Opinion: Xavier Becerra: A reliable, respectable (and surprising) pick for the next California attorney general

California’s wily governor just pulled a fast one with his announcement Thursday that he was appointing U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles to replace Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris when she moves to the U.S. Senate next month.

No one saw this coming. Apparently, not even Becerra, who told a Sacramento Bee reporter that it was a “whirlwind.”

The names of possible appointees had been circulating among political circles for months. Becerra’s wasn’t among them. The candidates were primarily men and women (happily, in equal shares) with law enforcement, political and policy backgrounds and the ability and temperament to jump into the job wholeheartedly — not just keep the seat warm until the 2018 election.

But in retrospect, it shouldn’t have been such a big surprise. Becerra, who represents the 34th Congressional District stretching from Eagle Rock to downtown, certainly has the right credentials. He’s been a U.S. representative for nearly a quarter of a century, but is also a former deputy attorney general with a law degree from Stanford.

It’s been a solid career, if not terribly remarkable. And Becerra will probably be a reliable and loyal attorney general at the side of Brown as they fight off attacks from the federal government on the state’s climate change policy and immigrant rights.

Brown’s announcement Thursday suggests as much: “I’m confident he will be a champion for all Californians and help our state aggressively combat climate change.”

Rather than choosing a caretaker or a firebrand who might go off on his own path, Brown found a candidate who is neither, but somewhere in between.

mariel.garza@latimes.com

Follow me @marielgarzaLAT