Newsletter: Another prominent California candidate in the news

Good morning. I’m Mariel Garza, and it is Wednesday, July 24. What’s happening so far this week in Opinion is, well, a whole lot of Kamala Harris.

In the hours and days after President Biden’s announcement Sunday that he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, the vice president from California quickly wrapped up support for the nomination from Democratic Party leaders and allies as well as would-be challengers. Even actor George Clooney, who recently called on Biden to step down in an op-ed in the New York Times, is now firmly on Team Harris.

“It’s a remarkable show of solidarity, but Republicans see something else: a desecration of democracy,” wrote the Los Angeles Times’ editorial board, noting that such comments were rich coming from Donald Trump and prominent Republicans, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who abdicated any moral authority they had with their behavior after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

I don’t know about you, but by Tuesday morning I was a little oversaturated with Harris coverage. So, today I want to talk about another prominent California politician back in the news.

Antonio Villaraigosa, a former mayor of Los Angeles and former candidate for governor, announced Tuesday that he was joining the rapidly growing field of candidates for the 2026 gubernatorial race. It will be his second attempt to become California’s governor, but it may be a tougher road than last time, which was already pretty tough.

Longtime readers may recall that The Times’ editorial board endorsed Villaraigosa in the 2018 primary. As the person responsible for writing and reporting that endorsement on behalf of the editorial board, I can tell you it was a close call between him and Newsom.

Both had strong backgrounds as mayors of major California cities during difficult times. Both had political wins and stumbles. Both had romantic affairs during their mayoral years. Both have big egos, which one needs to take on near-impossible jobs such as running California or Los Angeles, and thin skin, which makes it harder for people to forgive the big egos.

To the editorial board, Villaraigosa had the edge in that race because of his performance keeping the city financially afloat during the tough 2008 recession years and for his courage to stand up to his party and political allies to do what he thought was right.

However, his last election was six years ago — a blip in political years but an eon in the social media-trained minds of voters. Frankly it’s hard to imagine that his odds have improved since he came in third in the 2018 primary because he’s jumping into a race in which several well-known and well-connected elected officials have been running for months.

Specifically, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), the former president of the state Senate, State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former state Controller Betty Yee. (One thing that’s cool about the list of candidates so far is how many are women, improving the odds of the state getting its first female governor in 2026. )

And there could be more high-profile contenders. State Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta is reportedly contemplating running and U.S. Sen. Laphonza Butler may well decide to throw her hat into the ring when she steps down from the Senate in January.

Ok, now back to Kamala Harris.

Can Kamala Harris change a presidential race barely affected by a series of seismic events? Probably not, says political consultant Mike Madrid. Despite what feels like weeks of chaos, the polling numbers have barely changed, meaning that no matter who the nominee is, “this will be yet another close election.”

Bouncing Biden for Harris is a bad look for Democrats and a betrayal of voters. GOP commentator Scott Jennings joins the fray of Republicans saying “no fair” to the process the Democratic Party is using to select a replacement to nominate as its presidential candidate. “Biden was taken out in an undemocratic way, and Harris will be installed through a rigged process.”

Is replacing President Biden as his party’s nominee an attack on democracy? Hardly. Columnist Jonah Goldberg has news for all the people who gripe that primaries are the only way to pick a presidential nominee: “The truth is that brokered conventions were how we always did it until 1972, when the primary system was adopted.”

The CrowdStrike outage shows the danger of depending on Big Tech overlords. The Great Tech Outage of July 2024 has some lessons about outsourcing public operations to a few companies, according to Heidi Boghosian, an attorney and author of the forthcoming book “Cyber Citizens: Saving Democracy Through Digital Literacy.” “Tech companies now run or help run communication, commerce and other services more nimbly than do federal agencies. But they also do it with less regulation and public oversight — as well as a profit motive.”

California’s bears are thriving. Here’s the case for letting hunters kill more of them. Not only does their meat taste good, but they compete for prey with the state’s much more-imperiled mountain lion population, writes Steven Rinella, host of “The MeatEater Podcast.” “In responsibly consuming the surplus of black bears, hunters can fund the means of improving our collective understanding of wildlife, finance habitat protection and other projects to support wildlife, and help employ wardens to protect the animals.”

More from opinion

From our columnists

• LZ Granderson: Biden’s decision to drop out is one of the most patriotic moments in a long life of service
• Robin Abcarian: This is among the most consequential lies Trump and Republicans are telling women voters

From guest contributors

• Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro could lose a landslide election. But will it matter?
• One tragic night four decades ago forced San Diego to grow up
• Will a ‘smoke-filled room’ pick Biden’s replacement? History shows the convention system works
• The Supreme Court is power hungry. There is one sure way to rein it in

From the Editorial Board

• Personal note: California needs to break down walls between CSU and community colleges
• Biden’s decision not to seek nomination was courageous
• Trump and oil companies are lying to you about electric cars to serve their own interests.

Letters to the Editor

• Biden did the right thing. Will voters now do the same by stopping Trump?
• Dodgers’ financial support from Big Oil is the wrong way to think green
• So long, Elon Musk. California won’t miss you