Xavier Becerra, the former state attorney general and U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary currently leading polls in the 2026 gubernatorial race, is positioning himself as the race’s most experienced anti-Trump candidate.
At an American Community Media briefing, he laid out a platform centered on constraining federal immigration enforcement, defending Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented residents and leveraging California’s political infrastructure against illegal overreach by a second Trump administration. Becerra argued that his state and federal record gives him tools and institutional knowledge his opponents lack.
Immigration: ‘We will fight when it’s necessary’
On immigration, Becerra described the Trump administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations as a “mercenary force” and pledged to use California courts to moderate federal agents operating in the state.
“ICE, while it’s a federal agency, still must obey the Constitution. It still must respect state laws when it goes beyond its jurisdiction,” he said, “so we’ll make sure our immigrant families know that they are protected.”
A 2023 investigation found that during Becerra’s tenure at HHS, the agency relaxed longstanding safeguards — including background checks and file reviews meant to protect children from trafficking — and lost contact with one-third of the unaccompanied migrant children moved out of overcrowded shelters.
Xavier Becerra, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (2021-2025), former California Attorney General and member of Congress, and Democratic Candidate for Governor of California, responds to Donald Trump’s recent announcement that Green Card applicants may have to apply from their home countries.
Becerra did not directly address that issue. Instead, he pointed to his record from Trump’s first term, while he was state attorney general: When the administration pressured California’s law enforcement to participate in immigration raids, Becerra refused, absorbed the resulting lawsuit, won it in court and later recovered $57 million in resources the administration had withheld in retaliation.
“We took them on in court, and we got our $57 million back,” he said. “We will partner with them where we must, but we will fight when it’s necessary. We can have a relationship with the federal government as we must, but we will not take a knee.”
On a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memo released May 22 that may force most green card applicants to leave the U.S. and apply from abroad, Becerra said he was “absolutely against it,” describing the policy as part of a broader pattern targeting immigrants regardless of legal standing.
“These are people who are qualifying to be here, which means they have to have a good record,” he said. “It just once again proves that Donald Trump never intended to go after only the criminals and the people who were doing harm. He’s just after anyone who’s an immigrant, anyone who doesn’t look like him.”
Becerra also pledged to oppose private, for-profit immigration detention in California and to apply state standards to any such facilities operating within the state.
Healthcare: ‘You deserve to have access’
Healthcare drew some of the briefing’s most detailed exchanges.
Asked to respond to opponents’ charges that he had retreated from support for single-payer, Becerra rejected this framing, citing a 1993 congressional co-sponsorship of a Medicare for All bill, and his work expanding the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid enrollment to a record-high 24.2 million people covered through private marketplaces.
Becerra says he will ensure California residents of all immigration statuses, including those who are undocumented, will have healthcare coverage if he is elected governor of California.
“I never backed away, and so that’s an accurate representation of where I have been,” he said. “It’s a distortion that some of my opponents have been peddling for some time, but I’ve been consistent throughout my career in public service.”
Ahead of elections, a statement on Becerra’s campaign website describing him as an “advocate for single payer” has been removed and replaced with a 12-point plan focusing on funding preventive care, reducing waste, lowering drug costs and supporting Medi-Cal and CalFresh enrollees whose coverage is threatened by federal cuts.
On Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented residents, Becerra argued that the cost calculus favors keeping the coverage, as uninsured residents do not stop needing medical care but turn to emergency rooms, the most expensive point of delivery, with the resulting costs absorbed by California taxpayers.
“It’s the fiscally responsible thing to do, because the moment Donald Trump kicks those 3 million Californians off of their Medi-Cal, guess what, they don’t stop using health care,” he said. “If you work hard in California, it makes no difference to me where you come from. If you’re working hard, you deserve to have access to the health care that you need.”
He extended the argument to providers, warning that mass disenrollment would eventually force hospitals and community health centers to close when reimbursement dried up.
“The doctors, hospitals, community health centers, if they know that the person walking through their door is coming with insurance, they know that they will get reimbursed,” he said. “If those people walking through their doors do not have insurance, those doctors, hospitals, community health centers know that at some point they’re going to have to start closing their doors because they can’t do business for free.”
Becerra described the crisis of California’s rural hospitals — over half now operate at a loss, while 13 are at risk of closure — as requiring a willingness to fight Washington for California’s share of federal funding, a challenge that his time at HHS has prepared him to meet.
“I know how to squeeze every possible cent out of those federal resources, because I ran that agency,” he said. “I know where the money is.”
Under HHS, managing a budget larger than California’s own, Becerra filed over 120 lawsuits against Trump’s first administration, with an approximately 82% win rate among the 28 cases resolved.
On homelessness, Becerra pitched a prevention-first framework, arguing that keeping vulnerable residents housed before they reach crisis is far cheaper than the downstream cost of shelter and reentry for those already on the street.
“It costs so much more money to pick someone off the street,” he said, promising to work with families facing job loss or medical debt before eviction is unavoidable, and to expand only programs with positive measurable outcomes on this front. “I’m going to do everything I can to work with those families, find out what it takes to keep them housed rather than see them become homeless.”
‘Not a billionaire writing himself a check’
On his campaign finances, Becerra pushed back against comparisons of his own funders to those of billionaire rival Tom Steyer, who has drawn a record $53 million in opposition spending from corporate-backed “super PACs” and business groups.
Many of these same interests have spent more than $13 million to back Becerra — including the anti-single-payer California Medical Association, California firefighters, Planned Parenthood and union groups. Larger corporate donors include PG&E, Airbnb, nearly $1 million from Meta and half a million from Chevron.
“The average donation to my campaign is $59,” he said, referring to direct grassroots contributions. “That’s not a billionaire writing himself a check. It’s people like teachers and nurses and union workers who are supporting this campaign and helping fuel us to victory.”
“I am going to make full use of every lever of government as governor to protect the families that were just like my parents, working really hard, never asking for a lot, just hoping that that would open the door to opportunity, if not for them, then for their kids,” he said.
“I am ready. I will not need training wheels when I become governor,” he added. “My job is to restore that faith, ignite that dream, and make people believe again.”
Election Day is June 2, 2026.
