I won’t count chickens until they’re hatched, but I will go out on a limb to predict that Xavier Becerra will become the second Latino governor of California. Prediction markets already show Becerra with a 75 percent chance of winning. He’d be the first elected Latino governor in California.
History shows, however, that our first Latino governor was a statesman who launched his political career in San Luis Obispo. Romualdo Pacheco Jr. was a significant force in the early decades of our statehood.
Born in 1831, Pacheco was only a few weeks old when he lost his father. Lt. Romualdo Pacheco Sr. was killed in the Battle of Cahuenga Pass, where he was valorously defending then Gov. Manuel Victoria against a rebel force trying to overthrow him. Such skirmishes were as common as mosquitos during the Spanish and Mexican era (1767-1847).
Governors were as common as cockroaches over those 80 years: Among the rotating cast of 30 men who attempted to govern “Alta California,” Victoria was arguably the least popular. Few Californios were terribly concerned that Victoria was grievously wounded at Cahuenga Pass, ending his short reign as governor. Many mourned the death of young Lt. Romualdo Pacheco, father of his newborn namesake. The infant Romualdo Jr. and his older brother, Mariano, were left with their widowed mother.
That widow was Ramona de la Luz Carrillo Pacheco, a scion of the powerful Carrillo family. They resided in the family adobe, Casa de Carrillo, still standing in Santa Barbara. Everyone there spoke Spanish, of course.
That ended for little Romualdo in 1835, when Ramona remarried; John C. Wilson was a Scottish-American merchant who had settled in Santa Barbara after gaining a fortune in the Pacific trade. Under Mexican law, Wilson was required to learn Spanish before he could marry Ramona, He did so with great difficulty; it was probably easier for the Protestant to become Catholic, fulfilling another requirement before they could marry.
Wilson was happy with Ramona and her large extended family, but he wanted his young stepchildren to be educated in English, so he shipped them off to Honolulu—the closest such school he could find.
When he turned 12, Romualdo and his brother returned to Alta California. Wilson again shipped him off to apprentice as a sailor like his father. In fact, the 15-year old Romualdo was sailing north in 1846 when he observed the American flag flying over Monterey: The Mexican-American war had just begun. American Marines boarded Pacheco’s ship as it approached San Francisco, and he quickly swore his allegiance to the Union.
Just before the war, John Wilson had built a wood-frame house on the site where the SLO History Center now stands. From that home, Ramona Pacheco Wilson played a prominent role in the war between Mexico and the U.S.: In December 1846, she successfully persuaded Col. John C. Frémont to spare the life of her cousin, the captive Jose de Jesus Pico. Frémont had condemned him to die by firing squad for having taken up arms against American forces, violating terms of an earlier parole. I described that dramatic episode in an earlier New Times column (“The First Women’s March in SLO,” May 16, 2024).
Romualdo was a young man at a time when California was full of young men seeking wealth and power in the 31st state admitted to the Union. He would rise above all of those men to become governor. Under its new Constitution, California began to organize counties, and in 1853, and Romualdo was elected as a judge at the age of 22. Four years later, he advanced to state senator, serving most of the ensuing tumultuous years.
In 1858, he led a Committee of Vigilance posse, tracked down a fugitive, and returned to SLO with his prey, who swung on the gallows soon thereafter.
When the Civil War broke out, Southern California was a hornets nest of Confederates. Gov. Leland Stanford appointed Romualdo as a brigadier general commanding a unit of cavalry to disarm secessionist militias in Southern California. He was so successful that in 1863, Stanford nominated Romualdo for state treasurer. He returned to the state Senate in 1867.
California voters elected Romualdo as lieutenant governor in 1871. Two years later, the Legislature chose incumbent Gov. Newton Booth as U.S. senator, and our man from San Luis Obispo ascended to the office of governor, becoming the first and (so far) only Latino to occupy that office.
By all accounts, Romualdo was an excellent governor throughout 1875, his only year in that office. His first (and only) “State of the State” message to the Legislature reveals that he was a staunch champion of that brand-new UC campus in Berkeley. He also called for the first master plan for the Yosemite Valley. By late 1875, however, his Republican Party overlooked him as its nominee for governor.
Nonetheless, he bounced back: elected to the U.S. Congress three times, he became the first Latino to chair a congressional committee. He “retired” to Mexico, but five years later became ambassador to Central America.
Romualdo Pacheco Jr. ultimately returned to the Bay Area and died in 1899 at age 67. For all of his adult life, he served his adopted nation and state. More than anyone, Pacheco deserves to be honored here in San Luis Obispo. ∆
John Ashbaugh is content to be just “grandpa.” Send comments for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in June 11-18, 2026.
Gosh, nothing to argue about. Good history lesson.
I guess we could argue about whether a Papist should be elected, but I thought that was resolved in 1960 with JFK.
California demographics of California and the make up of SCOTUS and pontiff were certainly not the same as they are now.
People like you are still living in the 1950s and 60s, lol. You comment proves it. Complete with the kind of naievity that comes with a booming economy that the class of 1968 has managed to concentrate into their own hands and deny the rest of us.
Yeah, we’ve come a long way since the Beach Boys “God Only Knows” was banned from radio 60 years ago. Now there is an ‘approved list’ of religions in the armed services. BTW, I don’t own a single share of SpaceX.
Well, you’ve artfully managed to not address the change in demographics in CA since when you were presumably a young American. CA was more homogeneous and since your generation decided to ship our jobs overseas and replace gainful employment with credit cards and millions of illegal aliens, we stand on the cusp of being a state run by the Vatican. Pure genius.
America first.
Build the wall.
Protect the religion of our founding fathers and all that it has brought us.
Every nation south of our border is a failed state. Why? It’s predominant religion is the one based in Rome.
How, exactly, does the wealth of someone like Elon Musk or anyone who has created their own industry, take money out of your pocket, and put it in their pocket? You seem to assume that there is a finite amount of wealth, and that fairness requires that a share of it should be distributed to you.
There is a term for a 4 Billion Dollar Golden Dome no-bid contract being awarded to the DOGE advisor, and it ain’t ‘free market capitalism.’
A large portion of Musk’s wealth is based on bloated government contracts, disallowing Americans to buy inexpensive, high quality, Chinese BYD electric cars, thereby protecting his electric cars, rock bottom corporate tax rates, and every possible form of market manipulation. So basically, his wealth comes at the expense of the general public. I could go on with a deconstruction of our economy and “market” if you’d like, sir. Do try and think critically, not lazily.
I’m not dodging, I just won’t be sea lioned. Your replacement theory was a Russian op 100 years ago, and is a Russian op today.
You would know what life was like 100 years ago personally, right? After all, you were there, lol.
In the current relaxed social climate, the only thing which would possibly generate any controversy is whether to elect a satanist to office.
1. The majority of the members of SCOTUS are members of the religion based in Rome.
2. The majority of the individuals who chose to illegally enter country from our southern border are also members of this particular religion.
3. Mr. Becerra is a member of the ethnic group that dominates illegal entry.
4. The Pontiff is American.
5. This religion considers reproductive rights, marriage equality, and divorce heretical.
6. California is the 4th largest economy in the world.
Are liberals not seeing what is going on?? God forbid, but we could see the state governor of the 4th largest economy in the world, our state, in collusion with both the SCOTUS and a state assembly 80% democratic whose member’s surnames are also from the same ethnic group Mr. Becerra is from and who presumably practice the same heretical religion based in Rome, appoint members of our state supreme court from his same religion. From there, at the state level, it would be easy to not defend our current laws regarding a woman’s right to choose, get a divorce, or for people to choose whom they want to marry. In fact, they could simply repeal certain laws supporting those decisions. After that, through this wicked religion based in Rome and its adherents in our state assembly, a citizen’s ability to get a driver’s license, medical care, or any number of public services would be contingent on their attendance at Mass or tithing to their heretical religion. They would then use everything in their power to then crush the Protestant faith so that they could resurrect their holy roman empire. Their goal is to turn everyone into sheep and return us to the dark ages. Wake up, people. Do not vote for Becerra or, by extension, his foreign, undemocratic, religion based in Rome, run by a bureaucracy of ordained and convicted pedophiles. Vote Republican for god’s sake.