Who is Xavier Becerra, Biden’s nominee for health secretary?

President-elect Joe Biden is nominating California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to serve as his first secretary of health and human services

Becerra, 62, served 12 terms in the House of Representatives before succeeding current Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to become California’s 33rd attorney general in 2017.

Becerra is the son of Mexican immigrants and was the first member of his family to attend college. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University and a law degree from Stanford Law School.

In 1992, Becerra won a seat in Congress and spent the next 24 years representing downtown Los Angeles

According to Genome web, Becerra has a high profile on criminal justice and immigration and was thought to be a contender for the US attorney general slot. He has won over 30 cases against the Trump administration

Biden highlighted the California attorney general’s experience as a lawmaker who helped craft the Affordable Care Act and as a lawyer who fiercely defended it in court from Republican attacks.