhaps some of his colleagues thought he mulled things over or took too long to make a decision,” Attapit said. “Whenever he made a decision, you had to get to a point where he had educated himself and heard from all of the stakeholders. Everybody who had a perspective, he wanted to hear from.”

That same instinct shaped one of the more controversial episodes of his tenure as attorney general. In 2019, he declined to release police misconduct records despite a new state transparency law requiring it, as local police unions challenged the law in court over officer privacy concerns.

Becerra opted to wait for further court guidance on whether the law applied retroactively — even after an appellate court had already ruled the records were public. Brian Marvel, president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California, said he appreciated Becerra’s caution.

“He just wanted to make sure that it was a clear direction on what needed to be released,” Marvel said.

But David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, called the delay “baffling,” saying the law’s requirements were clear. News organizations sued, and courts ultimately ordered Becerra’s office to release the records and pay more than $1 million in attorneys’ fees.

“In fairness, I suppose, it was a brand-new law,” Snyder said. “But I can’t recall a time where an agency simply refused to interpret the law itself and said, ‘We don’t know what the law means until a court tells us.'”

Asked whether his cautious style might work against him as a decisive executive, Becerra pointed to moments when he acted swiftly — such as suing the Trump administration to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or intervening in litigation to defend the Affordable Care Act.

A pragmatic brand of progressivism

Should he win in November, Becerra would take charge of a state Democratic Party trending further left — even as he positions himself as its most cautious standard-bearer.

Supporters like Amanda Renteria, who worked with Becerra in the U.S. Senate and helped draft portions of the federal health care law, argue his understated approach masks genuinely progressive instincts. He was an early advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and universal health care, and throughout his time in Congress he consistently defended asylum seekers and immigrants’ access to public benefits — sometimes putting him at odds with fellow Democrats.

“He can work between two worlds,” Renteria said, describing his knack for operating within Democratic leadership while still “pushing the progressive agenda where he sees it’s possible.”

Becerra himself resists that framing when it comes to his gubernatorial platform, describing himself instead as a “pragmatic” progressive with a deliberately flexible agenda.

When President Joe Biden nominated him to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, he made clear he opposed single-payer health care — and Becerra, despite being a longtime supporter of the idea, accepted the constraint and focused instead on boosting enrollment in Medicaid and ACA marketplaces. During the primary, he reportedly told the California Medical Association he would not push for single-payer health care as governor.

“Just because I didn’t get single-payer, doesn’t mean I’m not a progressive, and just because I didn’t fight for single-payer doesn’t mean I am establishment,” he said. “At this stage of my life, at this stage of my career, I just want to get things done.”

That philosophy — favoring what’s achievable over what’s ambitious — extends to smaller proposals as well.

Last week, Becerra floated a “power hour” concept that would give low-income utility customers two hours of free electricity each day during peak solar production hours, when supply often exceeds demand.

Asked by CalMatters whether that idea rises to the level of a campaign promise, he walked through his reasoning in real time: he’d still need to consult stakeholders including utility companies and the California Public Utilities Commission. But because low-income households are already enrolled in existing discount programs, delivering the benefit would be relatively simple — and since it wouldn’t apply to all ratepayers, it likely wouldn’t strain the grid.

“I’d like to make it a promise, because it’s not pie-in-the-sky,” he said. “Is it realistic? Can I make it into a promise? I probably can, because I’ve limited it.”

Original source: CalMatters

The post Becerra Treads Carefully in Governor’s Race, Steering Clear of Bold Promises appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Since World War II, 11 men have served as California governor, with Jerry Brown counted for his two separate periods in office. Six were Republicans, beginning with Earl Warren, and five were Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Their tenures can also be viewed another way: Some used the office as a platform for national ambitions, while others concentrated more directly on running the state. That divide is nearly even.

Newsom, whose term has roughly six months left, is widely expected to pursue the presidency after leaving office. In that respect, he follows a line of California governors who looked beyond Sacramento, including Warren, who was the Republican vice presidential nominee in 1948 before becoming chief justice of the United States, and Ronald Reagan, who went on to win the White House.

Other Republican governors — Goodwin Knight, George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger — largely remained focused on state-level governing. Among Democrats, Pat Brown and Gray Davis fit that mold as well. Jerry Brown’s record is more complicated: During his first two terms, he ran for president twice and once for the U.S. Senate. When he returned to the governor’s office nearly three decades later, he adopted a more disciplined, policy-focused approach.

Becerra appears more likely to belong to the governing-first category.

He will face Hilton in the general election after advancing from the primary, and he enters the fall campaign as the strong favorite. No Republican has won statewide office in California since Schwarzenegger’s reelection in 2006. Democrats also hold a major registration advantage over Republicans, 45% to 25%.

Becerra’s political style is a sharp contrast to Newsom’s more public-facing and often combative approach. He is soft-spoken, closely identifies with his background as the son of working-class immigrants in Sacramento, and has long been aligned with organized labor. Unlike Newsom, who climbed through a series of elected offices, Becerra’s rise included several key appointments.

After working as an attorney in the state Department of Justice and as a legislative aide, Becerra served one term in the Assembly. He then represented a Southern California district in Congress for 24 years before Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him attorney general in 2017, filling the vacancy created when Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate. In 2021, President Joe Biden selected Becerra to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Becerra left that post last year and soon after began his campaign for governor.

For much of the race, Becerra appeared to be trailing the top tier of candidates and was not considered a sure bet to make the November runoff. That changed after Rep. Eric Swalwell, who had been leading in polling, left the race in April and resigned from Congress amid allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. Billionaire Tom Steyer then appeared to be the leading contender.

But Becerra quickly gained support from major business interests, labor unions and other parts of California’s political establishment. Their money and organizational backing helped propel him to a first-place finish in the primary and a spot on the November ballot.

If Becerra becomes governor, Californians should not expect the kind of headline-grabbing gestures associated with Jerry Brown’s first stint in the 1970s or Newsom’s time in office since 2019. His background suggests a more methodical administration, one likely to focus on the state’s most persistent problems rather than national visibility.

Those problems are substantial. California continues to struggle with homelessness, a severe housing shortage, poverty and the loss of businesses and residents to other states — issues felt acutely across Southern California and the Inland Empire, where affordability and economic pressure remain central concerns.

Becerra’s likely model may be closer to Jerry Brown’s second governorship: less showmanship, more attention to the state’s fiscal and policy challenges. For a state facing a long list of unresolved crises, that kind of approach could prove valuable.

Original source: CalMatters

The post Xavier Becerra Would Bring Workhorse Style to California Governor’s Office appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Hilton, a British American former Fox News host, had about 25% of the vote in the June 2 primary, with roughly 88% of ballots counted as of Tuesday night. Under California’s top-two primary system, the two candidates with the most votes move on to the November ballot regardless of party affiliation.

Becerra, a Democrat and former California attorney general who later served as U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, emerged from a crowded field of Democratic contenders.

In a statement, Hilton said he would lead a “movement for change” in California and portrayed Becerra as a continuation of what he described as years of Democratic control in Sacramento.

“My mission is clear: go to Sacramento, end the corruption, cut your costs, help your businesses and improve our schools,” Hilton said. “We cannot keep voting the same way and expect different results.”

Hilton’s second-place finish shuts billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer out of the November race, despite Steyer spending $215 million of his own money on a populist campaign that heavily advertised across the state. His defeat turns the general election into a more traditional partisan contest during a midterm election year, rather than the all-Democratic showdown Steyer’s supporters had hoped for.

Steyer conceded Tuesday night and endorsed Becerra for November. In his statement, he said he was proud to have angered utility companies, technology firms and major oil interests, and said he did not blame voters who “simply could not bring themselves to vote for a billionaire.”

“It is absolutely essential that Trump’s handpicked candidate not be given the keys to California,” Steyer said, referring to Hilton.

With several Democrats splitting the vote, Hilton led polling for much of the primary campaign. He appealed to conservative voters by promising to cut income taxes and the gas tax, expand oil drilling and roll back environmental regulations, including state greenhouse gas reduction mandates.

Hilton has framed his campaign as a chance for Californians facing high costs to end what he calls “16 years of one-party rule.” Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the last Republican to lead California, left office in 2011.

“The people of California have been very generous in giving the Democratic Party the opportunity to show that their ideas work,” Hilton said last week during a Sacramento news conference where he declared victory early. “I think patience is running out.”

Still, Hilton faces steep odds in November. Democrats outnumber Republicans in California by nearly two to one. While Hilton argues that voters are ready for a different course, Republican candidates have routinely reached the general election for governor over the past two decades, and Democrats have won every race except Schwarzenegger’s.

Hilton also has the endorsement of President Donald Trump, who remains deeply unpopular among California voters. Hilton has not distanced himself from that support.

“I think it will be very helpful for Californians to have a governor who has a good working relationship with the president and his team,” Hilton said.

Hilton’s central campaign pledge is to eliminate the state income tax on the first $100,000 of income and create a flat tax rate for earnings above that amount. Last week, he said his campaign would consider raising that threshold after reviewing California’s cost of living. Either proposal would significantly reduce state revenue, which Hilton has said he would offset by cutting one-third of state spending.

He has not detailed how he would win approval for such a plan from a Legislature controlled by Democratic supermajorities.

Hilton was born in London to Hungarian immigrant parents. He began his political career with Britain’s Conservative Party and played a prominent role in the rise of Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010. In 2012, he moved to Silicon Valley, where his wife worked as a Google executive, and later entered the startup world. He launched a weekly Fox News program, “The Next Revolution,” in 2017 during Trump’s first presidency. The show aired until 2023.

Original source: CalMatters

The post Republican Steve Hilton to Face Becerra in November Race for California Governor appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Hilton, a British American former Fox News host, received about 25% of the vote in the June 2 primary, with roughly 88% of ballots counted as of Tuesday evening. Under California’s top-two primary system, the two highest vote-getters move on to the general election regardless of party.

Becerra, a longtime Democratic politician who previously served as California attorney general and U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, emerged from a large field of Democratic candidates to claim the other November spot.

In a statement, Hilton said his campaign would lead a movement for change in Sacramento and portrayed Becerra as a continuation of years of Democratic control in California.

“My mission is clear: to go to Sacramento, clean up the corruption, cut your costs, help your business, and fix our schools,” Hilton said. “We can’t keep voting the same way and expect different results.”

Hilton’s second-place finish pushed billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer out of the race despite Steyer spending $215 million of his own money on a populist campaign that heavily emphasized television advertising. Steyer had hoped to turn the governor’s race into a fight within the Democratic Party, but the November election will instead become a more traditional Democrat-versus-Republican matchup in a midterm year likely to be framed by Democrats as a referendum on President Donald Trump’s administration.

Steyer conceded Tuesday evening and endorsed Becerra. In his statement, he said he was proud that his campaign had made “enemies” of state utilities, technology companies and Big Oil. He also said he understood voters who “just couldn’t stomach voting for a billionaire.”

“It is absolutely essential that (Trump’s) handpicked candidate does not hold the keys to California,” Steyer said, referring to Hilton.

Hilton led in polling for much of the primary as Democrats split support among several candidates. His campaign appealed to conservative voters with promises to reduce income taxes and the gas tax, encourage more oil drilling and roll back environmental rules, including California’s greenhouse gas reduction requirements.

He has argued that Californians struggling with high housing, energy and transportation costs are ready to end what he calls “16 years of one-party rule.” The last Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, left office in 2011.

“The people of California have really been generous in giving the Democratic Party the opportunity to show that their ideas work,” Hilton said last week during a Sacramento news conference where he declared victory early. “I think the patience is running out, really.”

Still, Hilton enters the general election as an underdog in a state where Democrats hold a nearly two-to-one voter registration advantage over Republicans. GOP candidates have reached the general election in every California governor’s race over the past two decades, but Democrats have dominated statewide contests since Schwarzenegger’s tenure.

Hilton has also been endorsed by Trump, who remains deeply unpopular with many California voters. Hilton, however, has embraced the support and argued it could benefit the state.

“I think it’s going to be very helpful to Californians to have a governor who has a good working relationship with the president and his team,” he said.

A central piece of Hilton’s campaign is a proposal to eliminate state income taxes on the first $100,000 in earnings and apply a flat tax rate above that amount. He said last week his campaign may consider raising the threshold after reviewing California’s cost of living. Either version would substantially reduce state revenue, and Hilton has said he would make up the difference by cutting one-third of state spending.

He has not detailed how he would move such a plan through the state Legislature, where Democrats hold supermajorities in both houses.

Hilton was born in London to Hungarian immigrants and began his political career with Britain’s Conservative Party. He became a key adviser in the rise of Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010. Hilton moved to Silicon Valley in 2012, where his wife worked as a Google executive, and later became involved in startups. In 2017, during Trump’s first presidency, he launched a weekly Fox News program, “The Next Revolution,” which ran until 2023.

Original source: CalMatters

The post Republican Steve Hilton Advances to November Race Against Becerra appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Becerra, a former California attorney general and former U.S. health secretary, had nearly 27% of the vote from the June 2 primary when The Associated Press called the race Friday afternoon, with roughly two-thirds of ballots counted. If elected in November, he would become California’s first Latino governor in more than a century and the first Latino ever elected to the office, a milestone his campaign has emphasized as historic.

His opponent in the general election was not immediately settled. Early returns showed Republican Steve Hilton likely to advance with more than 26% of the vote, while Democrat Tom Steyer trailed with about 21%. More than 3 million ballots remained uncounted, and late-counted ballots in California often lean Democratic because many Democratic voters submit mail ballots close to Election Day.

California’s primary system sends the top two vote-getters to the November ballot regardless of party, meaning the final contest could take very different shapes depending on who finishes second.

If Hilton advances, Becerra would enter the fall campaign with a strong partisan advantage. Democrats outnumber Republicans in California by nearly 2 to 1, and Hilton has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, who remains deeply unpopular with many California voters.

If Steyer overtakes Hilton, the November race could become an expensive and divisive contest between two wings of the Democratic Party. Steyer, a former hedge fund manager, major Democratic donor and climate activist, has run as a progressive and has drawn support from allies of Bernie Sanders. He also spent hundreds of millions of dollars from his personal fortune during the primary.

Becerra, by contrast, has been backed by much of the Democratic establishment, along with major support and financial help from labor unions and business groups.

For much of the campaign, Becerra appeared to be a long shot, polling in single digits as other Democrats drew more attention. His standing improved after the political decline of former front-runner Eric Swalwell, as establishment Democrats increasingly coalesced around Becerra instead of former Rep. Katie Porter or Steyer, who ran as a political outsider.

The turnaround was striking for a soft-spoken career politician who had previously been grouped among lower-polling Democrats. At one point, California Democratic Party Chairman Rusty Hicks publicly urged candidates in that tier to leave the race.

“Guess what? The underdog stayed in the fight,” Becerra told supporters at an election night gathering Tuesday in Los Angeles, describing his near-victory as an example of “the everyday miracle” of a state where the unlikely can become expected.

The general election comes at a consequential moment for California, including Southern California and the Inland Empire, where residents continue to face steep housing costs, high utility bills, expensive gasoline and growing insurance challenges tied to wildfire risk. State leaders also face an unstable budget, looming federal reductions to California’s large health care system and economic strains connected to immigration enforcement.

So far, Becerra has not laid out a major break from the policies of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is completing his second term. To address affordability, Becerra has said he would declare a state of emergency to freeze utility and homeowners insurance rates while examining why they have risen. He also has said he would enforce existing housing laws to ensure local governments plan for new construction.

Like other California Democrats, Becerra has said he supports reducing greenhouse gas emissions and moving toward cleaner energy while keeping gasoline prices affordable.

Becerra, the son of Mexican immigrants, grew up in Sacramento and began his political career in the 1990s. A young attorney, he won a Los Angeles-area seat in the state Legislature before being elected to Congress two years later. He served in the House for 24 years before being appointed California attorney general in 2017 during Trump’s first administration. He later served as secretary of health and human services under President Joe Biden.

During the primary, Becerra faced criticism over his record in federal office. Some Democratic leaders revived complaints about his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Primary opponents also repeatedly pointed to his agency’s role in placing large numbers of migrant children in homes before some were later found working in dangerous or exploitative jobs.

Steyer, in particular, also attacked Becerra over the surge of donations from corporations and special interests that helped boost his campaign in the final weeks of the race.

Hilton has sought to channel Republican frustration over California’s high cost of living and regulatory climate, portraying Becerra as a continuation of the Newsom era. Becerra has offered few major policy departures from Newsom and, during a debate, said he would give the governor an “A” for effort on homelessness, even as the number of unhoused residents has risen sharply over Newsom’s two terms.

Becerra has largely answered criticism by emphasizing his decades in government and his record suing the Trump administration when he served as California attorney general.

“You can make all those big, exaggerated promises,” Becerra said this week in a comment aimed at critics such as Steyer. “But what matters is delivering.”

Original source: CalMatters

The post Democrat Xavier Becerra Advances to November Race for California Governor appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Becerra, a former congressman, state attorney general and Biden administration cabinet secretary, was widely expected to advance from Tuesday’s primary under California’s top-two election system. The major uncertainty was who would join him on the general election ballot: billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer or Republican Steve Hilton, a British-born former television commentator.

With ballots still being counted about 12 hours after polls closed, Becerra and Hilton were running close together in the mid-20% range, with Hilton slightly ahead in the latest count. Steyer trailed by roughly seven to eight percentage points. If those numbers hold, Becerra would face Hilton in November rather than Steyer.

That distinction could be critical. California’s voter registration heavily favors Democrats, with the party holding about 45% of registered voters compared with about 25% for Republicans. Hilton’s ties to President Donald Trump, who remains deeply unpopular in California, would likely make the fall campaign a steep climb for the Republican.

A Becerra-Steyer contest would have been a very different race. Steyer poured more than $200 million into his primary campaign, including extensive television and digital advertising that painted Becerra as ineffective or ethically suspect. Had Steyer advanced, he would have been expected to continue spending heavily through November.

Speaking to supporters in Los Angeles late Tuesday, Becerra stopped short of declaring victory but sounded confident as he framed himself as a candidate rooted in labor and public service. If elected, he would become California’s first Latino governor in the modern era, a milestone with particular significance in a state where Latinos are the largest ethnic group.

Becerra’s emergence at the front of the pack was one of the more surprising turns in an unusually fluid gubernatorial campaign. The race began without a clear favorite after several high-profile Democrats opted not to run, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and Attorney General Rob Bonta. Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis initially entered the governor’s race but later switched to a campaign for state treasurer, where she was leading as votes were counted.

The original field included 61 candidates, though only about 10 were considered serious contenders. As recently as early April, Becerra was polling at just 4% in a state Democratic Party tracking survey. At that point, Rep. Eric Swalwell led Democratic candidates with 12%, just ahead of Steyer.

Days later, Swalwell ended his campaign and resigned from Congress after several women accused him of sexual harassment or assault. Becerra quickly gained ground, tying Steyer at 13% in a mid-April poll and continuing to build support through the final weeks of the primary.

By the last Democratic tracking poll before Election Day, released May 16, Becerra led Steyer 21% to 15%, a margin that closely resembled the early vote count.

Steyer remained mathematically capable of moving into one of the top two spots, but the overnight results offered little indication that he was closing the gap. If the current standings remain largely intact, the November race will likely favor Becerra, who would then face the challenge of governing the nation’s most populous state after eight years under Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Original source: CalMatters

The post Election Night Returns Offer Early Clues in California Governor’s Race appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.