Villaraigosa to Harris: ‘The time is now’

‘IN IT TO WIN IT’: Antonio Villaraigosa is running for governor, no matter what.

The former Los Angeles mayor and Assembly speaker today eschewed all “field-clearing” deference to former Vice President Kamala Harris during a conversation with our Melanie Mason at the UC Student and Policy Center in Sacramento. Villaraigosa said he’s staying in the race regardless of whether Harris enters the contest and made a pointed reference to her 11th-hour run for president.

“If you want to be governor, any of the candidates, get in the race,” he said. “The time is now. The challenges are too big. We had a 100-day campaign. So no, you can’t get in at the end of the rainbow.”

Villaraigosa also slammed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to talk about transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports with far-right figure Charlie Kirk, “who calls people who are transgender pedophiles” — and for not more strenuously pushing back on comments made by his various conservative podcast guests.

“No, you don’t sit down and have a conversation and then not challenge them,” Villaraigosa said. “You challenge them. You have a decent conversation.”

He did say he agreed with Newsom’s perspective on transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports — though in the same breath called the debate a “non-issue,” pointing out very few trans people participate in college sports.

When asked to elaborate, he said: “Do I believe that someone who’s gone through male puberty, is now [a] transgender woman, should play other women? No, I don’t.”

Here are some of the other opinions Villaraigosa offered up during his nearly hour-long sit-down with Melanie.

On California as a resistance state: Villaraigosa applauded Newsom and the state Legislature for allocating an additional $50 million to legal aid for immigrants and court battles with President Donald Trump’s administration.

But, he said, addressing Californians’ quality-of-life issues — including education, home prices and homelessness — is the “best way to lead the resistance.”

“Let’s fix the problems we face,” Villaraigosa said. “Because let me be clear about this: They use us as a punching bag, California. They use us as the piñata. Because instead of focusing on those problems, we’re screaming at the orange man.”

On Medi-Cal for undocumented Californians: Villaraigosa said there’s “an economic reason, not just a humane one,” for providing health coverage. He argued they’re “using our health care system anyway” and driving up costs by waiting until they’re “really, really sick” to go to the emergency room.

When asked about the state’s roughly $6 billion Medicaid shortfall, Villaraigosa said he would look for “efficiencies.” “What I won’t do is take a position as an ideologue,” he said. “I’m going to take the position of, let’s find a place where we can find efficiencies, make the tough decisions we have to make so that people have health care.”

On single-payer and smoking weed: A discussion about single-payer health care — a major issue in Villaraigosa’s 2018 primary race against Newsom — prompted a quip about weed-smoking.

“Single-payer has a $550 billion price tag,” Villaraigosa said. “Our budget is $300 billion. They’re smoking pot, man.”

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” he continued. “I’ve opined on that subject from time to time.”

“More than once — actually inhaled,” he added, a nod to former President Bill Clinton’s famous pot-smoking defense from the 1990s.