In addition to the Senate seat and DHS job, Becerra has also been discussed as a candidate for U.S. attorney general under Biden, according to Oscar Ramirez, who worked in the Obama administration and is the founder of the Washington, D.C.-based Democratic lobby shop Fulcrum Public Affairs. But Ramirez added that Becerra faces steep competition for any top spot.
Ramirez noted that former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates is also being considered for attorney general. Yates' own long career with the DOJ ended abruptly when she was fired in 2018 for declining to enforce President Donald Trump's initial ban on admitting travelers from certain majority-Muslim countries to the U.S.
WilmerHale partner Alejandro Mayorkas, who served as DHS deputy secretary during the Obama administration, is also likely in the running for the DHS secretary position under Biden, Ramirez said.
David McCuan, a political science professor at California's Sonoma State University, told Law360 on Tuesday that Becerra is probably the better fit for the DHS role, in part because Mayorkas' liberal track record in the Obama administration may cause problems in getting confirmed by the Senate.
"Republicans would use his [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] stance and some of the things in his past to just hit him," McCuan said. "Becerra wouldn't have that problem."
Meanwhile, Becerra's decades of experience as a congressman and serving as California attorney general work in his favor and have given him a solid understanding of issues that have a national impact, according to Ramirez. He added that Becerra also knows how to take action on national issues quickly.
"He would be more than qualified for either position," Ramirez said.
Biden is currently in the process of picking the members of his Cabinet, which should be announced within the next month, Ramirez said. If Becerra is not offered or declines a Cabinet position, California Gov. Gavin Newsom could choose him to fill Harris' Senate seat, which will become vacant once she assumes the role of vice president on Jan. 20.
Harris was elected to the Senate in 2016, and she has two more years left in office, so whoever fills her position won't have to run for election to the seat until 2022.
However, McCuan said Becerra is a better fit for a Cabinet position than he is for the Senate spot, which the Sonoma State University professor noted every California politician with national ambitions is gunning for. At the DHS or Justice Department, Becerra can leverage the relationships he built during his prior experience on Capitol Hill to the administration's benefit, he said.
"It would be a surprise quite frankly if he were the Senate appointee," McCuan said.
If Becerra leaves his position as top cop in the Golden State, whoever replaces him will likely have to be serious on prison reform and not a traditionalist, McCuan said, noting that San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin may fit the bill.
"There will be a scramble to fill that seat, because it's going to be incredibly high profile and active," McCuan said.
On Monday, Newsom said he has not yet established a timeline for filling Harris' seat, because the process is "just beginning to unfold." The governor noted that the presidential race has been called by "everyone but the current occupant of the White House."
"Obviously we have to work through those issues and get to the point where we can make some determination," Newsom said.
Becerra, 62, is no stranger to Capitol Hill. Becerra served a dozen terms in Congress as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, and a ranking member of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security. He also served as chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.
Before he was elected to Congress, Becerra served one term in the California State Legislature as the representative for the district that covers Los Angeles County.
In January 2017, Becerra was sworn in as California's 33rd attorney general and is the first Latino to hold the office, taking over the job left open by Harris, who had been elected to the U.S. Senate at the time.
Becerra said in a statement on Monday that Biden, Harris and Newsom have big decisions to make, including naming the team that will "quarterback Biden."
"Fortunately, there's lots of remarkable talent prepared to serve our country," Becerra said. "I'm confident President-elect Biden, working with Vice President-elect Harris, will assemble a formidable team for America."
Becerra, who is the son of Mexican immigrants and grew up in Sacramento, earned an undergraduate degree in economics from Stanford University and a law degree from Stanford Law School. He served as a deputy attorney general with the California Department of Justice, according to his profile on the California Attorney General's website.
--Editing by Emily Kokoll and Nicole Bleier.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
