Xavier ‘Basement’ Becerra needs to come out of hiding and come clean

Joe Biden blamed the pandemic for hiding in his basement as he ran for high office. 

What’s Xavier Becerra’s excuse?

The wannabe gov apparently thinks that because he’s a Democrat running in deep-blue California, he can skate to Sacramento –– no effort (or public health crisis) required.

That’s wrong, and pitiful, and disrespectful to state voters.

California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra speaks to members of the media following a tour of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles. Getty Images

It’s long past time for Becerra to level with voters, talk to the press — and come clean about his record, which ranges from poor (COVID policy) to lackluster (years in public office with little to show) to outright dubious.

The scandals are varied.  

Xavier Becerra’s former chief of staff, Sean McCluskie, pleaded guilty in October 2025 — not even a year ago — to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud. 

Prosecutors said McCluskie and Dana Williamson, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s disgraced former chief of staff, conspired to grab $225,000 from a dormant Becerra campaign account and pump it to McCluskie, effectively supplementing his government salary. 

Becerra has said he didn’t know about the illegality. So was he simply clueless? Out to lunch? An incompetent manager with poor skills of delegation and oversight? 

What does choosing a No. 1 aide (and friend of 20 years) with compromised ethics say about his ability to judiciously hire, select and assess talent?

Immigrants gather outside a migrant shelter on Friday, January 6, 2023, in El Paso, Texas. Getty Images

Does Becerra have any explanation, beyond that he was “betrayed”?

We’re waiting.

Another issue Becerra should answer for: As Biden’s health and human services secretary, he lost track of more than 130,000 migrant children who’d crossed the border solo under Biden’s lax immigration policies.

After Becerra & Co. waived them through with poor safeguards, some united with family. But others were exploited, trafficked or forced into labor.

What happened to all those kids? How did Becerra let this humanitarian mess happen? Again: Was he incompetent? Clueless? Indifferent? 

His top aide’s poor ethics, the illegal conduct on his own staff, tens of thousands of missing children: Does Becerra take responsibility for any of it?

Has he learned anything from it? 

How, exactly, does he merit a promotion?

Can we somehow expect better judgment from Becerra going forward, if he’s elected to run a state of 40 million people? If so, why?

He’s been hunkered down, entitled — hoping to glide to the governor’s mansion based on the D beside his name.

It’s pathetic.

We need a robust exchange of ideas, of policy plans, of visions to transcend the failing status quo as thousands flee the state due to malgovernance, overtaxation and regulation, lack of affordability, crime and chronic homelessness, struggling schools and a litany of other crises.

Instead, we get Becerra as hiding Biden 2.0.

Note to ‘Basement’ Becerra: Find some courage. Show up. Face your record, the press, and the voters.