LOS ANGELES — Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Saturday that he is seriously considering a run for the Senate seat Barbara Boxer will vacate after deciding not to seek re-election to a fifth term.
“Too many Californians are struggling to make ends meet, pay the bills, and send their kids to college,” Villaraigosa, 61, said in a statement. “They are looking for progressive leaders in Washington who will fight for them.”
Villaraigosa left the mayor’s post in 2013 after two terms in office.
Boxer was first elected to the Senate in 1992 and announced Thursday she would not run for office again in 2016. The Democrat said she was making her announcement early enough in the election cycle to give potential successors plenty of time to organize.
Villaraigosa is among several high-profile Democrats who might try to succeed her.
The son a Mexican immigrant gained national attention during his time as mayor, presiding during a time of historically low crime rates and leading initiatives to install new rail lines and move away from polluting, coal-fired power.
Since leaving office, Villaraigosa has served as a professor at the University of Southern California’s Price School of Public Policy and a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
