It’s official. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has joined the field of candidates to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom in two years. “I believe we need a problem solver to lead our state,” he said in a video announcing his campaign. “That’s why I’m running for governor.”
The announcement is not particularly surprising. Talk of a potential run by Villaraigosa has been circulating for a few months now. The former mayor no doubt sees opportunity in such a crowded field of candidates.
To date, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, state Senate President Pro Tem Emerita Toni Atkins of San Diego and former State Controller Betty Yee are among the Democratic candidates known to be running.
Former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is reportedly considering a run as well, as are current Attorney General Rob Bonta and businessman Rick Caruso.
Villaraigosa didn’t fare particularly well in his 2018 run for governor. He came in third in the primaries, receiving 13.3% of the vote. In that race, Newsom and Republican businessman John Cox advanced to the general election with 33.7% and 25.4% of the vote, respectively.
One uncertainty that remains this time is if a prominent Republican candidate will emerge. If a Republican candidate capable of consolidating the GOP vote does run for governor, that makes it likelier that only one Democrat will advance to the general election.
Villaraigosa must figure that, in a race with even more Democratic candidates, he has a shot of advancing even with a relatively low vote total.
To that point, Politico reported back in May that Villaraigosa was “touting” a poll showing him in second place in a scenario in which Irvine Rep. Katie Porter also ran for governor. While that poll showed Villaraigosa “in the high teens,” it also showed that everyone else had single-digit support.
All of this aside, Villaraigosa’s campaign announcement video also highlighted a back-to-basics agenda that could be appealing to many Californians. Stressed were the decreases in crime in Los Angeles under his watch as mayor, and his goals of improving education and bringing down costs for middle-class families.
To the latter point, Villaraigosa has long been open to modernizing the California Environmental Quality Act to reduce abuse of the law. “If you can modernize CEQA to build a football stadium,” Villaraigosa said at an event in 2017, “Why can’t you modernize CEQA to build a hospital?”
On the education front, Villaraigosa also made a name for himself as a supporter of education reform and school choice during his time as mayor. At a time when California’s K-12 education system has been run into the ground by the teachers unions and their allies in Sacramento, any candidate who defends school choice is a candidate worth considering.
We look forward to seeing how this race develops and we hope more candidates can articulate a serious case for reforming and improving California state government.
