Xavier Becerra's campaign biography describes him as the son of Mexican-American immigrants who arrived in America with just $12 in their pockets. But public records tell a more complicated story about his late father, Manuel Guerrero Becerra, who according to his own obituary was born in Sacramento in 1928 rather than Mexico — a discrepancy now at the center of a bitter fight in California's governor's race.
A Family History With a Twist
Manuel Guerrero Becerra was born in Sacramento on July 14, 1928, the eldest of eight children, according to the obituary published on legacy.com. That same obituary says his parents moved the family to Tijuana, Mexico while he was a child, and that he later returned to California as a young teenager. He went on to work as a farm worker along Highway 99, a railroad worker for Southern Pacific Railroad, and in road construction, per the obituary. Becerra's mother, María Teresa, came from Jalisco, Mexico, while his father was born in Sacramento and raised in Tijuana, as San Diego Red reports.
Becerra's campaign has long leaned into that heritage, with his official campaign biography stating that he is the son of Mexican-American immigrants who came to America with $12 in their pockets. The New York Post reports that Becerra himself has said, “My parents came to California with $12 in their pockets.” The same biography notes that Becerra was the first in his family to graduate from a four-year university.
Hilton Seizes on the Discrepancy
Republican opponent Steve Hilton posted his criticism on X earlier this week, arguing that Becerra's framing misrepresents his father's citizenship. “Unlike Xavier Becerra, I am an immigrant. Unlike Xavier Becerra, my father was an immigrant,” Hilton wrote, according to the same report. Hilton has also argued that Becerra's policies have damaged what he calls the California dream.
Becerra's campaign has pushed back hard. Spokesperson Jonathan Underland said temporary moves to parents' home countries are common in immigrant families and noted that people born in California may be raised in other countries before later returning to build a new life there. Underland went further, accusing Hilton of attacking immigrants who look like Becerra and suggesting that Hilton is exploiting anti-immigrant sentiment that he said President Trump ignited among his supporters.
Polls Tell Conflicting Stories
The dispute has landed in the middle of a race where the two campaigns can't even agree on how close things are. An internal poll commissioned by Hilton's campaign, conducted by David Wolfson and released Sunday, surveyed 1,020 California voters from October 1 through October 2 and found Becerra leading 45.7% to 40.1%, with 14.1% undecided, according to Breitbart. That marks a shift from an earlier Hilton campaign poll that had Becerra at 52% and Hilton at 37%, per the same outlet. Breitbart also cited a RealClearPolling average showing Becerra ahead by 21.8 points, a far wider margin than the campaign's own internal numbers suggest.
A separate poll released October 5 and reported by the Desert Sun found Becerra leading 48% to 38% among likely voters, with 11% undecided. That poll, which surveyed 2,906 likely voters from September 23 through October 2 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, found a 10-point Becerra advantage — smaller than the leads shown in two other recent gubernatorial surveys. The same report noted that undecided voters were modeled to break about two-to-one toward Becerra if conditions held steady through Election Day.
Those other surveys paint a very different picture. A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll released September 24 showed Becerra ahead 58% to 33%, while a Public Policy Institute of California poll released about a week earlier found a similar 60% to 38% advantage, per the Desert Sun's reporting. Earlier in the race, San Diego Red reported a tighter three-way split with Becerra at 25%, Hilton at 21% and Democrat Tom Steyer at 19%.
From a Crowded Primary to a Two-Man Race
Becerra won the June primary and held an election night gathering at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes in Los Angeles. Hilton, who led polls for much of the primary campaign, ended up finishing a close second in a crowded field, according to The Guardian. Becerra has held few press events since that primary win, even as he's maintained a steady lead in the race.
The two candidates debated immigration, gas prices and taxes at Victorio's Ristorante in North Hollywood on September 30, a faceoff that appears to have tightened the contest in its aftermath. Hilton has received an endorsement from President Trump, who remains deeply unpopular in California, and he has also released a lesbian-themed campaign advertisement that alienated some conservative allies. Becerra is married to Carolina Reyes, a doctor.
