When the polls said two Republicans might take the top two spots, California Democratic Party leadership went to work getting Democrats out of the governor's race. Antonio Villaraigosa was one of them. He said no - and he says the whole thing left a black mark on the party.

The first Latino mayor of Los Angeles, former Speaker of the California Assembly, and recent candidate for governor sits down with the Independent Voter Podcast and doesn't flinch. He walks through the pressure campaign on himself, Xavier Becerra, Tony Thurmond and Betty Yee, why he never believed the two-Republican scenario for a single second, and what it says about a party that spent its money on polls instead of turnout. Along the way he goes after the $40 trillion national debt, the Pentagon's $1.5 trillion budget ask, and tax cuts he says the country can't afford - plus why he thinks independence is a mindset, not a party registration.

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Chapters:

00:00:00 – One of Them Is Going to Be Governor

00:00:28 – If You Want to Be Loved, Get a Dog

00:01:55 – $40 Trillion and the Cost of War

00:04:09 – Missing Obama and a Distorted Economy

00:05:11 – Independence Is a Mindset, Not a Party

00:07:40 – The Pressure to Get Out of the Race

00:09:53 – The Chair Was Wrong and It Cost Them

00:12:34 – Voter ID, Prop 39 and the SAVE Act

00:14:27 – Punished for Not Joining a Party