Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has announced his candidacy for the 2026 California gubernatorial election. Villaraigosa, 71, previously ran for governor in 2018 but finished third in the primaries. The election was won by then-Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom.
If elected, Villaraigosa would become just the second Latino governor of the state after José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco occupied the role back in 1875, more than a century ago.
In a message posted on Instagram, Villaraigosa stated: "California is a state where anything is possible with hard work and determination, but our future depends on our willingness to tackle our biggest challenges. I believe we need a problem solver to lead our state. That is why I am running for governor."
Villaraigosa served as the 41st mayor of Los Angeles and was the first Latino to hold the position since 1872. Prior to his mayoralty, he was a member of the City Council and the State Assembly from 1994 to 2000, serving as Assembly Speaker from 1998 to 2000.
In 2010, Villaraigosa briefly considered running for governor but chose to remain mayor as Jerry Brown became the Democratic candidate. Recently, he has served as an infrastructure advisor for California.
Since leaving office, Villaraigosa has held positions at the Bipartisan Policy Center, Herbalife Ltd., Bank of California, and the Harvard Kennedy School. He also served as a senior advisor at Edelman and became a professor at USC's Price School of Public Policy in 2013.
The current governor of California, Gavin Newsom was in the news recently for praising the role of immigrants in the state's startup ecosystem. "Fourty-two per cent of all startups in California are based by immigrants, and they're the lifeblood of our state," he said at a fundraiser before adding that this accomplishment has occurred despite "the vitriol, xenophobia, and nativism that permeates a lot of our politics, notably from figures like Donald Trump, we in California have endured and emerged stronger."
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