California AG Becerra Tapped as Cabinet Secretary

President-elect Joe Biden named California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his Secretary of Health and Human Services in the 46th president’s cabinet this week. The post, currently held by Alex Azar, plays a pivotal role in the COVID vaccine program and is the wellspring for more grant dollars than all other federal agencies combined.

If Becerra is confirmed, it will be another of many firsts in his life: first in his family to attend college, first Latino Attorney General in the state, and the first Latino on the powerful Ways and Means Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. Becerra has a bachelor’s in economics from Stanford, where he also earned his law degree. Before becoming California’s AG in 2017, following Kamala Harris in the job, he served one term as a California assemblymember and was then elected in 1992 to Congress, where he represented a Los Angeles district for 24 years. He led the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the late ’90s and the House Democratic Caucus in his last two terms, and over time he came to mentor and befriend many young politicians, including Santa Barbara’s Rep. Salud Carbajal.