California’s governor’s race is still months away, but Democrat candidate Xavier Becerra appears to be running one of the laziest campaigns in recent history.
While it would come as no surprise if Becerra were to defeat Republican Steve Hilton in a state dominated by Democrats this November, what is surprising is his apparent lack of interest in offering voters a genuine, well-thought-out vision of what California could look like under his leadership. Instead, in recent months, Becerra has dodged reporters and their questions, promised voters random policies like “free electricity,” and failed to update his campaign website which still features digs at his former primary rival Tom Steyer.
🚨 Xavier Becerra told reporters he'll do "lots of debates" against Republican gubernatorial challenger Steve Hilton — then got into his car and drove away without answering further questions.#CaliforniaGovernor #Becerra #SteveHilton #CA2026 #CaliforniaPolitics #Breaking pic.twitter.com/RiVNNp9Dfc
— California Courier (@cacourier) August 6, 2026
Xavier Becerra just scurried away from reporters at the Capitol again—refusing even basic questions while his spokespeople hide behind a “tight schedule.”
— Steve Hilton For Governor (@TeamSteveHilton) August 6, 2026
This is the same career politician who oversaw tens of thousands of migrant kids vanishing into trafficking and abuse under… https://t.co/hGTWcrppNC
According to the New York Post, Becerra’s campaign website, until the end of last week, still featured confusing sign-up forms geared toward the primary election more than two months after it ended. Its “Voters Need to Know” section continued to highlight differences between Becerra and his main primary opponent, Tom Steyer, while other pages, including a contact-information form, appeared to have gone untouched since the June primary.
It gets even worse. The website has not published a news update since the primary, and Republican opponent Steve Hilton is not mentioned anywhere on the site.
The one place Becerra’s campaign has remained active is social media, where it has posted clips from some of his appearances and an occasional attack on Hilton.
His team told the San Francisco Standard that the campaign’s intense spending in recent weeks pushed work on the website to the back burner, and that it is now undergoing a “full-scale” revamp. But that excuse only reinforces the larger point, that Becerra’s team appears to expect to coast to an easy victory. Even by California Democrat standards, it is a strikingly complacent campaign.
This comes just weeks after Becerra floated free electricity for the state’s low-income residents, a seemingly random and unnecessary promise from a candidate who is widely expected to win California with room to spare. Rather than projecting confidence, it suggested a campaign seeking to purchase votes by offering free things.
Listen up: free electricity.
— Xavier Becerra (@XavierBecerra) August 12, 2026
It’s called Power Hour - providing up to two hours of free electricity for millions of California households.
Working families could save approximately $1,000 a year on their electricity bills.
I’m looking forward to getting this done for… pic.twitter.com/8lFAl4HjHO
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