One-on-one with Democrat gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra

There's enough written about me that you could find out who I am, what I've done over the course of time. It's hard to hide when you have cast thousands of votes as a member of Congress for 24 years, when you served as the chief law enforcement officer for the state of California as attorney general, when you've served in the cabinet of a president, as I did as secretary of health and human services. There's a record there. And I'm not going to try to run on promises because not everyone delivers on their promises. I'll run on a record. And people want to Look at the record. It's out there. Internet, you'll find it. I know you've seen the polls that have you up double digits in this race. Also in those polls, 52% of likely voters say California is moving in the wrong direction. What do you do differently than Governor Gavin Newsom? Build more homes, protect people's health insurance so they can access a doctor when they need that person. Make sure that we work to build our schools so our kids are actually moving on to the next grade and ready to learn at that next level. Making sure that we deal with the safety that everyone expects when your kids are walking the streets. Do all the basic things that people expect. And that includes, of course, addressing this energy crisis, where today we're paying more for gasoline than we could have ever imagined. It's about time that Donald Trump... Learned that people don't like this war in Iran, that's reckless, that's illegal, and has increased the price of gasoline, what, two bucks a gallon for Californians? Gasoline was already high in California. We didn't need Donald Trump to start a war and increase the price of gasoline by another $2. Those things that you listed, building more homes, keeping people safe, are those things you think that Governor Newsom and Democrats have not done in his time in the legislature? We need to do more, and we need to do everything better, regardless of who was there or who wasn't there. We just need to do more. We got to do better. You've talked about cutting red tape, regulations to lower gas prices, speed up housing production along these lines. What do you do in the first hundred days in terms of cutting red tape? So we want to make sure that there's a date certain by which if you're going to build a home, you know you're going to go. You should not be held up for years and years not getting the permit you need, getting the licensing taken care of. Whatever it is that lets you put shovel in ground I want to make sure that we're helping give you a date certain when that happens. Time is money and I don't need you to spin your wheels waiting to get your permit. Secondly, and I hope people will vote for Prop 1. Proposition 1 will provide us with the resources we need to build those houses, to build those rental units that people are waiting for. There are some 40,000 housing units That are ready to go. They just need a little help with financing. And Prop 1 will help us provide that financing that kickstart the construction of those 40,000 units. Do that, then I'll help make sure that if you're just shy a little bit of money for that down payment, we'll help. We've got down payment assistance programs. I want to expand those. So those who are ready to buy, just need a little help. We'll try to be there for you. And then, of course, we'll make sure that we're doing, beyond housing, the things that make our schools better, the... Taking care of the fact that Donald Trump, while he gutted a trillion dollars out of health care, that's not going to be where we go. We're going to try to maintain people's access to good health care because they'll be insured. You've been getting a lot of questions about AI regulation, and that is a conversation that's happening in California, across the country, certainly in Silicon Valley. You criticized President Trump during the debate, saying he got a pinky promise from these tech leaders. Your campaign has received donations from some of the biggest tech leaders and AI companies in the country. So what do you say to people that are skeptical that you can follow through on real regulation when these folks are trying to curry favor with you in terms of dollars? You know, curry favor or not, I sued these companies when I was attorney general to try to enforce the law. And so if you're not abiding by the law, we're going to go get you. If you could do more based on the law. We're going to make sure that you do what you should, and we'll work with you if you want. But I will tell you this, make no bones about it, when it comes to AI, we will have guardrails. We certainly will work with the industry to try to put in place the right guardrails, but I won't expect a pinky promise from those AI companies to make sure that Californians are safe, that our kids are safe, that our workers don't lose their jobs. Pinky promises won't do it with me. I've seen the plan online. Should the state step in if the federal government will not regulate these industries? We're ready, and we will. We're not going to wait for Donald Trump and the federal government to realize that AI is moving too fast and can be too dangerous, and we need to have guardrails in place. About six million Californians in 2024 voted for Donald Trump to be president of the United States. If you are elected governor, you will also represent them, certainly a percentage that will vote for Steve Hilton in this election. If you win, what do you say to them about the kind of governor you'll be for them? Proud to be a fellow Californian with you. Proud to get to serve as your governor. Proud to work with you. You continue to be who you are. I appreciate who who you are, your values, and your politics. You have been listening in to an interview with KTVU's Greg Lee and gubernatorial candidate Javier Becerra, who is running against Republican Steve Hilton. So that was the interview that we just played for you right there.