Background and career
Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa (; né Villar Jr.; born January 23, 1953) is an American politician who served as the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the Majority Leader from 1996 to 1998 and Speaker of the California State Assembly from 1998 to 2000. Villaraigosa is a graduate of University of California, Los Angeles and the unaccredited People's College of Law. Villaraigosa was a candidate in both the 2018 and 2026 California gubernatorial election.
Antonio Ramón Villar Jr. was born on January 23, 1953, in the unincorporated community of East Los Angeles, California. He grew up in the City Terrace neighborhood and attended both Catholic and public schools. At age 16, a benign tumor in Antonio's spinal column briefly paralyzed him from the waist down. His grades plummeted at Cathedral High School, and the next year, he was expelled after getting into a fight after a football game. He later graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School after taking adult education classes there. Villar went on to attend East Los Angeles College and eventually transferred to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1977. At UCLA, he was a leader of MEChA, an organization that seeks to promote Chicano unity and empowerment through political action, but later renounced his association with the group citing its controversial stances on race. After UCLA, Villar attended the unaccredited Peoples College of Law. After completing law school and subsequently failing the California bar exam four times, he became a field representative and organizer with the United Teachers Los Angeles. He adopted the blended surname Villaraigosa upon his marriage with Corina Raigosa in 1987.
In 1990, Villaraigosa was appointed to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board of directors, where he served until 1994. In 1994, he was elected to the California State Assembly. He was selected to serve as Democratic Assembly Whip and Assembly Majority Leader. In 1998, Villaraigosa was chosen by his colleagues to be the Speaker of the Assembly. He left the Assembly in 2000 after serving three two-year terms.
Villaraigosa ran for election as Mayor of Los Angeles in the 2001 citywide contest, but was defeated by Democrat James Hahn in a run-off election. In 2003, Villaraigosa defeated incumbent Councilman Nick Pacheco to win a seat on the Los Angeles City Council representing the 14th District.
Villaraigosa placed first in the primary for the Los Angeles mayoral election of March 8, 2005, and won the run-off election on May 17, receiving 58.7% of the vote. On July 1, 2005, Villaraigosa was sworn in as the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles.
Villaraigosa was re-elected in 2009, receiving 55.65% of the vote against his most prominent challenger, attorney Walter Moore who won 26.23% of the vote. Villaraigosa drew controversy by refusing to debate any of his opponents, before the election.
