Will the Sheriff run for LA Mayor? Villanueva discusses crimes across LA County
LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva joined us for FOX 11's Special Report Wednesday evening to discuss the area's biggest issues.
We asked him if he bore any responsibility for the rise in crime across the country.
"Well, as I am being defunded and am being discredited and delegitimized by our elected officials, it's kind of hard to put the blame on the people who is doing most of the work," Villanueva responded. "The scary thing is I can't get the Board of Supervisors to even admit that crime is going up, much less address it and give the proper funding to the Sheriff's Department."
FOX 11 also asked Villanueva – as the Sheriff previously appeared in photos with California gubernatorial candidates like Caitlyn Jenner and Larry Elder – is he running for Los Angeles mayor?
"I think I'll just leave that for politicians," Villanueva said, in part, of the mayoral race. "I think the sheriff's race is the last pure one, where you can do your job exactly the way you advertise it, which I've done. Everything that I've campaigned, I've had to follow through and execute it on. And that's what I'm going to continue doing."
"So is that a no?" FOX 11's Elex Michaelson asked.
"Not running for mayor," Villanueva responded with a smile.
Villanueva said he will run for re-election as Los Angeles County Sheriff.
Villanueva said, despite Jenner and Elder's GOP association, the Sheriff is still a "lifelong Democrat."
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You can check out FOX 11's full interview with Villanueva in two parts below: