Xavier Becerra’s campaign for California governor has a shocking new platform

California gubernatorial frontrunner, Democrat Xavier Becerra, has pitched a slew of policy ideas — from speeding up homebuilding to offering free electricity — but has largely skipped the fine print and sweeping promises embraced by his rivals.

Becerra acknowledged his strategy of playing it safe by being silent is done on purpose during recent interview with CalMatters,

The former Health and Human Services secretary revealed a vote he regretted making more than three decades ago as the source for his strategy.

Becerra was in his first term as a congressmember representing the Los Angeles area in 1993. He campaigned against the North America Free Trade Agreement, but was eventually persuaded to vote for it. Some labor protections and a domestic lending program would shield American workers, he was led to believe.

Instead, Becerra said that American jobs were displaced anyway.

“No one gets my vote unless I know what I’m voting for completely,” he told CalMatters on that “pivotal lesson” he learned.

Now in the governor’s race, Becerra said he’s making sure he doesn’t over-promise.

While he wants to speed up housing construction to address the state’s housing crisis, Becerra has refused to state a number of how many houses he plans to build during his tenure.

When pressed by reporters to take certain positions, the candidate has given cautious answers that seem vague, such as saying “there’s a lot of room to expand” on AI regulation.

Even when asked at a Politico event last week what voters expect him to do as governor, Becerra did not mention one policy commitment.

“I would prefer not to run on inflated promises,” he said. “I will run on my record.”

The vagueness makes sense, Melissa Michelson, a political science professor at Menlo College, told CalMatters, because Becerra will likely win regardless in a state dominated by Democratic voters against his GOP opponent.

“He doesn’t have an incentive to go out on a limb,” she said. “You don’t want to mess up, you don’t want to do anything crazy.”

In contrast, GOP candidate Steve Hilton has laid out a list of bold policy planks, most recently a vow to gut the California Energy Commission over a controversial ban on non-environmentally-friendly tires. Such promises would likely falter under a Democrat-controlled state legislature.

Hilton has lashed into Becerra’s cautious approach — including incidents of dodging reporters or a yet-to-materialize debate — as evidence that the Democrat is taking California voters for granted.

“What an insult to every voter and the democratic process,” Hilton said. “He is obviously running away from debating his disqualifying record.”

Becerra said he can be decisive and bold when necessary, such as during his time as state attorney general when he sued the Trump administration over immigration protections.

Still, he said he’s only making campaign promises when he feels like he can keep them, even if it means lowering a policy’s ambition.

“I’d like to make it a promise, because it’s not pie-in-the-sky,” he said to CalMatters. “Is it realistic? Can I make it into a promise? I probably can, because I’ve limited it.”

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