A former coworker of Xavier Becerra under the Biden administration delivered the latest blow to his bid for California governor by refusing to endorse him Tuesday.
Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversaw the Department of Homeland Security while Becerra was secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, was mum at a speaking event.
“There are many qualified individuals in the California race,” he said at a Politico event in Washington, D.C. “I am agnostic with respect to the California gubernatorial race right now.”
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas REUTERS Mayorkas further emphasized that “my residence is in Washington D.C., so you will not find me to answer your political questions in a satisfactory way.”
The swerve by Mayorkas comes as Becerra has surged to the front of polls, running on a platform of being the experienced candidate who touts his HHS leadership under former President Joe Biden (D).
However, his gubernatorial rivals are skeptical of that experience — and some people who worked in the Biden administration are even giving them ammunition.
A number of Biden staffers have anonymously expressed surprise at Becerra’s lead in the governor’s race, considering they thought him incompetent. Xochitl Hinojosa, who worked in Biden’s Department of Justice, shocked a post-debate panel earlier this month, when she said she does not trust Becerra to stand up to Republican President Donald Trump.
“When I saw him in the administration, I think a lot of people did, people understand this: he was not effective in government,” she added.
Xavier Becerra, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for California via REUTERS Mayorkas is not the only notable non-endorsement. Former Vice President Kamala Harris also did not weigh in, while she endorsed a slate of candidates in California’s other political races.
Opponents have attacked Becerra’s time as HHS chief, particularly him taking a supposed backseat on media relations during the COVID-19 pandemic and the handling of a migrant child crisis. Mayorkas punted on a question regarding that crisis.
The Becerra campaign has defended his HHS leadership, noting the unprecedented rollout of free COVID-19 vaccines. It has swatted away the non-endorsements by noting other Biden adminstration ex-colleagues who have praised Becerra’s work.
“Secretary Becerra is a workhorse that delivered to the people of the United States while he was health secretary, and we’ll deliver the same kind of results,” his advisor Michael Bustamante previously told the Post.
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