Two Democrats in California’s crowded gubernatorial race are breaking with their party’s long-standing energy policies and calling for immediate action to bring down soaring fuel costs.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan (D) and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are urging the state to intervene, with Mahan proposing a temporary suspension of California’s nation-leading gas tax and Villaraigosa calling for a moratorium on refinery regulations he says are driving up prices.
The proposals mark a notable shift for Democrats in a state that has aggressively pursued climate policies and highlight tensions between environmental goals and the rising cost of living, especially for working-class voters.
In a video posted on social media, Mahan, standing in front of a gas pump, said costs are “becoming an emergency for working families, and I think we ought to act like it.” The mayor called on state lawmakers to suspend California’s gas tax, which at 61 cents per gallon is the highest in the nation.
Villaraigosa, meanwhile, blamed regulations for “overburdening” California refineries and working families.
“These failed policies are not only hurting tens of millions of Californians, they are terrible for the environment because they have forced California to depend on imported foreign oil from the Middle East,” he said in a written statement.
If elected, Villaraigosa claimed he would work to reform and overhaul regulations because “we can no longer allow bureaucrats who live in a bubble — with no accountability for the harm they are causing our economy and our people — to have so much power over the lives of every Californian.”
California’s high gas prices are driven by elevated fuel taxes and strict environmental standards requiring cleaner-burning gasoline, causing friction among regulators, refiners, and consumers.
Compounding the issue, California depends heavily on foreign crude that is refined locally. Data from the California Energy Commission shows that in 2025, about 61% of the oil processed in the state came from overseas sources such as Brazil, Iraq, and Guyana, while only 23% was produced within California.
According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in California on Tuesday was $5.54, the highest in the nation. The national average was $3.70, up from the previous month’s average of $2.92.
Rising expenses in California, from everyday necessities to gas prices, continue to shape voters’ concerns. Both Mahan and Villaraigosa, who are targeting moderate voters, distinguish themselves from fellow Democrats by prioritizing short-term fuel-cost relief, contrasting other Democratic candidates who maintain a focus on climate policy. This sets them apart in the competitive race as they make affordability their central theme.
Jeff Le, managing principal at 100 Mile Strategies, told the Washington Examiner that while California’s political leaders have “long championed the state’s leading role as a global climate leader in sustainability and resilience,” rising concerns over “affordability and the economy has pushed environmental stewardship down the list of pressing priorities for some California voters.
“Pervasive inflation, the state’s nation-leading costs of electricity, and the likely spike that gas will see with the war with Iran creates a space for trailing gubernatorial candidates — such as pro-business candidates Mahan and Villaraigosa — to take potentially unorthodox California Democratic positions in order to make up ground in a crowded and historically wide open primary for the state’s top office,” he said.
But veteran California political expert Garry South told the Washington Examiner that the candidates’ claims of a quick fix weren’t rooted in reality.
“Gas prices in California are always yo-yoing up and down, and when they go up, politicians are always proposing what they claim are fixes,” he said. “But the price of gasoline is mainly determined by the cost of crude oil, and the so-called fixes being called for by politicians would never have an immediate impact on gas prices — if any effect at all. Suspending the gas tax, as Mahan has proposed, would be a big revenue hit to the state, and would still allow retailers to sell gas at any price they wanted at the pump, leading to more profits for Big Oil, and not necessarily lower prices for the consumers. That idea is, well, full of gas.”
The two Republican candidates in the gubernatorial race, former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, have supported cutting regulations and suspending the gas tax.
Hilton has blamed high gas prices on “15 years of misguided Democratic policies that prioritize ideology over affordability” and told the Washington Examiner he has a plan to get prices to $3 per gallon by cutting regulations, including the low-carbon fuel standard, which requires cleaner-burning gas in order to reduce tailpipe emissions.
Bianco, like Mahan, has supported suspending the gas tax.
The race for governor is neck-and-neck with no clear front-runner.
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Three Democrats — former Rep. Katie Porter, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), and billionaire Tom Steyer — along with Republicans Hilton and Bianco, are within 4 percentage points of one another, according to the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California survey.
Porter, Swalwell, and Steyer have largely stayed aligned with the party’s climate priorities, while Mahan and Villaraigosa have diverged by emphasizing affordability. All five candidates are also within the 3.9% margin of error heading into the June primary, underscoring how unsettled the race remains.
