# Xavier Becerra Defeats Steve Hilton to Become California's First Elected Latino Governor

> Democrat Xavier Becerra, a former California attorney general and Biden administration health secretary, defeated Republican Steve Hilton on Tuesday to become the first Latino candidate elected governor of California.

- Source: American Post News
- Canonical URL: https://americanpostnews.net/article/xavier-becerra-defeats-steve-hilton-to-become-california-s-first-elected-latino-governor
- Author: staff
- Section: Politics
- Published: 2026-11-04T14:27:30.546Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T14:27:30.546Z
- Tags: California, Xavier Becerra, Governor Election, Midterm Elections

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Democrat Xavier Becerra defeated Republican Steve Hilton in Tuesday's California governor's race, becoming the first Latino candidate elected to the state's top office, a milestone several outlets noted comes roughly 150 years after Romualdo Pacheco, California's only other Latino governor, held the post after ascending from lieutenant governor in the 1870s rather than winning election outright.

Becerra, born in Sacramento to a mother from Mexico and a father who was born in California and raised in Mexico, built his career in California politics over decades, representing Los Angeles in Congress before serving as the state's attorney general and later as the US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary under President Biden. He is a graduate of Stanford Law School.

His opponent, Steve Hilton, is a former political adviser in the United Kingdom who later became a Fox News host before running for California governor as a Republican. Becerra's win keeps the governorship in Democratic hands in a state Republicans have struggled to compete in statewide for years.

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Originally published by American Post News. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://americanpostnews.net/article/xavier-becerra-defeats-steve-hilton-to-become-california-s-first-elected-latino-governor.