Election Night Statement

“Tonight didn’t turn out the way we hoped, and I offer my congratulations to the winners and offer my best wishes for the road ahead.

I’m grateful beyond words to my family, my friends, organized labor, and community organizations who stood with us, our staff, and our volunteers.

I ran for one reason: I love this state, and I know what’s possible when leaders refuse to accept that things are broken. As Mayor of Los Angeles, we made it the safest big city in America, turned around failing schools, and built the greenest port in the country.

I left L.A. better than I found it, and I ran for Governor convinced that California’s toughest problems can be solved — because I’d done it once and knew it could be done again.

But this campaign was never about me. I ran for the people living California’s hardest realities — the young couple who can’t afford a first home the way I could at 25, the families squeezed by the cost of everything, the millions who simply want a state that works. California is at an inflection point, and our representatives and my Party need to start taking these challenges seriously so that we can once again make California the envy of the nation and the globe.

So I’m not stepping aside from the cause, only from the race. To everyone who gave this campaign a piece of their hope: hold on to it. California is worth fighting for — and I’m not done fighting.”

- Antonio Villaraigosa

###