Xavier Becerra goes eerily silent as he runs out the clock on California governor’s race

Eight debate invitations. Eight. That's not a scheduling conflict, that's a strategy. Xavier Becerra ran California's Department of Justice, he was Biden's HHS secretary, and now he's decided the best way to become governor of the fifth-largest economy on earth is to say as little as possible about how he'd run it. If that sounds backwards, that's because it is. But it's also not new. It's what Democrats do when they think they've already got the votes locked up and don't want to hand anyone a clip to use against them.

The frustrating part is how well this usually works. California's political map is lopsided enough that a candidate can coast on name recognition and party registration numbers alone, skip the hard questions, and still cruise to victory. Becerra clearly believes he's in that position, and honestly, he might be right. That's less a compliment to him than an indictment of a system where one party's dominance is so total that actual campaigning becomes optional.

Voters deserve better than a candidate who treats debates like an inconvenience to be dodged rather than an obligation to be met. Whatever you think of his record on immigration enforcement, health policy, or the state's affordability crisis, Californians have a right to hear him defend it in real time, under real questioning, not through press releases and vibes. Running out the clock isn't a campaign strategy. It's an admission that you don't think you need to earn the job.