Becerra, Steyer trade legal threats over attack ad days before primary
Two of the top Democrats running to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom traded legal threats over the weekend, days before polls close in an unusually unpredictable primary.
Democrat Xavier Becerra’s lawyer threatened to sue rival Tom Steyer in a letter Saturday if the campaign didn’t cease airing a “false and defamatory” ad that links Becerra, a former state attorney general who served in former President Joe Biden’s cabinet, to a corruption case that’s ensnared his former chief of staff and advisor.
On Sunday, an attorney for Steyer, a billionaire environmental activist, responded with a letter of his own and said the threatened lawsuit would “make our day” and refused to take down the ad.
Several recent polls show Becerra at the top of the field, with Steyer and Republican Steve Hilton not far behind. Only two candidates will advance from the June 2 primary to compete in the November general election.
The ad in question centers on a scheme involving Dana Williamson, Becerra’s former advisor, and Sean McCluskie, Becerra’s former chief of staff. The pair pleaded guilty to charges that included siphoning $225,000 from Becerra’s dormant campaign account to pad McCluskie’s salary.
“Becerra could be indicted next,” the voiceover in the ad said, warning that such a move would hand the governor’s mansion to Republican Steve Hilton.
Federal prosecutors have said Becerra was a victim in the case, a point reiterated by his attorney, Nicholas Sanders, in their letter Saturday. Sanders pointed to a statement by a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this month that “no candidate running for governor has been implicated in any charging document.”
“In other words, even Trump’s Department of Justice knows better than to spread the lie that Secretary Becerra committed a crime,” Sanders said in the letter. He demanded the ads be taken down by noon on Sunday and warned that if Steyer’s campaign failed to do so, he would “prepare a lawsuit to stop the lies.”
Steyer’s counsel, Ryan Hughes, said in a letter Sunday that he would welcome the opportunity to depose Williamson, McCluskie and Becerra to learn exactly what Becerra knew about the scheme.
“We very much welcome further public deliberation over Mr. Becerra’s involvement in the criminal convictions of two of his closest aides, and the degree to which he is at risk of facing federal indictment,” Hughes wrote.
Becerra’s spokesperson, Jonathan Underland, said in a statement Sunday that “voters have a word for what [Steyer’s] doing: it’s lying.”
Both men have been barnstorming the state ahead of Tuesday’s primary. There’s a slim but not impossible chance their tit-for-tat will spill into the general election; an Emerson poll released Saturday showed Becerra and Steyer as the top two candidates, a scenario in which Republicans would be locked out of the race entirely.
This story was originally published May 31, 2026 at 2:58 PM.
