Gov. Gavin Newsom again declines to endorse a candidate in governor’s race
Despite his recent surge in polling and a shared coterie of campaign consultants, former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has not received outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s endorsement in the race to succeed him, nor has any other candidate.
“I‘m focused on diapers,” Newsom told reporters on Friday when asked about Becerra’s recent emergence as a frontrunner. The governor was in San Francisco announcing a state program offering 400 free diapers to parents of newborns.
Becerra’s campaign polled at low numbers for months after he entered the race last year before picking up support in the last month after former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who had been leading, dropped out of the race.
Becerra is now leading the pack of eight major Democrats and is tied with Republican contender Steve Hilton.
The latest governor’s race poll conducted by San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a Democrat who is also running, put Becerra and Hilton’s support at 20%, followed by Republican Chad Bianco at 14%, and Democratic billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer at 12%.
The top two vote getters in the June 2 primary, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the general election in November. Some observers have predicted a faint possibility of two Republicans advancing, sparking calls from Democratic leaders for lower-polling candidates to drop out so the party could maintain its legislative and executive supermajority.
Giving away diapers but not an endorsement
“I didn’t mean to be flippant about the government’s race, but you’ve heard me on a consistent basis. This is an area of deep consistency,” Newsom said. “It’s my intention not to get involved in the primary. It’s my intention to do everything that needs to be done to make sure that there’s not a lockout for a Democratic choice in the general election.”
“Governor Newsom is absolutely right to stay focused on delivering for Californians. It’s our job to make sure the Republican lockout stays in the realm of bad fiction, and the polls show we’re getting it done,” Becerra spokesperson Jonathan Underland said in a text message. “
Becerra and Newsom overlapped in their state service from 2019 to 2021. Becerra served as attorney general from 2017 to 2021 as an appointee of Newsom’s predecessor, former Gov. Jerry Brown. Becerra later joined former President Joe Biden’s administration as secretary of Health and Human Services.
Newsom now knows how former Gov. Jerry Brown felt
Newsom has resisted calls to offer his support to any one candidate, even as members of his political team have begun consulting and fundraising for Becerra. Newsom, who is termed out of office at the end of the year and cannot run again, told The Sacramento Bee in November that he empathized with Brown after he “pestered” the former governor for his own endorsement, which he did not receive.
He also declined to weigh in on the congressional race to succeed retiring Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, which is split among three Democrats: state Sen. Scott Wiener, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, and former tech executive Saikat Chakrabarti.
Newsom joked that “maybe she (Pelosi) will give me an update on the race” as the two planned to attend the Friday funeral of Larry Mazzola, a powerful San Francisco labor leader.
