By admin 
Democrat Xavier Becerra has not spoken to reporters since he won the June primary for governor. His recent public appearances are few and far between. And the former state attorney general has generally kept his campaign promises broad and vague.
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Becerra’s campaign says his focus this summer is on fundraising and coalition building, with a more visible electioneering set to kick off around Labor Day. In the meantime, his rival, Republican Steve Hilton is barnstorming the state with a steady stream of events and media appearances, attempting to gin up attention for a campaign that early polls show faces a difficult climb to viability. A Public Policy Institute of California poll released last month showed Becerra up 61% to 36%.
The split screen between Hilton and Becerra was on display Wednesday. Becerra ducked out of a news conference on voting rights outside the Capitol — his first advertised public appearance in weeks — before it was over, without taking questions from press. His campaign spokesperson, Jonathan Underland, said Becerra was racing to a private event at a Madera health clinic focused on looming cuts to Medicaid.
Hilton hosted a news conference in Fresno attacking Becerra for his handling of child migrants while serving as former President Joe Biden’s secretary of health and human services. It is Hilton’s third public event in five days. A spokesperson said Hilton had four media interviews scheduled and was also appearing on a podcast that day.
“Becerra has time for staged press conferences, but he has yet to accept the growing pile of debate requests or answer for the children failed under his watch,” Hilton said in a statement.
Becerra struggled to gain traction during the unpredictable gubernatorial primary until former Rep. Eric Swalwell, who faced accusations of sexual assault, dropped out of the race in April. As Becerra surged in the polls, his campaign raced to grow its skeletal campaign staff and raise money. His campaign website was a single page, with no policy positions, as recently as mid-March.
Becerra’s win in June cemented his status as the general election frontrunner and brought a pause after the relentless final sprint of the primary.
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At the event in Sacramento, Underland said the Democrat’s goals for the summer were raising money for the general election fight and meeting with stakeholders to further flesh out his policy platform.
“The focus right now is fundraising, learning about you know the issues that Californians care about the most, and then taking all that on the road,” Underland said.
Political analysts say voters are unlikely to pay much attention in the summer, when many are focused on vacations rather than politics. Becerra’s comfortable lead, California’s blue tint and a favorable political environment all help buy Becerra time and breathing room, according to Kim Nalder, a political science professor at Sacramento State.
“If you’re Becerra right now, the only thing you would really worry about is making some sort of massive blunder,” Nalder said. “Being vague and being less visible is actually probably an advantage.”
Veteran Democratic strategist Bob Shrum agreed that voters are unlikely to punish Becerra for his quiet summer, or for keeping his policy platform imprecise. He pointed to the examples of Jerry Brown’s 2010 run for governor or Gavin Newsom’s 2018 bid.
“They did have specific things they were for, but they weren’t the dominant factors in the race,” Shrum said.
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