Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who announced his intentions to run for governor of California in the summer, began rolling out ads on social media. But Villaraigosa does not seem to have it easy against the long list of candidates to govern the golden state.
So far, the Democrats who are already signed up are: Toni Atkins, the first Senate leader from the LGBTQ community; California’s first female lieutenant governor, Eleni Kounalakis; the superintendent of public education, Tony Thurmond, an Afro-Latino of Panamanian roots, married to a Mexican, who is said to speak Spanish very well; and former state comptroller Betty Yee.
But they are also seriously considering the possibility of launching themselves, the secretary of human services in the country, Xavier Becerra; California prosecutor Rob Bonta and former congresswoman Katie Porter, and even Laphonza Butler, the first African American and LBTQ member to be a senator, and who by the way is more active in the state now than when she was in the Senate.
Butler was appointed to the Senate by Governor Newsom to complete the remaining term of the senator who died in office, Dianne Feinstein.
And as you know, Vice President Kamala Harris could also compete and win, considering that California is a majority Democratic state.
A recent poll by the Institute of Government Studies at the University of California at Berkeley found that 46% of likely voters would most likely support her to be the first female governor.
Villaraigosa’s biggest enemy is that he is out of touch with political reality, especially with young people. 2005 when he began his term to be mayor of Los Angeles is not the same as 20 years later. But it is a matter of time, everything is that the leadership of the Democratic party and the unions support it.
They welcome you
And yes, former Los Angeles mayor Villaraigosa is very busy, since he was one of the influential politicians who welcomed Dr. Julio Frenk as the first Latino rector of the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). Also coming to receive Dr. Frenk, former councilor Gil Cedillo, and the president of AltaMed, Cástulo de la Rocha.
It should be said that Cedillo and Villaraigosa are graduates of UCLA; and that’s why Dr. Frenk invited them.
Dr. Frenk, born in Mexico but a naturalized American, who until June was president of the University of Miami, will take office as chancellor of UCLA on January 1. Something unprecedented since never a Mexican nationalized American has held this position.
Frenk was secretary of health in Mexico during the Vicente Fox government.
The question of the week
It is whether Mayor Karen Bass will appoint a Latino from the San Fernando Valley as a member of the board of directors of the Metro (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) to fill the vacancy left by Paul Krekorian, who can no longer serve in that position because The deadline by law to be a councilor has expired.
The mayor, who is part of the Metro board, has the right to appoint three people to the board. Currently, out of 13 members, there are only two Latinos on the Metro board, former Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval and Supervisor Hilda Solis.
If we consider that almost 50% of the population of the city and county of Los Angeles is Latino, and that Metro users are mostly Latino at more than 60%, it is logical that Krekorian’s successor, appointed by Mayor Bass, whether a Latino or a Latina.
Councilwoman Imelda Padilla is a good option. Why not appoint her or another Latino, and once and for all, we are diversifying the Metro board. It’s time! Especially when some projects such as the Van Nuys light rail and the Sepulveda pass are part of the Padilla district.
Let’s hope that the differences that Councilwoman Padilla and Mayor Bass had in relation to the lease contract for the Van Nuys Airport do not influence the possibility of her being part of the Metro board.