Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took shots at his confirmed and rumored Democratic opponents of the California gubernatorial primary who served in the Biden administration, accusing them of helping conceal former President Joe Biden’s decline.
Villaraigosa alleged that former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra were complicit in the effort to hide President Biden’s cognitive decline from the public following Tuesday’s release of “Original Sin,” a book on the subject authored by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson.
“At the highest levels of our government, those in power were intentionally complicit or told outright lies in a systematic cover-up to keep Joe Biden’s mental decline from the public,” Villaraigosa said in a statement. “Voters deserve to know the truth. What did Kamala Harris and Xavier Becerra know, when did they know it, and most importantly, why didn’t either of them speak out? This cover-up directly led to a second Donald Trump term — and as a result, all Californians are paying the price.”
Villaraigosa, who served as mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013 and ran for governor in 2018, is now vying for the office again in 2026. Becerra launched his own bid for governor last month, while Harris is reportedly weighing a run as well after her defeat in the 2024 presidential election.
Villaraigosa urged both Democrats to “take responsibility for the part they played in this debacle” and “apologize to the American people.”
In response, Becerra defended his record, saying he met with the president “when needed to make important decisions and to execute with my team at HHS,” Politico reported.
“It’s clear the President was getting older, but he made the mission clear: run the largest health agency in the world, expand care to millions more Americans than ever before, negotiate down the cost of prescription drugs, and pull us out of a world-wide pandemic. And we delivered,” Becerra told the outlet.
Becerra’s remarks echo those of other high-profile Democrats thought to have future political ambitions — including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Rep. Ro Khanna of California — who have recently distanced themselves from Biden and downplayed their awareness of his cognitive decline following recent revelations about the extent of his deteriorating condition while in office.
Of all implicated Democrats, Harris may face the steepest climb to distance herself from the allegations given that she was Biden’s vice president for four years.
“People can debate on style points, but ultimately, this election and who is the president of the United States has to be about substance and the contrast is clear,” Harris said in the aftermath of Biden’s disastrous June 2024 debate performance against President Donald Trump. “The Joe Biden that I worked with every day is someone who, as I have said, has performed in a way that has been about bringing people into the Oval Office.”
Villaraigosa himself described Biden as a “selfless patriot who put country before himself, family and party” following Biden’s withdrawal from the campaign in July 2024.
Recent polling indicates that Harris is the clear leader of a hypothetical Democratic primary for the California governor’s race, while Villaraigosa and Becerra each polled at 2%.
Meanwhile, speculation is mounting around current Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s presidential ambitions. A recent poll from the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies indicates that the majority of state residents believe Newsom is more focused on a 2028 presidential run than on addressing critical issues facing the state, such as its $10 billion budget deficit, rampant homelessness and lack of affordable housing.
Villaraigosa and Becerra did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment, and Harris could not be reached.
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