By One of Biden’s most important cabinet members may soon be jumping ship. According to reports, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra will soon hand in his resignation to run for office in California.
The Guardian noted that “before taking his post as health and human services secretary, Becerra was California’s attorney general. He is the first Latino to hold both posts. Before that, he served in the US House of Representatives for 26 years. In the Biden administration, he had a role overseeing the Covid-19 response, including the vaccine rollout.
Becerra’s critics have decried his lack of public health training and experience; he is an attorney by training and a longtime politician who helped pass the Affordable Care Act into law. But he has nonetheless carved out a role in defending and promoting the administration’s policies to lower drug prices and protect the right to abortion.”
Over the past month, Becerra has been traveling across the country trying to scare people about abortion, which should make him a perfect candidate for the job he allegedly wants: Gavin Newsom’s successor as governor of California.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra’s plans to leave the Biden administration and run for California governor are more advanced than previously known — with hiring discussions and spending further developed than he’s letting on.
Not only has Becerra had conversations over the past weeks about making the move, he or emissaries have approached political firms about standing up a gubernatorial campaign to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2026, two people briefed on those discussions told POLITICO.
Becerra, a former longtime member of Congress from Los Angeles and California attorney general, also has spent more than $130,000 over the last year for “campaign consultants,” activity that has not previously been reported in the media. The political outreach and payments have occurred even as Becerra has continued to state publicly that he’s solely focused on his Cabinet job in Washington.
A senior Biden administration official said they were unaware of Becerra’s outreach to campaign operatives and political spending. Asked about the legal implications of his moves, the official added, “good question.”
Cabinet members are specifically prohibited under the Hatch Act from engaging in political activity, which includes “testing the waters” for a future run for office. Like most things with the Biden administration, there are rules that must be followed and there are Democrats, who can do whatever they like.
Becerra hasn’t been much more than a hatchet man on abortion for Biden. Even liberals have criticized his handling of unaccompanied children at the border, blaming him for making the crisis worse.
Axios reported earlier in the year that there is “deep animosity toward Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra for what was seen as his reluctance to find more space in child migrant shelters, which are overseen by HHS, according to several sources familiar with the dynamics.”
Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice has explicitly targeted the HHS head as a total failure and, according to the outlet’s sources, refers to him as a “bitch-ass” and privately labeled him as an “idiot.”
“During one meeting when Biden was tearing into Becerra,” Axios continued, “Rice passed Mayorkas a note that read: ‘Don’t save him,’ according to two people familiar with the meeting.”
There probably isn’t a more perfect Democrat to lead the State of California next.
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