The mild-mannered Democratic frontrunner has built a career on painstaking deliberation — and a stubborn refusal to back down once he has made up his mind.

Xavier Becerra built his national reputation by suing the Trump administration. But as he runs for governor, critics say his record as California’s attorney general is less progressive on policing, Big Oil and housing.

He's scheduled to speak at the Long Beach Arena Sunday afternoon as he and other top contenders criss-cross the state.

Watch our interview with Xavier Becerra, one in a series of California gubernatorial candidate video interviews we’re publishing.

Gubernatorial rivals, led by Democrat Tom Steyer, have made Becerra's years in the Biden Cabinet a focus of attacks. While there's certainly room for criticism, there seems to be some axes being ground.

The independent Emerson College poll of likely voters showed that Becerra, who was among the also-rans at 4% in early April, is now clearly leading the race for governor at 28%.

Becerra's lawyers say a last-minute ad aired by Steyer's campaign is "false and defamatory"; Steyer's campaign said they welcomed a lawsuit.