Anti-establishment fever breaks

Becerra and Bass surge in California as anti-establishment fever breaks

Karen Bass advanced to a November runoff, while Xavier Becerra was in position to make the runoff in the governor’s race in early returns.

By Liam Dillon, Alex Nieves and Daniel Miller

The Democratic establishment swung back in California on Tuesday.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass advanced to a November runoff in a better-than-expected showing in her reelection bid, while Xavier Becerra was in solid position to make the runoff in the race for governor — both blunting a surge of outsider energy and massive spending in the nation’s most populous state.

While the governor’s race was still not called early Wednesday, and Bass still has a runoff to contend with, early results suggested the limits of anti-establishment currents that threatened for months to upend the party apparatus in this heavily Democratic state.

“We’ve been fighting, because we’re not going to let somebody turn back our clock,” Bass said in a fiery victory speech after dancing across the stage to the podium.

It was the same for establishment Democrats elsewhere. In deep-blue San Francisco, a union-backed proposal to impose a surtax on companies with “overpaid CEOs” trailed in early returns, though with the race still too close to call. In the race to succeed Nancy Pelosi in Congress, Scott Wiener, a prominent state senator, and Connie Chan, a progressive city supervisor who received Pelosi’s endorsement, advanced over a third Democrat, Saikat Chakrabarti, who had been deeply critical of Pelosi and the Democratic Party. And across the Rockies in Iowa, in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races, Democrats picked establishment-supported Josh Turek on Tuesday night.

Becerra, the industry-backed former state attorney general and Biden Cabinet secretary, held a sturdy second place ahead of billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer, who spent more than $200 million on a campaign in which he staked out positions to the left of his rivals on the state’s housing, environmental, tax and other affordability challenges. Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host endorsed by President Donald Trump, was just ahead of Becerra early Wednesday morning. But it is Becerra who would be a heavy favorite in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 5 million voters.

Bass, damaged by her uneven, defensive response to the January 2025 wildfires that wiped out thousands of homes and the city’s still-unrelenting homelessness crisis, held a substantial lead over two opponents, Republican reality television personality Spencer Pratt and Democratic City Councilmember Nithya Raman. Pratt, a political newcomer who lost his Pacific Palisades home in the fire, garnered media attention through merciless social media attacks on Bass that blamed her for the city’s homelessness problems and novel AI-generated videos casting him as an avenging superhero out to save the city.

At Bass’ watch party in Koreatown, where the crowd erupted exuberantly at the first returns, her supporters — city councilmembers and prominent business, labor and party leaders — said the results showed the mayor was stronger than portrayed.

“I’ll just go ahead and say it, the media and some other elected officials tried to bury her,” Los Angeles City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson told POLITICO.

In San Francisco, the city’s moderate Democratic wing was also breathing a sigh of relief over the struggling CEO tax. The tax hike was opposed by Mayor Daniel Lurie and tech megadonors, who argued it would harm the city’s downtown economic recovery. Two incumbent city supervisors backed by Lurie also fended off more progressive challengers.

Becerra’s sudden rise to the top of a crowded field came after months of wallowing near its bottom — a position that belied the experience he’d held in Congress, as state attorney general and as U.S. Health and Human Services secretary. Only after then-Rep. Eric Swalwell’s campaign imploded amid allegations of sexual assault in April, did momentum swing Becerra’s way.

Some of his most prominent traits — a Costco wardrobe, lack of bombast and decades of work in the corridors of state and federal power centers — became a safe haven for voters overwhelmed with uncertainty about their choice.

“What a testament to perseverance, grit and resilience — to hang in there, to stick through it,” said Jesse Gabriel, a Democratic state assemblymember at Becerra’s party at a Latino cultural center in downtown Los Angeles. “A lot of people had written this campaign off, and Secretary Becerra understood that the road is long.”

For his part, Becerra previewed his general election argument by emphasizing his record as state attorney general.

“I sued Trump more than 120 times,” Becerra said to cheers.

Even though she was outperforming her pre-election polls, Bass faces a deeper challenge than her immediate predecessors in office. She’s the first Los Angeles mayor to face a runoff in a reelection bid in more than two decades.

Pratt, who was in second place as of early Wednesday, held a private party inside a Mexican restaurant on the city’s Westside he’s frequented since his years on mid-aughts reality show “The Hills.” Speaking to a gaggle of reporters outside, he said he looked forward to a one-on-one against Bass.

“I hope she’s ready,” Pratt said of Bass. “I literally could not be more excited.”

But Pratt’s place in the runoff is not assured. As of early Wednesday, he held a lead over Raman, who is challenging Bass from the left. Political observers widely expect late-arriving ballots to skew more Democratic, which could aid Raman — a looming threat to the incumbent. Should Pratt hold on, however, Bass would have a considerable edge in a city with 15 percent Republican registration.