New tonight. Former Stockton mayor Michael Tubbs is talking to ABC 10 after announcing plans to run for lieutenant governor in 2026 I'm running because I truly believe that government has to work and it has to work for everyone. It was election eve 2016 the day that Donald Trump was elected president, democrat, Michael Tubbs junior would become the youngest mayor of a major US city and the first black mayor of Stockton. Four years later, he conceded the race to a Republican businessman, Kevin Lincoln really decided to step back into the public arena, run for public office because I truly believe that California is at a crossroads. Tubbs says he's uniquely qualified for the role after having served as a mayor here in California and now advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom on poverty as someone who grew up in poverty and working class, et cetera. I know far too many kind of friends are working and feeling like they're not getting anything for the dollar. I feel like they're working and working but still not enough to pay for necessities like rent. I think leadership, it's important for leadership to call those things out and to articulate solutions. And to think outside the box from the Stockton Scholars Program that provided college funding for high school graduates to the seed program. An experimental universal basic income payment of $500 a month for two years. Tubbs says he's shown an ability to use the levers of government to help the community. We're not gonna solve homelessness without government. We're not gonna solve economic inequality without government. We're not gonna be able to combat climate change without government. But it matters who sits in those government seats and is able to work in coalition and to push forward solutions that benefit all of us. Now again, it's still early in the process but Tubbs says he plans to use the next few years to work towards earning votes all across the state. Stay with ABC 10 for updates.