A second California governor try for Antonio Villaraigosa

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From CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff :

Have you had enough speculation this week about who presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris might choose as her running mate? Can I interest you in some speculation about California’s next governor instead?

The crowded field expanded again on Tuesday when Antonio Villaraigosa, the Democratic former Los Angeles mayor who unsuccessfully sought the governorship in 2018, announced that he would make another run for the job in 2026.

Villaraigosa, a groundbreaking Latino politician who also served as Assembly speaker from 1998 to 2000, positioned himself as a more moderate alternative to future Gov. Gavin Newsom in the open 2018 primary, where he finished a distant third .

In a campaign video released Tuesday, Villaraigosa touted himself as a “problem solver” who worked with Republicans to balance the state budget and, as Los Angeles mayor, raised high school graduation rates and hired more police officers to tackle crime.

• Villaraigosa , to CalMatters: “In every job I’ve ever had, I’ve made a difference. I think people are looking not just for experience, but for a track record. Because the best way to know what you’re going to do is to look at what you’ve done.”

Villaraigosa said that he would focus on public safety, housing and homelessness as governor, but did not share any specific policy proposals.

He now faces the challenge of reintroducing himself to California voters after more than a decade out of public office, though he was named an infrastructure advisor to Newsom in 2022. Villaraigosa most recently joined cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase in April as a paid advisor.

The 71-year-old, who would potentially leave the governorship in his eighties, also must distinguish himself from younger rivals at a time when concerns over age and fitness have ended the political aspirations of no less than the president.

With nearly two years until the next gubernatorial primary in June 2026, four other prominent Democrats have already jumped into the race : Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, former Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins and Controller Betty Yee. Two more — Attorney General Rob Bonta and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra — are reportedly weighing campaigns.

Villaraigosa told CalMatters he has “the energy of a teenager. I’m in the gym every day, my friend.”

“We’re going to focus our campaign on the future, not the past,” he said.

As for this year’s election: Tuesday, the Secretary of State published its draft voter guide for November. It includes summaries and analyses of all 10 statewide ballot measures, as well as candidate statements, and is available in 10 languages . The public can review the guide through Aug. 12 and challenge any portion of it in Sacramento Superior Court.

After the 20-day public examination period ends, the guide will be mailed to every voting household in the state. If you want to opt out of the paper version ( and save the state some money perhaps ) you can receive an online link instead. And to stay even more informed, check out CalMatters’ ballot measure explainer and 2024 Voter Guide .

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Other Stories You Should Know

A workaround to protect kids online?

California lawmakers have tried to protect kids from harmful, addictive content online, but have run into legal roadblocks from the tech industry . A 2022 law is in the courts , after a judge agreed with companies that such rules violate free speech rights.

That hasn’t stopped legislators: This year, they’re pursuing bills to ban sending push notifications to children during certain hours and to prohibit companies from collecting and sharing data of kids age 17 and under.

But if tech platforms begrudge the need to restrict content, will an AI filter created by a 17-year-old be a viable workaround ?

The Safe Kids filter could allow schools and parents to restrict internet access in a more precise way — all while keeping browsing data private, explains Tara García Mathewson , an investigative reporter for The Markup, which is part of CalMatters.

Created by Aahil Valliani, a rising high school senior in Alexandria, Va., the filter uses artificial intelligence to discern web queries that are related to legitimate schoolwork. The company also holds a patent that could potentially flag inappropriate content for minors and restrict browsing until the issue is addressed by an adult.

To comply with federal law, schools block web pages based on language and content. But these filters can also keep kids from accessing information needed for schoolwork, or information about politicized topics including sex education and LGBTQ resources.

The development of Safe Kids comes at a crucial time: In 2020, the ACLU of Northern California demanded Fresno Unified School District to stop using the software Gaggle , which blocks potentially harmful online content by also monitoring students’ internet use. The Electronic Frontier Foundation also accused another web filter, GoGuardian, of similar problems, after getting records from 10 school districts, including three in California.

Learn more about filtering online content for minors in Tara’s story.

A ‘double dipper’ gets paid

His bosses asked how he made $550,000 a year from two different government agencies. Now a state prison psychiatrist has won nearly $2 million in a retaliation claim.

The case highlights the shortage of mental health professionals willing to work behind bars, explains CalMatters criminal justice reporter Nigel Duara . Beginning in 2003, Anthony Coppola worked part-time as a psychiatrist at an Alameda County jail, while also working full-time at a state prison in Tracy.

Coppola never kept his dual jobs a secret from supervisors, and in 2013 he started using his bank of state paid time off to work two days a week at the jail. That’s when the state paid him $300,000 and the county $250,000 on top of that. (Prison and jail psychiatrists are among the highest-paid California public employees: The starting salary for prison psychiatrists in 2023 was roughly $286,000, and a labor deal with Newsom’s administration last year included bonuses starting at $42,000.)

After taking medical leave in 2016, Coppola claims his supervisors at the Alameda jail plotted to get rid of him. A human resources investigation by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation concluded that Coppola improperly accrued his time off, and then deducted hundreds of leave hours that he amassed over two decades.

But an internal affairs investigation determined Coppola did nothing wrong. He sued in 2017 and last week, a San Joaquin County jury sided with Coppola.

Read more about the lawsuit in Nigel’s story.

And lastly: It isn’t easy for deaf workers

Deaf adults in California face challenges finding jobs that don’t require speech communication or hiring costly interpreters. CalMatters’ Adam Echelman and producer Robert Meeks have a video segment on Adam’s story on deaf job seekers as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here .

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal .

California Voices

CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: A game of musical chairs is developing over Gov. Newsom’s successor in 2026, and all the candidates have their own advantages and liabilities .

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