Republican Whitman backs Democrat Villaraigosa for governor
Meg Whitman, the former eBay and Hewlett Packard CEO who was the Republican nominee for California governor eight years ago, has crossed the aisle to endorse Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa for the same office.
Whitman co- hosted a fundraiser for Villaraigosa in Silicon Valley Thursday night. She is the highestprofile Republican to back the former Los Angeles mayor. She poured $ 144 million of her own money into her 2010 campaign for governor, making the race the most expensive in California history, and she could help open the doors for more GOP donors to support the former Los Angeles mayor.
“Even though she’s a Republican, Meg is endorsing the candidate who she believes is best for the office,” said a person who’s worked with Whitman in the past and asked not to be named in order to speak candidly about her perspective. “In her belief, Antonio Villaraigosa is far and away a better choice than Gavin Newsom on both the economy and education.”
Villaraigosa, who is polling in third place, not far behind Republican candidate John Cox, has positioned himself as the more moderate Democrat in the race compared with Newsom, the lieutenant governor and frontrunner. A spokesman for Newsom did not respond to a request for comment.
Wh i t - man and Villaraigosa worked together in 2011, when Whitman donated $ 500,000 to Los Angeles schools, and the two share an enthusiasm for charter schools and education reform. The former tech executive has shown a bipartisan streak before, endorsing Democrat Hill- ary Clinton for president in 2016 and even accompanying her to debates.
Her endorsement of Villaraigosa, which was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, comes as the two Republican candidates in the governor’s race have repeatedly criticized Whitman as a failed candidate. A spokesman for Cox, a San Diego businessman who was recently endorsed by President Trump, declined to comment, and a spokeswoman for Assemblyman Travis Allen called the endorsement “unsurprising.”
Republican strategists argued that Whitman’s backing wouldn’t be a big boost for Villaraigosa, at least in terms of winning votes.
“Political capital has a very limited shelf life, and the fact that she last ran for office eight years ago diminishes the amount of influence that I think she will have,” said Ron Nehring, the former state GOP chair, who is supporting Cox. “It might help Villaraigosa in terms of raising a few dollars (from Republican donors), but I don’t believe it will have a wider effect than that.”
Whitman, who has said she won’t run for office again, co- hosted a highdollar fundraiser for Villaraigosa Thursday night in Portola Valley. Also expected to attend the fundraiser were San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, who’s endorsed Villaraigosa, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who’s given millions of dollars to an outside group backing him, and Steve Westly, the former state controller, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2006.
Now a venture capital investor in Menlo Park, Westly said in an interview that he was supporting Villaraigosa in part because “He has been a champion of education reform and pension reform, and he’s shown real courage and backbone on those issues that not all of the other candidates have.”
If Villaraigosa makes it past the top-two primary — polls show him locked in a close contest with Cox for second place — “Overnight, he may turn into a front-runner in this race,” saidWestly, a Democrat. “I think he’ll attract Democrats, decline-to- state voters and Republicans.”
Villaraigosa’s campaign didn’t announce Whitman’s endorsement or promote it. Luis Vizcaino, a Villaraigosa spokesman, saidWhitman was “participating in a broad- based Silicon Valley event with many other supporters. We are organizing a campaign that unites all Cal- ifornians who agree that we need to grow our economy to create more middle class jobs.” He pointed out that Whitman “opposed Donald Trump and supported Hillary Clinton.”
Meanwhile, one of Villaraigosa’s rivals blasted the endorsement.
“It’s fitting that Republican billionaire Meg Whitman has joined up with Antonio Villaraigosa’s billionaire crew to put on a high- stake, high- dollar fundraiser in yet another attempt to buy this election,” said Fabien Levy, a spokesman for state Treasurer John Chiang.