“Do Billionaires work as hard as us?”
Editor’s note: Ramsey Robinson is running for Governor as a Peace and Freedom Party candidate. Opinions are those of the writer and interviewee and do not reflect those of The Vanguard or its Editorial Staff. The Vanguard does not endorse political candidates and is committed to publishing all public opinions and maintaining an open forum subject to guidelines related to decency and tone, not content.
Malik Washington: Peace and blessings, sisters and brothers. It’s your on-the-spot reporter Malik Washington, reporting live here at 510 Larkin Street at the Empire Norton Facility. I’m interviewing Ramsey Robinson, who is the 2026 gubernatorial candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party. I want Ramsey to talk to the community about his platform and how he can serve you. So without further delay, I’m introducing you to the 2026 gubernatorial candidate for governor, Ramsey Robinson.
Ramsey Robinson: Yes, well, hello folks. And yes, as my brother Malik said, I’m Ramsey Robinson, a mental health social worker in the Bayview. And yes, we’re talking about working people right now in the state of California are in the state of crisis when a million of us are behind on rent, when tens of thousands of us are facing eviction, when 15 million of us have medical debt, when two and a half million of us don’t have health insurance, that we have a problem. And what we’re saying is there’s no excuse that it can’t be otherwise.
Malik Washington: What is your campaign proposing to address these issues?
Ramsey Robinson: We are saying for our campaign that all of us in California will have guaranteed healthcare, fully funded, Medi-Cal expanded to cover everything regardless of our immigration status. Every one of us would have guaranteed and affordable homes. We’re going to build 1.4 million affordable, beautiful homes so all of us have a roof over our head. And we’re making sure that all of us have guaranteed employment, guaranteed union jobs at $30 an hour, and fully funded childcare for all of us.
Malik Washington: How do you plan to fund these programs?
Ramsey Robinson: The way that we are going to do this, Malik, and to all y’all out there, is we are going to make sure that we tax the billionaires — the 194 billionaires that steal all that money from us, all the wealth that working folks like us created. They’re holding onto it, and we’re going to take a small portion of that back, and that will be able to fully fund the programs that I’m sharing with you right now.
Malik Washington: There has to be an equitable distribution of wealth here, not just in California, but in this country. What you’re saying carries on the legacy of the Black Panther Party. We’re in the 59th year of the founding of this revolutionary party that served our people. From what I’m hearing today, you’re ready to serve our people.
Ramsey Robinson: Malik, I’m so glad that you brought that up. Do you know that the Peace and Freedom Party was started in part by the Black Panthers? The Peace and Freedom Party was an anti-war movement, and they were seeing what was going on in Vietnam. Two months before the deadline to get the signatures to birth the Peace and Freedom Party, they didn’t have enough. And they linked up with the Black Panther Party, and in two months they got 200,000 signatures and the Peace and Freedom Party was birthed. And we’re continuing that tradition to make sure that California is for working people like us, not for the billionaires.
Malik Washington: Thank you, Ramsey. That is an amazing thing. And I just have one thing to say to end this interview — all power to the people.
Ramsey Robinson: All power to the people.
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