Villaraigosa urges Democrats to ‘fix what we broke’ at governor candidate forum
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said his fellow Democrats are responsible for the state’s affordability crisis at a candidate forum Wednesday, as he looks for a path out of the single digits in the governor’s race.
Addressing small business owners at the CalAsian Chamber of Commerce, the former Assembly speaker took some of his sharpest attacks yet at California Democrats.
Villaraigosa emphasized the importance of countering the President Donald Trump’s administration on issues like immigration and the defense of democracy. But, he said the president’s time “is coming up” — and that Democrats, rather than Trump, are largely to blame for California’s problems.
“Let’s fix what we broke,” Villaraigosa said.
Skyrocketing costs “didn’t happen under Trump,” he said. “It happened under us. Well, not me, because I had been out of office for 13 years, but it’s happened under Democrats, and I’m willing to challenge them. They break your businesses, they make it impossible for you to exist.”
Villaraigosa has polled in the low to mid single digits in most recent surveys ahead of the June 2 top-two primary — ten or more points behind the frontrunners in a field that contains seven other Democrats and two Republicans.
He has called for opening more refineries to counteract rising gas prices, overhauling the California Environmental Quality Act and streamlining housing permitting.
In a follow-up interview Wednesday, Villaraigosa, who served as L.A.’s mayor from 2005 to 2013 and Assembly speaker from 1998 to 2000, argued Trump was a “threat to our democracy” but also an easy punching bag for Democratic candidates.
Asked which Democrats he specifically blamed for California’s problems, Villaraigosa said “people in power” but declined to single out names.
Like San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, the Democrat is targeting voters who have soured on California’s future. A California Democratic Party poll of likely voters released Tuesday found 51% of respondents said the state is headed on the wrong track, compared to 30% who said it was going in the right direction.
The same poll showed 4% of those surveyed chose Villaraigosa as their top choice for governor.
