Candidate for California governor Antonio Villaraigosa says he wants to focus on affordability

As the midterm elections approach in 2026 and with it the option of a new governor in the state of California, several prominent Democratic and Republican figures have thrown their hat in the ring.

Among them is former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who lost his bid in 2018 to now Gov. Gavin Newsom, but is motivated to do it all over again. 

“It’s not my first rodeo,” Villaraigosa has said several times. 

While the latest polls put him in 5th place in the race, he said these numbers are just fuel to pick up the pace.

“In every campaign I've ever been in, I started out close to the bottom, and I won almost all my races,” Villaraigosa said in an interview with CALÓ News. “And what I hear from people is they want someone with a record of results, a proven problem solver, someone who’s done it before.”

He assured his work speaks for itself. When he was the Speaker of the California State Assembly, he was able to balance two budgets with a surplus; one time  with a Republican Gov. Pete Wilson and the second with Democrat Gov. Gray Davis. 

Then, as the 42nd Mayor of the City of Los Angeles, Villaraigosa was able to bring down crime to nearly 50%, grew the police department by 1,000 officers, removed weapons from the streets and expanded after school programs and summer youth jobs.

Villaraigosa said he made education his priority by increasing the graduation rate by 60% in the middle of the recession between 2007 and 2009. 

Additionally, he prides himself by saying he was able to put hundreds of thousands of people in good middle-class jobs building infrastructure in the city, the airport, the port, schools and community colleges. 

The primary issues

Villaraigosa said from the moment he started touring for his campaign he has heard the same issues over and over again; the state is too expensive, gas and utilities have gone up and thehigh cost of housing makes homeownership impossible. 

“So, I'm focused on the issue of affordability, on what we need to bring down the cost of living in California,” he said. 

He also spoke about the importance of health care, education and the environment. 

As a recent poll by the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) confirmed, the high cost of living is the main issue with 36%, followed by housing affordability at 29% and homelessness at 19%. 

While at the end of the list in the polls is immigration with 10%, Villaraigosa said this is a topic of much concern in current times and should be addressed. 

Villaraigosa proudly said he has been close to the Latino community all his life. His grandfather came from Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico and settled in Los Angeles. 

Villaraigosa was born and raised in East Los Angeles, and started his activism with the Chicano movement and learned to speak Spanish as a labor leader. Recently, he received the public support of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. She said they both started their activism around the same time and it is only fair to support him in this new step. 

While Villaraigosa knows he has a large support of the Latino and Black communities, he said his popularity goes beyond those demographics. 

“I’ve always been a coalition candidate: Armenians, Persians, Jews, Koreans, Filipinos, Chinese. I’ve always had a broad cross section of people and I’m proud of that,” he said. 

The open race is in its early stages. While former Vice President Kamala Harris and California Lieutenant Governor Elani Kounalakis removed their names from the list, there are at least 12 candidates – eight Democrats and four Republicans – but also a large number of undecided voters.