While the current mayor of Los Angeles is struggling to stay afloat in rough political seas, a former mayor of Los Angeles hopes to ride the waves to the top of the California political world. Antonio Villaraigosa wants to be governor of California, a job he sought unsuccessfully in 2018. Can he beat the odds and take the job?
Villaraigosa served as mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013. He doesn’t always echo the typical party line like many other Democratic candidates vying for the post. Yes, he has Democratic Party bona fides, but he sometimes goes where other Democrats don’t, proudly pointing to his effort to add 1,000 officers to the Los Angeles Police Department, taking on teachers’ unions over the quality of education, and declaring California’s income tax is too high.
How his message will play can’t be measured yet; however, there are signs that California voters are frustrated with the direction of the state and might look for a different direction. According to the February Public Policy Institute of California poll, “Majorities of California adults (54%) and likely voters (51%) continue to think that things in the state are headed in the wrong direction.”
What makes the Villaraigosa candidacy intriguing is the state’s unique primary system. All candidates for governor, regardless of party, are listed on the same ballot. The top two vote getters, regardless of party, go on to the General Election.
Expect the June 2026 primary list of candidates to be long. Many of the candidates have a known political profile. For example, already declared Democratic candidates besides the former LA mayor include Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis, former state senate leader and former state Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, former congresswoman Katie Porter, former state controller Betty Yee, former California Attorney General and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and current superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. More well-known candidates may join the fray.
Of course, the biggest name who could jump into the race is former Vice-President Kamala Harris. Many announced Democratic candidates indicate that if Harris enters the governor’s race they will exit. Harris says she will decide by the end of summer.
Villaraigosa says he plans to see the campaign through to the end no matter who runs.
Harris’s move into the race would reduce the field and hinder fundraising for Democratic candidates—but it may do the opposite for Republicans interested in the governor’s job. And, strangely, that may offer Villaraigosa an opportunity.
Villaraigosa finished third in the gubernatorial primary in 2018, out of the running. That’s because Gavin Newsom surged to the lead in the primary and the major Republican candidate, John Cox, rounded up many GOP votes to finish second and make the General Election run-off.
Such a scenario is a danger for Villaraigosa again if Harris runs and a single Republican candidate rallies the GOP. But that may not be the case in 2026. More than one Republican with name identification has expressed interest in running.
Already Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has announced his candidacy and garnered publicity. Fox News commentator Steve Hilton, who just published a book about the state titled “Califailure,” has shown interest. And President Trump’s Envoy for Special Missions who served as U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Ric Grenell, said that if Kamala Harris runs, he may challenge her.
If President Trump chooses to endorse a Republican for the job that could sway GOP voters. If not, if the Democratic field is thinned by Harris’s entry, and several known Republican candidates with adequate campaigns split the GOP primary vote, the problem Villaraigosa faced in 2018 may not re-occur. He might pull off a top two finish and test his brand of Democratic politics in the November election.
Joel Fox is a senior fellow at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Public Policy.
