Xavier Becerra is a Democratic politician who has served as a California assemblymember, U.S. representative, California attorney general and U.S. secretary of health and human services. He is running for governor of California in 2026.
Case
Trump told a Nebraska rally "Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego." California officials say he called attacks on the cities a small price for the Iran war; the White House says he meant a nuclear Iran's threat.
Case
Republican Steve Hilton's Just Try It ad shows two young women, one guiding the other's hand to mark a ballot for him. Sonja Shaw and Michael Gates, who have campaigned with him, condemned it, while Hilton calls it satire.
Case
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco seized about 650,000 ballots in early 2026 under search warrants, citing a disputed vote discrepancy. The California Supreme Court held the seizure unlawful; Bianco says his investigation was lawful and disagrees with the ruling.
Role at the time: Democratic candidate for governor of California
Response to this claim
Trump accepts attacks on Los Angeles and San Diego as a cost of the Iran war: "if it means attacks on two major American cities in the process, he is not troubled by the cost."
“Their lives are not a “small price to pay” or a punchline for Donald Trump.”
The reference point is whether Trump's remark meant Iranian attacks on Los Angeles and San Diego would be an acceptable price for the war, as critics read it, rather than that the war prevents a nuclear Iran from being able to attack them, as the White House says. Becerra rejects the idea that the residents of the two counties are a "small price to pay," which treats the remark as accepting harm to them, and he criticizes Trump for it. The closest competing label is Challenged the characterization. His line that Californians' lives are not "a punchline for Donald Trump" accuses Trump of joking about them, which is a criticism of the remark rather than a dispute over how others described it. Evidence: Becerra's own post on X.
Role at the time: Democratic candidate for governor, through campaign spokesman Jonathan Underland, in comments to the Los Angeles Times
Statement summary
Jonathan Underland, a spokesman for Xavier Becerra's campaign for governor, told the Los Angeles Times that "MAGA is melting down over Steve Hilton's creepy ad." He said MAGA is "finally seeing him for the sellout he really is, willing to abandon his own twisted values to get ahead."
“MAGA is melting down over Steve Hilton's creepy ad because they're finally seeing him for the sellout he really is, willing to abandon his own twisted values to get ahead.”
The reference point is whether the Just Try It ad was an appropriate way to campaign. The spokesman calls the ad creepy and treats the Republican reaction as a sign of Hilton's character. His statement is aimed at Hilton's politics as much as at the ad, but it rejects the ad in the campaign's own voice, so we used Condemned. This is the campaign's statement, given by its spokesman, not a personal remark by Becerra.
Role at the time: Former U.S. health and human services secretary; California gubernatorial candidate
Statement summary
Xavier Becerra condemned the seizure and welcomed the ruling as a victory for election protection ahead of November.
“a great victory”
Xavier Becerra supports the court's rejection of Bianco's ballot seizure. Becerra welcomed the ruling and connected it to protecting the November election.
Role at the time: Democratic candidate for governor of California and an attorney of record for the petitioning voters in Cervantes v. Bianco
Response to this claim
Elections Code section 15551(d) requires that voted ballots never be taken from the elections official's custody, so Sheriff Bianco violated it when he removed the Riverside County ballots from the Registrar of Voters, even under a search warrant.
“The sheriff is supposed to enforce the law. In this case, Sheriff Bianco violated the law. There are ways that you treat ballots. You have to maintain the integrity of every ballot so you know, I know, we all know, that no one will tamper with your ballot. There is a chain of custody requirement that the law says you have to follow in order to let that ballot move anywhere. … He cannot claim under cover of an investigation that he has the right to take these ballots and break that chain of custody. That's against the law. That's why we're suing, and that's why he's going to lose in the Supreme Court.”
The reference point is the sheriff's seizure and handling of the ballots. Becerra says the seizure broke the chain of custody the law requires and was against the law, which expressly rejects the conduct.
Statement dates: May 5, 2026 to October 5, 2026
Statement dates: May 5, 2026
Statement dates: October 5, 2026
Statement dates: May 5, 2026 to September 24, 2026
Statement dates: October 3, 2026 to October 5, 2026
Statement dates: May 5, 2026 to September 24, 2026
