Becerra’s time in Washington: Steady rise, rocky end

Washington—— Xavier Becerra was known as a “rising star” before he ever entered the halls of Congress.

The 34-year-old candidate earned such a description from The Times in June 1992 when he defeated Los Angeles school board member Leticia Quezada in California’s 30th Congressional District.

When the boyish, affable congressman became the first Latino lawmaker appointed to the powerful House Ways and Means Committee in his second term, the national media took notice.

Three decades later, in the final weeks of his gubernatorial campaign against Republican Steve Hilton, Becerra finds himself poised to lead the nation’s most populous state.

An examination of Becerra’s more than 25 years in Washington shows a politician who excelled at building important coalitions and amassing power on Capitol Hill, but also encountered some setbacks along the way and was criticized for his performance in his most high-profile positions.

Becerra has earned a reputation as a diligent consensus-builder — a workhorse, not a show-off, to use a metaphor favored by political scientists — but he has also revealed himself to be an ambitious political manipulator when push comes to shove.

“He was an affable man who was not afraid to smile and draw his knife in politics,” said Christian Gross, a professor of political science at the University of Southern California.

Becerra’s campaign declined to comment on his experience in Washington.

Becerra’s origin story goes back to his youth in Sacramento, when a high school friend was preparing to submit a blank, unused application to Stanford University. The elite university is only 125 miles away, but the working-class world in which Becerra grew up is separated by an ocean. Nonetheless, he applied.

Becerra, whose parents spent his early years in Mexico, earned a degree from Stanford University in 1980, becoming the first in his family to graduate from college.

He earned a law degree there four years later, and it was at Stanford that he met his wife, Caroline Reyes, who would later become a doctor.

While Reyes was at Harvard Medical School, Becerra lived in Boston and later moved to Los Angeles to work for state Sen. Art Torres. Within a few years, he was assigned by Henry Lozano, then chief of staff to Latino Rep. Edward Roybal, to run in the 1990 state House election; two years later, he succeeded Roybal, who was retiring after 30 years in Congress.

Roybal endorsed Becerra, whose victories in areas with large Latino populations, including Central and East Los Angeles neighborhoods, were seen as passing the torch to the next generation.

Frank Villalobos, founder and president of Barrio Architects, one of the leaders in East Los Angeles who encouraged Becerra to run for political office, said he was impressed by Becerra’s genuine commitment to the community and his ability to unite the area’s sometimes divided political factions.

“I think if we keep doing this, one day he will be governor,” Villalobos said.

Becerra is part of a wave of young Latino lawmakers entering Congress, and his growing power in the Democratic ranks has helped him emerge from Roybal’s long shadow. Shortly after Becerra broke a barrier and was appointed to the Ways and Means Committee, which crafts tax legislation, Becerra became chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a position he held from 1997 to 1999.

early testing

His growing stature was put to the test a few years later when he decided to run for mayor of Los Angeles in 2001.

It didn’t go well.

Former state House Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa is also in the race, and Becerra — who slept on Villaraigosa’s couch when he first ran for Congress — has faced criticism for potentially splitting the Latino vote.

Becerra performed poorly, receiving only 6% of the vote in the Democratic primary. His good-guy reputation took a hit when his campaign was revealed to be behind robocalls targeting Villaraigosa by a woman impersonating county supervisor Gloria Molina, whose endorsement played a crucial role in Becerra’s first bid for Congress.

Becerra has also been criticized for contacting White House staff as part of an effort to push for the release of convicted Los Angeles cocaine dealer Carlos Vignali, whose father was a political donor to Becerra. Vignali’s sentence was commuted on President Clinton’s last day in office. Becerra acknowledged making multiple calls to the White House to discuss the possibility of Vignali’s release. Villaraigosa also wrote a letter on Vignali’s behalf.

Becerra told The Times in 2001 that he was not lobbying for Vignali’s release but was simply asking White House officials to review the details of the conviction on behalf of Vignali’s family.

“If I were going to try to apply pressure, I would try to call the president,” Becerra said at the time.

Villaraigosa performed better than Becerra, but ultimately lost to City Atty in the 2001 election. James Hahn bounced back, winning the first of two terms as mayor in 2005.

Becerra defeated Villaraigosa in a rematch of this year’s Democratic gubernatorial primary and won Villaraigosa’s endorsement.

“We’ve been friends for a long time, yes we’ve been rivals, but mostly we’ve been friends,” Villaraigosa told The Times. “He has the experience and wherewithal to lead this state.”

As for Becerra being a houseguest during his first campaign for Congress?

“He made the bed. He was neat,” Villaraigosa said. “He looks very unremarkable.”

Climb the Capitol Hill

After the mayoral defeat, Becerra’s attention returned to Washington, where an alliance with another powerful Californian would be a boon to his career on Capitol Hill.

Becerra is a close ally of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), serving as an assistant to the speaker from 2007 to 2009.

John Lawrence, Pelosi’s former chief of staff, said Becerra’s standing in California’s delegation, particularly among Latino lawmakers, was a big part of his appeal.

“Speaker Pelosi has set a goal to elevate minorities and women who have historically been excluded from leadership positions,” he said.

Their relationship took a hit after Becerra told progressive lawmakers in 2009 that he believed party leadership gave up too easily on including a public option in the Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law the following year.

“I know I have tire marks on my back because Xavier threw me under the bus,” Pelosi said at a 2009 Democratic leadership meeting, according to Politico.

Pelosi later questioned Becerra’s appointment as secretary of Health and Human Services in 2021. She did not endorse Becerra in the gubernatorial race.

But any discord between the two men hasn’t stopped Becerra from moving forward in the party.

In 2012, he became chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, chairing weekly meetings of all House Democrats and uniting members of the party.

Former Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Ron Kind said Becerra was a great listener and good at building consensus.

“He can get into a room with anybody and find common ground,” Kind said.

Becerra has participated in several high-stakes negotiations, notably the 2013 Senate “Gang of Eight” deal that saw the two parties work together to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., who participated in the House negotiations, said Becerra has been an “amazingly positive force” in the process.

“I think he’s more focused on solving problems than anyone else,” Yarmuth said.

The group eventually reached a compromise, but it never materialized.

Then-House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, later accused then-President Obama of “poisoning the well” with his immigration compromise. Yarmuth said Republicans are alarmed by the potential backlash.

Several potential exits emerged during Becerra’s time in Washington. In 2008, Obama considered him to serve as U.S. Trade Representative, but Becerra rejected the offer. After considering running for outgoing U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer’s seat, Becerra declined to run, ultimately won by then-Calif. Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris. He was briefly mentioned as Hillary Clinton’s potential running mate in the 2016 presidential election, but that never materialized.

In late 2016, Becerra found himself at a crossroads.

After more than a decade on the Ways and Means Committee, he is expected to become the committee’s top Democrat and has the support of outgoing top Democratic leader Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan.

But Harris’ victory in the 2016 Senate race created a vacancy for state attorney general.

Becerra decided to return to his hometown of Sacramento to take the role and spent the next four years as the state’s top law enforcement official, serving as the state’s “chief defender” against the Trump administration, as USC’s Gross put it.

DC’s worrying second act

Becerra returned to Washington for a second show in 2021, but it proved to be more controversial than his first.

Although Becerra has no background in health care, he was nominated and confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services over strong opposition from Republicans.

When he takes over the health care establishment, the country is still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and trying to carve out a clear role for himself in the response, which is centered on the White House.

During his first year in office, he was criticized by reporters for failing to hold regular press conferences.

He was criticized in late 2021 when health officials under his jurisdiction provided conflicting information about reducing quarantine requirements for people who test positive for COVID-19.

He continues to face criticism for the disappearance of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children who were supposed to be monitored by the agency’s Office of Refugee Resettlement after entering the country.

Sean McCluskie, Becerra’s chief of staff and longtime adviser at the Department of Health and Human Services, pleaded guilty last year to participating in a scheme that used campaign funds from the dormant Becerra State Political Committee to pay for McCluskie’s frequent travel between Washington and California.

Dana Williamson, Becerra’s longtime political adviser and former chief of staff to Gov. Gavin Newsom, acknowledged his role in the scheme earlier this year. McCluskey and Williamson are scheduled to be sentenced in December. Neither Becerra nor Newsom has been accused of wrongdoing.

Xochitl Hinojosa, a Democratic agent who served as a Justice Department spokesman in the Biden administration, gave a blunt assessment of Becerra’s performance earlier this year.

“He’s not performing well in the administration, and I think a lot of people in the Biden administration are talking about that because they realize he’s not an effective Secretary of Health and Human Services,” Hinojosa said on CNN in May.

While other members of the Biden administration have defended Becerra’s performance, his time at the helm has highlighted a problem that even allies acknowledge has plagued Becerra in the past, namely his tendency to recede into the background at times.

Loretta Sanchez, a former Democratic congresswoman from Orange County, said simply that she credits Becerra with encouraging her to run for Congress.

“Will Xavier be bold?” she said. “I hope he takes these bold steps because California needs it.”