From the NYT:

What Went Wrong for Villaraigosa: A California Stalwart Ponders His Loss for Governor

The former Los Angeles mayor said wealthy voters rejected his message — and working class voters failed to turn out.

By Adam Nagourney

June 13, 2018

LOS ANGELES — Antonio R. Villaraigosa was the high-riding mayor of this city for eight years. His election as its first Latino chief executive in modern times was an electrifying moment. Mr. Villaraigosa, a Democrat, has over the years expressed high ambitions for his future: a cabinet secretary in a Hillary Clinton White House. Governor of California. A next-generation leader for Latinos across the nation.

But Mr. Villaraigosa saw those ambitions dashed last week in a dispiriting third-place finish in the primary for governor of California, a showing that not only eliminated him from contention for that office — but probably, as he acknowledged in a ruminative interview at his home in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday, from elected life.

He drew just 13 percent of the vote after a campaign calling for California to confront an economic divide that he warned threatened its future. It was a stunningly poor showing given the arc of his career: City Council, State Assembly, Assembly speaker, mayor, chairman of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. And it came even after charter school advocates financed a $23 million independent campaign on his behalf.