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SACROMENTO – Seven Democrats competing in the largest gathering of 2026 governor candidates to date, sued Labour leaders on Monday to support a united agreement on housing and infrastructure projects, artificial intelligence regulations and government funding for university research.
Throughout most of the hour-long event, hundreds of union members in the Sacramento Hotel ballroom accepted Prolaball’s pledges and speeches that dominated the candidate’s remarks, but some boos rose from the crowd as former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villarigoza strayed from other Democrats on stage.
Villaraigosa was the only candidate to challenge when asked whether he supported providing state unemployment benefits to attack workers, saying it depends on the nature and length of the labor measures. In 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected a bill that would have provided compensation, stating that the state’s unemployment trust fund would be “vulnerable to bankruptcy.”
Monday night’s event was part of a legislative meeting held by the California Federation of Trade Unions and the California Construction and Construction Trade Council, two of the state’s capital’s most influential labor organizations.
Villaraigosa was joined by former state legislator Toni Atkins, former health and human rights chief Xavier Beterra, Lt. Colonel Eleni Kunarakis, former Irvine Rep. Katie Porter, and state supt. public leader Tony Thurmond and former state controller Betty Yi. All are running to replace Newsom, who serves his second final term as governor.
Throughout most of the event, candidates answered with a wave of red flags with a “no” or “yes” green flag and a “yes” green flag.
The event is not without freezing moments, such as when candidates as governors were asked whether they would target California’s oil and gas industry in a way that would be practical and endanger union jobs, and force them to rely on dirty imported energy.
Some of the candidates raised the green flag to ti disease. California Democratic leaders, including Newsom and state lawmakers, were key supporters of the transition to renewable energy and the state’s oil and gas industry to impose more restrictions.
“We all want a clean environment in the future,” Yee said.
In his post-event remarks, Villaraigosa said he challenged the idea of jumping into electrification, influenced the union’s work and increased the costs of utility and energy across the state.
“Closing refineries and telling people to remove gas stoves and gas water heaters is just a poppicock,” he said.
California Labor Federation President Lorena Gonzalez praised the Democratic candidate for showing strong support for union workers. She said she hopes each will accept more crucial union concerns than Newsom, including the regulation of artificial intelligence, a major threat to union work.
“When we were talking about things like regulating AI, we couldn’t even have a conversation about regulating regulations from Gavin Newsom. I think that was important. They all threw the green flag,” says Gonzalez.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who is weighing the governor’s run, declined to be invited to attend the meeting.
The state’s Construction and Construction Trade Council represents hundreds of thousands of workers in the state, including brickmakers, ironworkers and painters.
The Labour Federation is a horrifying force in California’s politics and policy, and is expected to help adjust unions’ spending up to $40 million in next year’s elections. The federation is a union umbrella group of around 1,300 people representing approximately 2.3 million workers in the public and private sectors.
The organization supports all governor candidates in various previous races, but opposed Villalaigoza in the Mayor’s race in 2005 and supported newspapers around Villalaigoza in the 2018 governor’s race.
The latter decision was driven by ARC Villaraigosa, from his roots as a union leader, being a critic of the Los Angeles teachers’ union and being led by charter school supporters and reforms to teacher tenure rules.
Times staff writer Phil Willne contributed to this report.
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