(INSIDE CALIFORNIA POLITICS) — Former Mayor of Stockton Michael Tubbs doesn’t believe the position of Lt. Governor of California is as strictly ceremonial as many think.
The youngest mayor in Stockton’s history says the role has the power to do considerable good through the state’s university system.
“When I ran for Stockton, people said the same thing,” Tubbs said. “‘Why would you run for mayor of Stockton? How are you going to make an impact on the issues you care about? On poverty, on creating opportunity, etc.?’ I think often times it’s not necessarily the office, it’s the leader in the office and the Lt. governor has an amazing perch, particularly because you sit on the board of the UC CSU system and the community college system. And we know those are the levers we have to pull to bring people out of poverty, to get people in the middle class and to make sure that our entire education system is one that provides a world-class education and also world-class jobs.”
Despite losing his 2020 reelection mayoral bid, Tubbs said his record is why he deserves the public’s vote.
“I think voters across the state and voters in Stockton should just look at the record,” Tubbs said. “If you look at my record when I was mayor of Stockton we became the second most fiscally healthy city in the state after bankruptcy. When I was mayor of Stockton we had more officers than Stockton has ever seen and had a 40% reduction in shootings and a 17% reduction in overall violent crime. When I was mayor of Stockton we created a universal scholarship program for 2-year, 4-year and trade schools for all Stockton kids. So if you look at the record, its very clear that I know how to make government work for people.”
“If you want to talk about why I lost, we can also talk about how we pushed the status quo,” Tubbs said. “When you say that the government should work for everyone, when you say that poor people aren’t poor because they’re lazy, when you talk about real structural changes, when you say we shouldn’t have a golf course subsidy if we can’t open libraries, if you say we do need police reform, that’s going to create a lot of enemies. I think that’s why people in California should be excited about my candidacy.”
Tubbs said he isn’t concerned about what would lie beyond the Lt. governor’s office
“I learned long ago: do not predict the future. Focus on here and now,” Tubbs said. “If you had asked me three years ago, I would say I’d be the mayor of Stockton right now, right? So I’m just really excited about the opportunity to run for Lt. governor. It’s not lost on me that I don’t think that there’s ever been a kid from Stockton with a father in jail and a teenage mother who’s had a shot to be Lt. governor. So for me, it feels like a great next step and I’m excited about going up and down the state and proving the case and then doing good work over the next several years to make sure that peoples’ votes in me wasn’t wasted.”
