Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Wednesday that he would like to run for governor. [KTTV]
“One day I’d like to run for governor, but there’s not a vacancy the last time I looked,” Villaraigosa said on KTTV’s Good Day LA. “I think California has lost is luster and we’ve got to work to regain that luster.”
Villaraigosa, a Democrat who will term out as mayor of Los Angeles on July 1, said he would turn to “a think tank to kind of rethink” his plans for future office. The outgoing mayor chaired the 2012 Democratic National Convention, which led some to believe he might jump to a federal office.
Currently, Villaraigosa is trying to close a $216 million city budget deficit, following the rejection of a half-cent sales tax increase by Los Angeles voters Tuesday. Los Angeles also held its mayoral primary election Tuesday, which garnered only a 16 percent voter turnout.
Villaraigosa blamed the low turnout in part on the Los Angeles Times.
“I was with [Newark, New Jersey Mayor] Cory Booker and [Chicago Mayor] Rahm Emanuel the other day,” Villaraigosa said. “They’re on the front page of their newspaper virtually every week. That doesn’t happen in this town.”
Villaraigosa said the Times usually places coverage of him “on that ‘LA Extra’ third page or fourth page.”
California Governor Jerry Brown is up for reelection in 2014 and is eligible to serve one more term. Villaraigosa could seek the office in 2018.
Former lieutenant governor and Central Coast legislator Republican Abel Maldonado said recently he is considering challenging Brown for the governorship in 2014.
