Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra wins California governor’s race

Democrat Xavier Becerra has been elected governor of California, NBC News projects, defeating Trump-backed Republican Steve Hilton, who was considered an underdog.

Becerra, 68, was elected to a four-year term to succeed Democrat Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited and could run for president in 2028.

California, the largest state in the country, hasn’t elected a Republican governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. Donald Trump lost the state by 20 percentage points in the 2024 election.

Becerra was health and human services secretary in the Biden administration. Before that, he was California’s attorney general, a member of the House for 12 terms and a member of the state Legislature for two years. In Congress, Becerra held leadership roles, including chairing the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the House Democratic Caucus.

Becerra ran on a platform of battling the Trump administration and painted Hilton as a candidate who would rubber-stamp Trump’s policies.

“As Governor of California, I vow to protect and lead our state against Trump and his attacks. When Trump and his administration threaten access to healthcare, affordable housing, fair wages, or protections for immigrants and marginalized communities, the state has a responsibility to step in and fight,” Becerra’s campaign website said. “I am that fighter, and have a proven record facing and winning against Donald Trump, having sued him 122 times in fact as California’s Attorney General.”

Becerra’s platform also called for lowering healthcare costs, building more homes to address the state’s housing crisis, addressing price gouging and rate hikes, embracing “clean energy” and calling for investments in disaster mitigation as the state has been devastated by wildfire, floods and earthquakes in recent years.

Becerra also advocated for a policy of regulating AI but also promoting its benefits in government and schools. He argued that data centers can “add value” to the state’s energy infrastructure but that they must meet environmental disclosure requirements.

Becerra faced criticism from alumni of the Biden administration over his leadership managing multiple health crises at the Department of Health and Human Services. They denounced his handling, for example, of the Covid pandemic, a baby formula shortage, an outbreak of the mpox virus and the arrival of a large number of unaccompanied children at the U.S.-Mexico border.

But he advanced to the general election in June from a crowded all-party primary field after former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race in April amid sexual assault and misconduct allegations, which he denied.

Hilton, a former Fox News host, had also advanced to the general election in June over billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer and Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. Hilton, originally from the United Kingdom, became a U.S. citizen in 2021. Trump had endorsed him in the governor’s race in April.

Becerra touted his experience taking on the Trump administration as the state attorney general and pointed to his experience in the federal government as reasons to elect him. Hilton attacked his tenure in the roles, saying his work didn’t help resolve the state’s problems.

During CNN’s gubernatorial debate in September, Becerra lambasted Hilton’s tax plans.

“What I wouldn’t do, Steve, is try to convince the people of California that proposing Trump tax policies, promising Trump tax cuts, believing you’re going to get better results than Trump has gotten so far to date, that that is what — isn’t it the definition of insanity you do the same thing over and over again expecting different results?” he said.