The Race Xavier Becerra Lost

XAVIER BECERRA IS POISED to make history as California’s first elected Latino governor — an achievement all the more notable in light of his failed attempt to make history as the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since the 19^th century.

The mayor’s race in question happened 25 years ago, and Becerra can point to plenty of successes in the decades since, from Sacramento to Washington, D.C. Still, if you want a key to understanding the man likely to serve as California’s next chief executive, that 2001 contest for mayor of L.A. — the only election Becerra ever lost — is a good place to start. It began with Becerra rejecting pleas to drop out, after which his campaign limped along without much of an organizing principle until it crash-landed in a scandal so ignominious that Becerra was declared politically dead in Los Angeles.

“Xavier will never have another bowl of menudo in this town,” one Latino leader asserted at the time, as quoted by L.A. Times columnist Frank del Olmo.