Xavier Becerra: A campaign focused on the cost of living and Donald Trump

There is one question that seems to follow Xavier Becerra everywhere he campaigns, whether he is in the Central Valley, Los Angeles or along the San Diego-Tijuana border.

Voters rarely begin by asking about ideology or the political battles dominating the national conversation. Instead, they want to know something far more immediate: How is a working family supposed to keep up with the cost of living in California?

The concern is hardly surprising. In community after community, residents raise the same issues: rising rents, expensive gasoline, higher grocery bills, and healthcare costs that continue to take a bigger bite out of household budgets.

That reality has become the centerpiece of the former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary’s campaign for governor. His message is straightforward: California needs to focus again on the people who keep its economy running.

The son of Mexican immigrants and the first in his family to attend college, Becerra argues that working families have been left behind.