In summary

The candidate for California governor sees a path through the Central Valley to the November ballot.

Antonio Villaraigosa is not the sort of politician who would scuff his well-shined shoes with the dust from San Joaquin Valley farms, or so you might think.

But fighting for his political life in the race for governor, the natty former Los Angeles mayor and Assembly speaker has raised considerable campaign cash in the Central Valley—not the usual source of political funds for Democrats like him.

I can explain what this unlikely pairing of the big-city Democrat and farmers is all about. READ MORE

We want to hear from you

Want to submit a guest commentary or reaction to an article we wrote? You can find our submission guidelines here. Please contact CalMatters with any commentary questions: commentary@calmatters.org

Dan Morain joined CalMatters in March 2018. He is the former editorial page editor of The Sacramento Bee. Morain also spent 27 years at The Los Angeles Times, and has covered the Capitol since 1992.