WSJ: What It Will Take to Keep California Golden

Antonio Villaraigosa replies to fellow gubernatorial challenger Tom Steyer.

Kudos to Tom Steyer for recognizing that Californians are struggling, but how about some humility? The policies he’s spent millions promoting have dramatically raised costs in the Golden State (Letters, Dec. 1). Fuel mandates, carbon schemes and regulatory expansions have directly led to higher prices. When a billionaire who can absorb those costs calls for “making California affordable,” it looks less like conviction and more like the latest poll-tested coat of paint on an agenda that treats higher costs as a virtue.

I have lived the struggle Mr. Steyer only talks about. I grew up in a tough neighborhood, raised by a single mom who struggled to make ends meet. That shaped who I am, and it’s why I’ve spent my career fighting for working families. I am committed to making California a state that continues to provide opportunities to build a good life and not price people out of one.

Our state is too expensive—and when families can’t keep up with housing, energy and healthcare bills, they leave. California is the fourth-largest economy in the world, but it also has the highest poverty rate in the U.S.

My affordability agenda starts with protecting the basics:

• Holding the line on property taxes so seniors and middle-class families aren’t forced out of their homes.

• Pushing aggressively to build more affordable housing by streamlining permits and cutting red tape that drives up costs and slows construction.

• Taking an all-of-the-above approach to energy: one that keeps the lights on and prices stable by recognizing that we need to plan and implement an energy transition, including maintaining our natural-gas capacity and keeping our refineries producing.

• Cracking down on price-gougers who take advantage of families at the pump or in the checkout line.

• Vetoing any billion-dollar tax hike that hits working people.

California is a great state with great challenges. It needs a proven problem-solver focused on making the state more livable, not a billionaire play-acting like a man of the people.

Antonio Villaraigosa

Los Angeles

Mr. Villaraigosa, a former Democratic mayor of L.A., is a candidate for governor of California.

Appeared in the December 8, 2025, print edition as 'What It Will Take to Keep California Golden'.