Becerra addresses energized supporters in Los Angeles as primary election returns roll in

LOS ANGELES, CA — With votes still being counted across California tonight, Xavier Becerra took the stage at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes in Los Angeles to address energized supporters whose enthusiasm for his campaign remains undiminished.

Becerra’s full remarks are available at this link.

Remarks as prepared:

The California dream — it’s alive tonight.

We stand here at the birthplace of El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula — better known as “LA”. Like my family, LA is the starting line for millions of success stories across this great state.

And, here in Hollywood’s hometown, we love a good underdog story. I’ve got one for you. Two immigrants with 12 dollars and a dream. Come to California in pursuit of a better life. A construction worker and a clerical worker. They face long odds. Hard obstacles. Doubt and discrimination.

But they’ve got ganas — guts, grit and game all wrapped in one. It keeps them putting one foot in front of the other.

More than seven decades later, their son — the product of their sacrifices — first in his family to get a university degree takes his own leap of faith. Dares to run for California’s highest office. A campaign fueled by little more than grass-roots support, some sweat equity, and the full faith and confidence that California is always worth the fight.

Almost immediately, he’s counted out. An afterthought. Overlooked by many. Outspent by a ton. Even called along the way to drop out and save us all the trouble.

Well, guess what? The underdog stayed in the fight.

Like my parents, I never gave up. Never stopped putting one foot in front of the other. Never stopped believing in the beacon-light goodness of California. And, thankfully, neither did you.

Because we know the true miracle of democracy is this: after all the exhausting ads are run, the pundits are spun and the billionaires try to buy their way in, it’s the people – only the people – who get the last word.

And tonight the people of the great state of California, in the greatest nation on earth, have spoken. Loudly and proudly.

And while I take nothing for granted – there are lots of ballots left to count – it appears we are on track to advance to November. One step closer to the son of those hardworking immigrants Maria and Manuel Becerra becoming the next Governor of the great state of California.

Now, that’s more than a Hollywood ending. More than a milestone. It’s the everyday miracle of living in a state that regularly makes the improbable seem inevitable.

And I couldn’t have done it without you.

The doctors who clocked double shifts but still found time to canvas. The teachers who became our best volunteers the minute the afternoon school bell rang. The small business owners and union members who kept our economy running by day while walking door to door at night. The firefighters, the janitors, the care givers. The nurses and longshoremen. The students.

Most of all, I wouldn’t be here without Carolina, Clarisa, Olivia and Natalia – you are my superpower, my secret sauce. Everything I do, I do for families just like ours who deserve their shot at the California Dream.

You know, I ran for this job because I know how important California is as a shining light to the world. Radiating hope. Freedom. Opportunity. An unwavering belief in science, public schooling, enterprise, and foundational justice and human rights.

California is America on fast forward. Gleaming spotlights on the better angels of a more perfect union. A preview of an America – not just for the privileged or the partisans – but for all the people, by the people. An economic engine so powerful, so diverse – with more jobs, more capital, more R&D, more GDP, we lift up the entire nation. We are America’s center tentpole.

But I also know there are powerful forces aligned to darken our light. Distrust and disinformation. Division and distraction.

Make no mistake. These forces did not want tonight to happen. Because their success depends on California’s failure. The last thing these forces want is a working class governor with a law degree and a union card ready to call them out.

They know that I can’t be bought. They know I can’t be bullied. And they know I will not back down.

Now, we also recognize that, despite all of California’s growth and innovation, wealth and workforce, there are too many Californians who feel shut out – or priced out – of the winner’s circle.

They feel disconnected from the economy, from government, from the job market, the housing market, and from one another. In this new world, it feels like the old guarantees no longer apply and the promise of a brighter future is an artifact of the past.

For all of California’s greatness, we sometimes struggle to meet the standards we set for ourselves or to be the example that a divided nation or the next generation of dreamers so desperately need us to be.

Which is why, as your Governor, I am ready to lead the fight to uphold California’s promise. To make sure we have governance worthy of our gifts.

To ensure everyone, regardless of where you live, what you’ve learned, who you love, how you look, EVERYONE has a rung on California’s ladder of opportunity.

It starts with access to an affordable home. We are going to launch a building revolution in California, starting with the thousands of shovel-ready housing projects already in the pipeline.

And in America’s wealthiest nation-state, no excuse is acceptable for allowing people to live unsafely on our streets.

A healthy economy needs healthy communities. So we’ll restore the promise of affordable healthcare with universal access in California, including our underserved and rural communities.

We’ll expand our global leadership on climate, safeguard our air, water and coastline. And we will never surrender green-growth jobs of the future to Washington politics or international competitors.

We will invest in our schools like we mean it. Expand early education, child-care and paid family leave – the real family values.

We will fortify our second-to-none system of higher education – delivering the next generation of California leaders.

We will defend our children from the epidemics of gun violence and dangerous street drugs. And treat public safety like a first-order principle, because it is.

We’ll be big-hearted, sure, but tight-fisted with taxpayer dollars. We’ll build a government that runs, not on promises, but on time and under budget. And holds itself accountable when it doesn’t.

We will protect the right to vote — for every voter, for every community, in every corner of California. And we will defend the rights of women. No exceptions, no equivocation, no retreat.

We will do all these things because the world today needs California’s shining example more than ever. Its optimism. Its inclusion. Its ambition and invention.

That is what makes America great. Not the wealth and privilege, but one people –

e pluribus unum – lifting all boats. You know, we have a White House that ran on ‘America First’ and an affordable middle class. And, almost immediately, they ran away from their own promises.

Now the country is mired in an economy without mooring, a war without purpose, a job market without prospects and an American community without common ground.

Donald Trump is doubling down on decline. And counting on people being too fearful, distracted or gullible to fight back.

Well, he didn’t count on us.

As Governor, I will never back down from the threats of small cowards in big offices. I sued Trump 122 times before and I won, and won, and won. And anyone who wants to come at California will have to go through me.

And here’s the good news: California is bigger than Trump. Our values are undeniable – and undeportable.

And, one day, when power’s pendulum swings back against the chaos, the cruelty and the corruption. When all that remains of MAGA are broken promises, unpaid debts and empty ballrooms.

The world will look, once again, for American renewal – and for the State of California to lead the way. More than ever, America needs our voices and our values.

To the people and voters of California, this is your state. Este es tu Estado.

We will not be bought. We will not be bullied. And we are never backing down.

November, here we come.