Election Day for the midterm elections will take place throughout California on November 3, 2026. Photo by Melissa Luy.
Recently, I watched a short video about how Latino families are avoiding conversations about politics due to differing political opinions.
With the recurring immediacy in the news, how can we avoid looking at issues happening to our Latino communities? Is this healthy or insane?
Should we ignore what ICE is doing to our community, the bad economy, and the stress of not making ends meet because of rising housing costs? Should we ignore how Trump’s handling of overseas politics can affect our cities in California?
Are we a dormant society unable to discuss in a civil way over the table? Few things are more important than our own existence and survival. We are overloaded with so much information on social media that we do not prioritize what is most important.
This is an essential time for Latinos to come out to vote; our voices should be heard now more than ever in this election to choose our next governor. As Gavin Newsom's second term ends, we need to wisely elect the right person to represent us, protect us, and understand our communities’ needs.
In the primary election on June 2, 2026, Xavier Becerra ran for the Democratic Party, and Steve Hilton ran for the Republican Party. Becerra led the list with 314, 530 votes more than Hilton, according to Ballotpedia.
Becerra is proud of his Mexican-American heritage. Coming from a modest family, Becerra’s father was born in California, raised in Tijuana, and his mother was born and raised in Mexico. Becerra remembers his dad working hard to care for his wife and four children. He worked in construction and farming, among other blue-collar jobs.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics in 1980 and later obtained a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Stanford Law School in 1984.
Becerra has a strong background in politics, serving not only California but also the country. He was in Congress representing California from 1993 to 2017, and he was the first Latino California Attorney General from January 2017 to March 2021. In the same year, Becerra was appointed as Secretary of Health and Human Services under former President Joseph Biden Jr. until 2025.
One of the main ballot drop-off locations is Stanton City Hall, located in Orange County. Photo by Melissa Luy.
Becerra is a representation of our community because he knows the struggle with the issues that matter most to us, such as immigration, economy, and health. He communicates well in Spanish when interviewed by Spanish media. If he is chosen, he will be the second ever Latino governor in California after Romualdo Pacheco, who took the position after the resignation of Governor Newton Booth in 1975.
Becerra is planning to continue Gov. Newsom’s goal to build more housing and work on removing some obstacles to stop the extensive wait for housing projects to launch. Moreover, he wants to prevent home insurance companies from raising rates, as well as utility bills that are affecting homeowners.
Becerra proposed improving the California healthcare system to lower costs by removing administrative and bureaucratic extra fees. Becerra is planning to establish universal coverage for everyone, where nobody will be denied health insurance, no matter their legal status, to receive medical attention.
On the opposing side, there is candidate Steve Hilton, a Republican born in the United Kingdom. He earned a bachelor's degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Oxford. Hilton served as a political strategist for the British Prime Minister David Cameron for two years.
He then moved to the U.S. and worked as a faculty member at Stanford University. He is also an entrepreneur and author who published four books related to business and politics. Later, he was hired by Fox News to host the program, “The Next Revolution,” from 2017 to 2023. He became a loyal ally of the Trump administration.
If Hilton becomes governor, one of his goals is to work on California’s economy. Hilton has acknowledged that everything has become so expensive for everyone to live and work in the state. He is proposing to lower oil and gas prices with the use of our own resources instead of importing them from other countries. By doing so, he claims this will stabilize the economy and stop inflation.
Hilton is willing to cooperate openly with Trump and his immigration politics by sending federal agents to sanctuary states. Conversely, Becerra mentioned that he’ll cooperate as well as work to stand up against Trump if he believes that how he acts under his agenda could cause negative repercussions for Californians.
When Becerra was attorney general of California, he sued Trump 122 times in his first administration due to strict policies, such as police departments becoming immigration agents and deporting immigrants who were brought to the country when they were children; measures to limit transgender individuals’ eligibility for military service and preventing health care providers from offering birth control, among other actions.
Latino voters can make a big difference in California, especially considering how big our communities are. It’s time for us to come together. We cannot ignore what is happening in our communities. It is time to make our voices heard by voting.
You can find your nearest voting station as well as other voting information here https://locator.lavote.gov/locations/vc?culture=en.