Name: Antonio Villaraigosa

Age: 53

Occupation: Mayor of Los Angeles, California

Place of residence: Los Angeles, California

Bio: From the Mayor’s site: “Born Antonio Villar on January 23, 1953, in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles, he is the oldest of four children raised by a single mother, Natalia Delgado. Villaraigosa graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School and attended UCLA, where he received a B.A. degree in history. He is a graduate of the People’s College of Law.” A rags to riches story, Villaraigosa rose from the barrio of East Los to the California State Assembly, to Speaker of the Assembly, to City Council member to Mayor.

Why he’s loved: People seem to love Villaraigosa most for having captured the mayoral seat of one of the most influential cities in the country (and the world), making him a very powerful Latino and validating Latino politicians as leaders. Others believe his “ethics pledge” will help clean up a corrupt local government. Then there are others who love the fact that when he married he modified his last name from Villar to Villaraigosa, to take on the last name of his bride, Corina Raigosa.

Why he’s hated: Local L.A. environmentalists first applauded his stand on the evictions of farmworkers from a piece of land that was to be commercialized, only later to accuse him of siding with developers.

Why he’s influential: He’s the first Latino mayor of L.A. since 1872. Mayor of the U.S.’s second largest city (over 8 million residents) and home to the largest Latino population in an urban area (40% of L.A. residents are Latino). He’s showing naysayers that the words Latino and Power do go together.

VOTE for Antonio Villaraigosa as VL’s Most Influential Latino 2006.