LOS ANGELES — Attorney General Xavier Becerra is trying to hold onto his seat Tuesday in a battle with equally well-funded fellow Democrat and state Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones and two long-shot Republican lawyers.
Becerra, a longtime congressman appointed last year by Gov. Jerry Brown to fill the seat vacated when Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate, has spent much of his time in office suing the Trump administration to halt or reverse policies that he says harm Californians.
His opponents charge that Becerra, the first Latino to hold the office, has neglected other priorities because of his obsession with the Republican president. Becerra has said he has done plenty of other work, such as cracking down on gangs and charity fraud.
Jones, the two-term insurance czar and former state assemblyman, is running to the left of Becerra, advocating for a single-payer health care system, an end to capital punishment and criminal justice reforms, such as more rehabilitation and mental illness and drug addiction treatment programs.
Given that both Democrats already hold statewide office, they are much better known and better funded than the two Republicans vying to be one of the top two vote-getters who advance to the general election in November.