It’s a quiet Tuesday morning in Sacramento. On any given weekday this past year, the City of Trees is normally bustling with state workers heading to their offices, construction workers hammering away at the new Capitol Annex, or City Parking Enforcement Officer Grant Nakamura breaking his previous record of having handed out 22,000 parking tickets in 2025. But, with last week’s primary results still being counted, the state is now reeling from one of the most unpredictable primary elections in recent history. For the past six months, Californians have witnessed a parade of gubernatorial candidates who have vied to replace Gavin Newsom as the state’s next governor. In what many have called a turbulent election, the primary has seen everything from the cataclysmic downfall of Representative Eric Swalwell to the close race between three candidates from across the political spectrum—Xavier Becerra, who experienced a historic rise from among the last to being the front-runner; Steve Hilton, a wannabe Trump in California with the blessing of the Trump himself; and Tom Steyer, a billionaire and political outsider who courted progressive voters with his vision of environmentalism. Several other candidates, including Elizabeth Warren acolyte Katie Porter and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, fell short. This was the most expensive election in California history, with $316 million spent. Two hundred million of that came from Steyer tapping his personal war chest, along with a myriad of corporate donations for Becerra and Hilton. In any case, Californians will have to wait a few more days for the primary dust to settle, and then it’s on to November to decide on who will replace the presumably presidential primary–bound Gavin Newsom and sort out the myriad challenges he’ll leave behind: skyrocketing costs of living, a lack of housing, an increasing number of climate change–driven wildfires, and the constant animosity of the Trump administration. With Becerra already called as one of the candidates, and Hilton leading by several percentage points over Steyer, it looks as if the final showdown will be between Becerra and Hilton. If so, Becerra, the sole Democrat in the race, will likely take the state. Why that matters nationwide is that Becerra, like many veteran Democrats, is a poster child for much of the Democratic leadership—experienced but moderate. While I would like to give Becerra a chance to prove himself, as he stands, he will be much like—well, Gavin Newsom. Becerra has a deep résumé. He is the former secretary of health and human services under the Biden administration, a former state attorney general, and former member of Congress who represented the heart of Central and East Los Angeles. As state attorney general, he defended DACA and the Affordable Care Act during Trump’s first term and sued the administration over fracking. The son of Mexican immigrants, who grew up in Sacramento, he was the first in his family to attend college when he enrolled at Stanford University. On paper, his portfolio would make him an ideal Democratic candidate—experience in both Sacramento and Washington, from a working-class background, the son of immigrants. After Swalwell, the first mainstream Democratic contender, fell from grace, Becerra positioned himself as a steady choice for many Democrats. And it paid off: By late May, polls showed Becerra leading beyond the other contenders by a safe margin, beating back earlier fears of a Republican shutout from earlier in the election. Becerra’s rise can also be understood in the context of the state’s racial politics. Back in March, Becerra protested the exclusion of himself and other candidates of color from the ABC7-USC debate. As he said in an open letter to USC’s President Beong-Soo Kim: “My father used to tell me of the days when he would encounter signs posted outside establishments that read ‘No Dogs, Negroes or Mexicans Allowed.’ USC’s actions may not seem so transparent. But, you have deliberately chosen to selectively filter the voters’ view of the field of gubernatorial candidates in what all observers characterize as a wide-open race.” The move helped cement his connection to Latino politics in the Golden State, where 41 percent of California’s population is Latino. Communities are not monoliths—as the 2024 election demonstrated, the Trump campaign received a significant number of Latino votes. But Becerra, who is the first in his family to attend university, who fought against ICE in his time as attorney general during the first Trump administration, and would be the first Latino governor and governor of color in California history since Romualdo Pacheco in 1875, does appeal as someone who understands the immigrant experience at a time when immigrants are under attack.At the same time, Becerra’s emergence as the front-runner brought a wave of corporate backers. If money talks, then Becerra can be expected to give lip service to Chevron, Meta,...