Challenger Dave Jones keeps Attorney General Becerra from getting Democratic Party endorsement

After Xavier Becerra was appointed state attorney general last year, he was quoted as telling reporters, “Good policy is good politics,” and pledging to run on his record in the job when he sought election.

With the June primary now less than 100 days away, Becerra has had time to establish that record. But he still faces a persistent challenge from Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, who is seeking to force a Democrat-on-Democrat race this fall.

Becerra failed to wrap up his party’s endorsement at the California Democratic Convention in San Diego over the weekend. Jones, who established a long history in state politics while Becerra was serving 12 terms in Congress, nearly wrapped up the endorsement himself.

Jones received 1,564 delegate votes at the convention, or 56 percent. Becerra got 1,188, or 42 percent. Two percent of delegates voted not to endorse. Sixty percent of votes are needed to win the party endorsement.

The Jones campaign celebrated. “We went in with the hope we could block Becerra,” said Jones’ campaign consultant, Parke Skelton. “He’s the incumbent and has a lot of institutional support and support from legislative leaders who control a large number of delegates at the convention. I was very pleased at how well we did.”

Becerra supporters disagreed.

“I thought it was a defeat for Jones,” said Dario J. Frommer, a former state Assembly majority leader who is now a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in Los Angeles. “He’s been working the party very aggressively. He made a Herculean effort.”

Once an attorney general candidate himself, Frommer now supports Becerra, but said “both are good candidates” and praised Jones as a “tireless” elected official.

Bill Lockyer, who was attorney general from 1999 to 2007, noted the party didn’t endorse this year in other high profile statewide offices.

Lockyer, now of counsel with Brown Rudnick LLP, has endorsed Becerra.

“I don’t think it says anything about the where the electorate winds up,” he said.

Becerra retains the advantages of incumbency and a huge lead in fundraising. His two dozen-plus lawsuits against the Trump administration have kept him in the news. He has secured court injunctions stopping U.S. government actions in several cases, particularly relating to environmental policy.

Lockyer noted that Jones has also criticized Trump a great deal, particularly over changes to the Affordable Care Act. The job has also put Jones in the middle of high-profile fights over cash bail, cannabis policies wildfire damage and more.

Both Lockyer and Frommer said the weekend’s events do point to a growing likelihood of a Democrat-on-Democrat race in the fall election.

“I’m surprised there is not a prominent Republican,” Frommer said. “I think that helps Dave Jones.”

One Republican in the race saw things quite differently.

“Even the Democrats have serious doubts about Becerra,” said Eric P. Early, a GOP candidate for attorney general. “He can’t even get his own party endorsement against a lackluster candidate like Dave Jones. This just shows how wide open the race is and how weak Mr. Becerra is as a candidate.”

Early, the managing partner of Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae LLP in Los Angeles, is a political newcomer. He is hoping to beat one of the Democrats to make it into the top two candidates vying in the November election.

No Republican has won statewide office in California since 2006.

Becerra and Early received the same piece of good news last week. This came in the form of bad news for the other well-known Republican in the race, retired El Dorado County Judge Steven C. Bailey.

On Feb. 21, the Commission on Judicial Performance announced it was opening an inquiry into 11 counts of alleged misconduct in office by Bailey. Three of these counts related to campaigning for attorney general before resigning the bench on Aug. 31.

Bailey’s campaign spokesman, Corey Uhden, dismissed the charges as “an attempt to disparage a respected former judge” and “a waste of time and taxpayers’ money.”

On Monday, Early’s campaign released a statement calling the charges against Bailey “disturbing.” He added that “it is in the best interests of the Republican Party” that Bailey withdraw.

Becerra also wields other advantages. He’s a Latino incumbent in a year when the presence of other Latinos on the statewide ballot are expected to draw large numbers to the poll. He was also appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown, who remains popular among Democratss.

Battles with Trump have placed the office more in the spotlight than ever, Lockyer noted. But he also said that even with greater scrutiny, most of what the Department of Justice does still flies under the radar.

“As attorney general, I used to tease about how I felt I had 1,200 sole practitioners using my letterhead,” Lockyer said. “It’s not like the attorney general is dictating everyone’s workday. The attorney general sets policy and hires key people.”