Xavier Becerra has been elected the next governor of California, the first Latino to win the state’s highest office.
In a race called by the AP on Tuesday night, Becerra, a Democrat, long was projected to easily defeat Republican Steve Hilton. Still, the win to replace term-limited Gavin Newsom comes on a deep blue night with Democrats taking control of the Senate and the House of Representatives and big scoring upsets in the governor’s office in Texas and Ohio.
Never leading in the Golden State, Hilton ran a campaign blasting California’s governance after years of Democratic dominance. At one widely derided point, the former Fox News host and adviser to ex-UK Prime Minister David Cameron, ran a sexually suggestive ad urging leftward voters to give him a try.
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But even though there has been no shortage of discontent within the state, there also is anti-Trump sentiment. The ex-Apprentice host endorsed Hilton in the primary, and the candidate struggled to distance himself from him. “This is not about who you hate in Washington,” he said in campaign appearances and ads.
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Becerra’s election marks a continuation of Democratic dominance, more than 20 years after a Republican was last elected governor. Becerra — the 68-year-old former California attorney general and Secretary of Health and Human Services under Joe Biden — ran a relatively low-key campaign, with just one debate with Hilton, and emphasized his experience as an asset in standing up to the Trump administration.
Becerra was considered an also-ran in the final few months before the June primary, but he emerged suddenly from a long list of contenders after the front-runner, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), dropped out amid sexual misconduct allegations.
At the CNN debate, both candidates were in agreement on the importance of addressing the flight of movie and TV production from the state. “If we give a tax credit, so long as we get more than $1 back for that dollar in tax credit, we’re going to do it because Hollywood belongs here,” Becerra said.
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Hilton, though, blamed Democrats for the production flight. “My plan to bring Hollywood home would make us competitive with the best in the world and reduce the bureaucracy and the red tape, which also has been piled on by Xavier and his friends,” he said.
Becerra was well ahead in polls conducted in the state and perhaps got a further boost when Newsom on Monday proposed expanding the tax credit to $1 billion. Unlike Hilton and previous primary candidates, Becerra had ruled out uncapping the incentive — a position echoed by Newsom in his dramatic announcement this week. It should be noted, that surge in the currently $750 million-a-year film and TV tax credit program will now be the duty of Becerra to get passed and sign into law.
Newsom — always quick on the social media draw — posted congrats to Beceera on Tuesday night as “a product of the California dream who will stand up to Donald Trump.”
Becerra will be the first Latino governor of California since Romualdo Pacheco in 1875. Unlike Becerra, Pacheco was not elected to the office but elevated to the post when the then sitting governor became a U.S. senator.
