March 27, 2026 • 9 mins
Paul Corvino sits down with Antonio Villaraigosa, who is running for Governor of California. Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa is an American politician who served as the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Meet the Candidates with Division President of iHeartMedia,
Paul Corvino. Today I'm joined by former Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio via Ragosa, who's now running for governor of state
of California. Welcome Antonio.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, thank you for having me. Okay, so here's my
first question to you.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
You were the mayor of the city of Los Angeles.
It's a tough job, job that ages people, and why
the heck do you want to get back and run
the state?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, first of all, I loved the job. You know,
I grew up Stone's throwaway in City Terrace. I had
a paper route up in the hills of City Terrace
and I could see a city hall. I never imagined
that I would be in it, that I would be
mayor of the city where my grandpa came to one
hundred and twenty years ago. I loved the job. I
loved every minute of it, the good, the bad, the ugly.
(00:50):
And why I'm running this state has giving me more
than I could have ever hoped for. Growing up at
a home of domestic violence and alcoholism. What the mom
was struggled to make ends meet and raise four kids,
put them through college. This is a great state state
with its own dream. But let's be honest, we're facing
big challenges. The biggest challenge is the challenge of affordability.
(01:11):
We're the fourth largest economy in the world with the
highest poverty rate in the United States along with Louisiana.
People can't afford this state. We have the highest gas
prices in America that are going up even higher with
this war. In Iran, we have the second highest utility
costs have gone up sixty percent in the last six years,
and the second highest home prices. It used to be
(01:33):
that home ownership was part of the American dream. Now
for our kids, it's three roommates in a crowded apartment,
and for too many families there's two families to an apartment.
So how do you fix your ford early problem? With difficulty,
but it can be done. To be given example, housing prices,
why are they so high? We make it impossible to build.
We need more than three million houses of a year
(01:56):
to be built and we were doing a fraction of that.
Why we have the toughest environmental laws, but they're not
really environmental laws. You can sue from Phoenix for project
in Palm Springs. You can sue from the Northern California
for project in southern California. And it doesn't have to
be on the environment. You could sue because two businesses
(02:17):
are in competition when one another, or because people who
have been complaining about the homelessness, as an example, don't
want a homeless facility anywhere close to them. So at
the end of the day, we've got to build again,
market rate homes, market rate workforce affordable homeless housing. But
the homeless housing that we're building right now on average
(02:39):
costs eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars a unit. Our
kids can't afford that. And so what I've said is
we can't let the perfect get in the way the good.
We've got a streamline permitting fixed broken zoning laws and
address the fact that we're not building enough housing for
people in California.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Let me ask you. When you were mayor, I would
say you were considered more of a progressive liberal, but
a progressive liberal in the years that you were mayor.
Today I think would be considered more of a moderate.
Why do you think the state needs a moderate And
it's what sets you apart from the other Democrats at
this point.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Well, I call myself a common sense candidate who's running
on a record of competence and running on a course correction.
I think we need to move to a place where
we are making California more affordable, where safety is important,
we're making our cities safer, where we're addressing problems like homelessness.
But as an example, I've taken umbrage with the notion
(03:36):
that we spent twenty four billion dollars from the state
and homelessness went up. And when they did an audit
of what we've spent, they couldn't identify what's working except
for two programs where the money went well. I think
they know where the money went well. Homelessness went up,
so it was clear that many of these programs weren't working.
One was for rent, so you don't go homeless in
(03:57):
the first place, and the other one was I think home,
a program of transitioning to temporary housing. At the end
of the day, we need someone who's got a record,
because look how many of us have been disappointed by
our politicians, Democrat and Republican. At the end of the day,
the best way to see what somebody's going to do
is to see what they've done. And I don't have
(04:17):
to tell you it's incontrovertible. When I became mayor, Ali
was one of the most violent big cities in America.
By the time I left with New York, it was
one of the safest. Crime went down forty eight percent.
The San Fernando Valley was calling for seceding from the
school district back then. If you remember, one out of
three schools were failing. By the time we were done,
(04:38):
it was one out of ten, a sixty percent increase
in the graduation rate. I'm told that we had twenty
five percent of all the cranes in the United States
here in Ali during that period. It was during the recession.
What did we do. We build more light rail and
infrastructure than anybody else in the country, number one American
city and reducing greenhouse gases. I'm running on a record
(04:59):
of competence. I'm running because I believe that we need
to move in another direction. We need to fix things again.
We need to say that safety is important, that good
schools ought to be a right, that healthcare should be universal.
And at the end of the day, you could call
it liberal, you could call it conservative. I call it
common sense. Let me ask you.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
You're the only candidate that's run a big government organization
with millions of constituents. How does that help you on
day one get a jumpstart or if it does, over
the other candidates in solving some of the problems that
face the state.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I don't need training wheels. I've done this before. Remember
I was Speaker of the Assembly as well. I balanced
two budgets with a surplus with a Republican governor, Pete Wilson,
and then with a Democratic governor when we were a
purple state transitioning to a blue state. I know how
to work with the other side and when I was mayor.
(05:57):
So what happens day one? A strong team, A team
that understands that we're going to put metrics and goals
by all of the campaign promises we're making. So as
an example, if we say we're going to build X
number of homes, we're going to have transparent dashboards that
are focused on meeting those goals. On schools today, we're
(06:20):
number one and teacher pay. I think that's probably the
most noble job you could have. An important job. But
with twenty first and perfuable spending, fourth largest economy in
the world, most the richest state in the United States.
We're in the mid thirties in reading, in math, and
we're dead lasting graduations. And I'm saying, hey, that's not
working when people say it can steal one, two, three,
(06:45):
multiple times and not have any consequences.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
It's sort of like the homeless problem with so much
money was put at something and your results same thing.
A lot of money was put towards education and building
it up, yet the results aren't there.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Why is that because people spend money and don't think
there should be accountable for it. You know, again, I
don't know if it's liberal or conservative, but I come
from a school of thought that if you say you're
going to do something, then you ought to be accountable
for whether or not you did it. I come from
a school of thought that safety is important, that good
(07:20):
schools are important, that we ought to have healthcare that
works for people. And at the end of the day,
I think, again, I don't know if that's conservative or liberal,
whatever it is, I know this, I'm ready on day
one to do what I say I'm going to do.
By the way, I tell people, I'd rather have four
transformative years than eight mediocre ones. I'm the only candidate
(07:43):
running for governor that's not interested in running for president
of the United States. We've seen what happens when you're
running for the next job. You're usually reticent to make
tough calls. You're looking so far ahead that falling on
your feet in the job that you have that passed
me out. I want to be a governor that fixes
(08:05):
things like I was as mayor and speaker.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Well, one of the attributes that I think just that
everyone gives you credit for was that you were able
to work across the aisle. You worked well with a
Republican governor, with Republicans and other key positions.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Schwarzenegger and I had a great relationship. Exactly why can't
they do that today?
Speaker 1 (08:29):
And do you think that it's possible to mend those
fences and work with the other groups.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I think it's necessary that we try to work with
one another. Look, I'm no Trump fan. I think he's
a threat to our democracy. But I tell people he
got elected. I'm not contesting his election. I'd like to
work with him. California needs to work with him, but
we'll challenge him where we have to. But here, I've
(08:54):
reached out to a number of Republicans in this state,
and I've said to them the following, I want to
work with you. You know, when I was asked when all
the candidates, if you remember, were asked, what would we
say to Republicans who didn't vote for us, I'd say this,
you may have not voted for me, but I want
to represent you. I want to listen to you. I
want to work with you. I want to find common
(09:15):
ground to take on these challenges. I think when you're
too blue or too red, you sometimes have blinders. It's
important for us to listen to people that have other views.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
We'll live in our echo chambers and our echo chambers absolutely.
We've been talking with Boomer, Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio
bi Rugosa, who's running for governor of California. Thank you
so much for coming on the show. We hope you
come on and go on with some of our other
stations here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
We look forward to having you on.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Thank you so much for coming.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Well, thank you for having me, and I look forward
to getting on those shows as well.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
And once again, this is Paul Corvino, division president at
iHeartMedia saying thank you for listening to another episode of
meet the candidates,
This is Meet the Candidates with Division President of iHeartMedia,
Paul Corvino. Today I'm joined by former Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio via Ragosa, who's now running for governor of state
of California. Welcome Antonio.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, thank you for having me. Okay, so here's my
first question to you.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
You were the mayor of the city of Los Angeles.
It's a tough job, job that ages people, and why
the heck do you want to get back and run
the state?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, first of all, I loved the job. You know,
I grew up Stone's throwaway in City Terrace. I had
a paper route up in the hills of City Terrace
and I could see a city hall. I never imagined
that I would be in it, that I would be
mayor of the city where my grandpa came to one
hundred and twenty years ago. I loved the job. I
loved every minute of it, the good, the bad, the ugly.
(00:50):
And why I'm running this state has giving me more
than I could have ever hoped for. Growing up at
a home of domestic violence and alcoholism. What the mom
was struggled to make ends meet and raise four kids,
put them through college. This is a great state state
with its own dream. But let's be honest, we're facing
big challenges. The biggest challenge is the challenge of affordability.
(01:11):
We're the fourth largest economy in the world with the
highest poverty rate in the United States along with Louisiana.
People can't afford this state. We have the highest gas
prices in America that are going up even higher with
this war. In Iran, we have the second highest utility
costs have gone up sixty percent in the last six years,
and the second highest home prices. It used to be
(01:33):
that home ownership was part of the American dream. Now
for our kids, it's three roommates in a crowded apartment,
and for too many families there's two families to an apartment.
So how do you fix your ford early problem? With difficulty,
but it can be done. To be given example, housing prices,
why are they so high? We make it impossible to build.
We need more than three million houses of a year
(01:56):
to be built and we were doing a fraction of that.
Why we have the toughest environmental laws, but they're not
really environmental laws. You can sue from Phoenix for project
in Palm Springs. You can sue from the Northern California
for project in southern California. And it doesn't have to
be on the environment. You could sue because two businesses
(02:17):
are in competition when one another, or because people who
have been complaining about the homelessness, as an example, don't
want a homeless facility anywhere close to them. So at
the end of the day, we've got to build again,
market rate homes, market rate workforce affordable homeless housing. But
the homeless housing that we're building right now on average
(02:39):
costs eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars a unit. Our
kids can't afford that. And so what I've said is
we can't let the perfect get in the way the good.
We've got a streamline permitting fixed broken zoning laws and
address the fact that we're not building enough housing for
people in California.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Let me ask you. When you were mayor, I would
say you were considered more of a progressive liberal, but
a progressive liberal in the years that you were mayor.
Today I think would be considered more of a moderate.
Why do you think the state needs a moderate And
it's what sets you apart from the other Democrats at
this point.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Well, I call myself a common sense candidate who's running
on a record of competence and running on a course correction.
I think we need to move to a place where
we are making California more affordable, where safety is important,
we're making our cities safer, where we're addressing problems like homelessness.
But as an example, I've taken umbrage with the notion
(03:36):
that we spent twenty four billion dollars from the state
and homelessness went up. And when they did an audit
of what we've spent, they couldn't identify what's working except
for two programs where the money went well. I think
they know where the money went well. Homelessness went up,
so it was clear that many of these programs weren't working.
One was for rent, so you don't go homeless in
(03:57):
the first place, and the other one was I think home,
a program of transitioning to temporary housing. At the end
of the day, we need someone who's got a record,
because look how many of us have been disappointed by
our politicians, Democrat and Republican. At the end of the day,
the best way to see what somebody's going to do
is to see what they've done. And I don't have
(04:17):
to tell you it's incontrovertible. When I became mayor, Ali
was one of the most violent big cities in America.
By the time I left with New York, it was
one of the safest. Crime went down forty eight percent.
The San Fernando Valley was calling for seceding from the
school district back then. If you remember, one out of
three schools were failing. By the time we were done,
(04:38):
it was one out of ten, a sixty percent increase
in the graduation rate. I'm told that we had twenty
five percent of all the cranes in the United States
here in Ali during that period. It was during the recession.
What did we do. We build more light rail and
infrastructure than anybody else in the country, number one American
city and reducing greenhouse gases. I'm running on a record
(04:59):
of competence. I'm running because I believe that we need
to move in another direction. We need to fix things again.
We need to say that safety is important, that good
schools ought to be a right, that healthcare should be universal.
And at the end of the day, you could call
it liberal, you could call it conservative. I call it
common sense. Let me ask you.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
You're the only candidate that's run a big government organization
with millions of constituents. How does that help you on
day one get a jumpstart or if it does, over
the other candidates in solving some of the problems that
face the state.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I don't need training wheels. I've done this before. Remember
I was Speaker of the Assembly as well. I balanced
two budgets with a surplus with a Republican governor, Pete Wilson,
and then with a Democratic governor when we were a
purple state transitioning to a blue state. I know how
to work with the other side and when I was mayor.
(05:57):
So what happens day one? A strong team, A team
that understands that we're going to put metrics and goals
by all of the campaign promises we're making. So as
an example, if we say we're going to build X
number of homes, we're going to have transparent dashboards that
are focused on meeting those goals. On schools today, we're
(06:20):
number one and teacher pay. I think that's probably the
most noble job you could have. An important job. But
with twenty first and perfuable spending, fourth largest economy in
the world, most the richest state in the United States.
We're in the mid thirties in reading, in math, and
we're dead lasting graduations. And I'm saying, hey, that's not
working when people say it can steal one, two, three,
(06:45):
multiple times and not have any consequences.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
It's sort of like the homeless problem with so much
money was put at something and your results same thing.
A lot of money was put towards education and building
it up, yet the results aren't there.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Why is that because people spend money and don't think
there should be accountable for it. You know, again, I
don't know if it's liberal or conservative, but I come
from a school of thought that if you say you're
going to do something, then you ought to be accountable
for whether or not you did it. I come from
a school of thought that safety is important, that good
(07:20):
schools are important, that we ought to have healthcare that
works for people. And at the end of the day,
I think, again, I don't know if that's conservative or liberal,
whatever it is, I know this, I'm ready on day
one to do what I say I'm going to do.
By the way, I tell people, I'd rather have four
transformative years than eight mediocre ones. I'm the only candidate
(07:43):
running for governor that's not interested in running for president
of the United States. We've seen what happens when you're
running for the next job. You're usually reticent to make
tough calls. You're looking so far ahead that falling on
your feet in the job that you have that passed
me out. I want to be a governor that fixes
(08:05):
things like I was as mayor and speaker.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Well, one of the attributes that I think just that
everyone gives you credit for was that you were able
to work across the aisle. You worked well with a
Republican governor, with Republicans and other key positions.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Schwarzenegger and I had a great relationship. Exactly why can't
they do that today?
Speaker 1 (08:29):
And do you think that it's possible to mend those
fences and work with the other groups.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I think it's necessary that we try to work with
one another. Look, I'm no Trump fan. I think he's
a threat to our democracy. But I tell people he
got elected. I'm not contesting his election. I'd like to
work with him. California needs to work with him, but
we'll challenge him where we have to. But here, I've
(08:54):
reached out to a number of Republicans in this state,
and I've said to them the following, I want to
work with you. You know, when I was asked when all
the candidates, if you remember, were asked, what would we
say to Republicans who didn't vote for us, I'd say this,
you may have not voted for me, but I want
to represent you. I want to listen to you. I
want to work with you. I want to find common
(09:15):
ground to take on these challenges. I think when you're
too blue or too red, you sometimes have blinders. It's
important for us to listen to people that have other views.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
We'll live in our echo chambers and our echo chambers absolutely.
We've been talking with Boomer, Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio
bi Rugosa, who's running for governor of California. Thank you
so much for coming on the show. We hope you
come on and go on with some of our other
stations here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
We look forward to having you on.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Thank you so much for coming.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Well, thank you for having me, and I look forward
to getting on those shows as well.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
And once again, this is Paul Corvino, division president at
iHeartMedia saying thank you for listening to another episode of
meet the candidates,
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