1 year ago
55
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is among galore California Democrats attending the Democratic National Convention successful Chicago, wherever erstwhile Vice President Kamala Harris volition judge the party’s information for president this week.
Villaraigosa, 71, is eyeing a instrumentality to elected bureau and has announced different tally for politician successful 2026. The erstwhile politician and authorities assemblymember finished 3rd down Gavin Newsom and Republican John Cox successful the 2018 superior election.
In an interrogation with Inside California Politics big Nikki Laurenzo connected Tuesday, Villaraigosa said helium promises to run connected results implicit rhetoric.
“Everybody says, ‘I’ll instrumentality connected homelessness, I’ll instrumentality connected housing, I’ll code the precocious outgo of living,’ portion I’ve really done each of that,” helium said. “I deliberation radical are looking for idiosyncratic that’s going to tackle that successful a mode that’s compassionate, but successful a mode that has to marque the pugnacious calls.”
Former Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa speaks during the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony for Ana Gabriel astatine Hollywood Walk of Fame connected November 03, 2021, successful Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)Villaraigosa besides addressed the polarized quality of existent governmental discourse, including the Republican National Convention, which helium described arsenic filled with “anger, divisiveness, everybody screaming astatine the different side.”
He acknowledged that this rhetoric tin sometimes beryllium recovered wrong his ain enactment but stressed his committedness to a much collaborative approach.
“I’m unabashedly a Democrat and unabashedly idiosyncratic who stands up for women’s reproductive freedoms, for sensible weapon laws, for expanding wellness care, for taking connected clime change,” Villaraigosa said. “But I similar doing it successful a mode wherever we’re moving with radical to find the communal crushed alternatively of screaming astatine them.”
On the contented of homelessness, Villaraigosa advocated for a nuanced attack that finds a mediate crushed betwixt extremes.
“People speech astir criminalization of the stateless versus, you know, lodging archetypal and all, the wraparound services and gathering much housing,” helium said. “All those things are true, but determination are mediate grounds. You tin beryllium compassionate astir the stateless and besides say, ‘No, you can’t person stateless encampments.’”
Villaraigosa served arsenic L.A. politician from 2005 to 2013. His tenure was highlighted with an accent connected restructuring the L.A. Police Department and aboriginal shifted toward efforts to hole L.A.’s struggling nationalist acquisition system.
Newsom is term-limited and cannot question reelection successful 2026.
Villaraigosa joins a crowded 2026 Democratic field. Others already successful the contention see State Superintendent for Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, California Democratic Party Vice Chair Betty Yee and Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis.
