Becerra gathering campaign cash he may not need for himself

Anyone thinking of taking on California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in 2022 will have a tall hill to climb. The Democratic incumbent is sitting on nearly $2.2 million after taking in $582,000 this year from a variety of donors, mainly in large dollar amounts.

This total includes $393,000 Becerra transferred from his 2018 account earlier this year. Appointed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown at the beginning on 2017 to replace Sen. Kamala D. Harris, Becerra easily won a full term last November by a margin of more than 3.3 million votes.

Becerra’s election was so assured — at least once then-Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones failed to advance out of the June primary — he gave $115,000 to the California Democratic Party or local affiliates before the general election.

His continued strong fundraising suggests Becerra could take on a role played by Brown in his last term as governor: a political donor in his own right, capable of using his cash to elevate candidates and causes of his choice.

Just a fraction of Becerra’s 2019 totals, $41,800, come from attorneys, including $18,330 from lawyers inside California. This group includes a few well-known attorneys, including Paul R. Kiesel of Kiesel Law LLP in Beverly Hills and Samini Cohen Spanos LLP partner Theodore G. Spanos.

He received another $14,535 from 19 out-of-state attorneys with a single major firm, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, that all occurred between May 25 and June 5. These include donations from Ken Salazar, the partner in charge of the firm’s Denver office. Salazar is a former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and Colorado Attorney General.

Salazar and WilmerHale declined to discuss the donations.

Becerra’s other donors are largely the same as those of other major Democrats: labor unions, major corporations like Citigroup Inc. and Chevron Corp., and wealthy individuals including Eli Broad. Probably his most famous recent celebrity donor is actor John Leguizamo.

If Becerra chooses to run again in three years, there are few threats on the horizon.

Last year, John Cox, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s opponent in the general election, and conservative activist Carl DeMaio threatened a recall campaign against Becerra over his office’s title and summary of a failed gas tax repeal. But that effort appears to have gone nowhere.

A committee was formed last year, Recall Xavier Becerra for Defrauding Voters on Prop 6 Gas Tax Repeal Initiative, but it was closed on Dec. 31, apparently without taking in a single donation.

Conservative talk show host Erin Cruz formed a group in January, Restoring America Now Inc., whose web page solicits donations for a Becerra recall. But nothing appears to have been filed with the California Secretary of State in relation to that effort.

A pair of Democratic former state senators, Ellen M. Corbett and Lou Correa, both have active Attorney General 2022 accounts. But in each case, these appear to be places to stash old campaign funds; neither has taken a donation since Becerra has been in office.

The two Republicans who placed in the top four during the primaries have both kept their campaign accounts open. Becerra’s general election opponent, former El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Steven C. Bailey, has raised $53,300 since election day, including more than $43,000 of his own money. But the reports show he’s been using this money to settle campaign debts; his committee reported just $680 cash on hand.

Eric P. Early, managing partner of Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae LLP in Los Angeles, finished a very close fourth behind Jones in the primary and exited the campaign with little debt. Last month, he announced a run against Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Los Angeles. Early hasn’t been in that race long enough to report any contributions with the Federal Election Commission.

A Becerra campaign spokesperson did not return a call seeking comment.