Pete Wilson | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 1991 | |
| 36thGovernor of California | |
| In office January 7, 1991 – January 4, 1999 | |
| Lieutenant |
|
| Preceded by | George Deukmejian |
| Succeeded by | Gray Davis |
| United States Senator fromCalifornia | |
| In office January 3, 1983 – January 7, 1991 | |
| Preceded by | S. I. Hayakawa |
| Succeeded by | John Seymour |
| 29thMayor of San Diego | |
| In office December 6, 1971 – January 3, 1983 | |
| Preceded by | Frank Curran |
| Succeeded by | Bill Cleator (acting) |
| Member of theCalifornia State Assembly from the76th district | |
| In office January 2, 1967 – December 5, 1971 | |
| Preceded by | Clair Burgener |
| Succeeded by | Bob Wilson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Peter Barton Wilson (1933-08-23)August 23, 1933 (age 92) Lake Forest, Illinois, U.S. |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Branch |  United States Marine Corps |
| Service years | 1955–1958 |
| Rank | First Lieutenant |
| Unit | 1st Marine Division |
Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23, 1933) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 36thgovernor of California from 1991 to 1999. A member of theRepublican Party, Wilson previously served as aUnited States senator fromCalifornia from 1983 to 1991, and asmayor of San Diego from 1971 to 1983.
Born inLake Forest, Illinois, Wilson graduated from theUC Berkeley School of Law after serving in theUnited States Marine Corps. He established a legal practice inSan Diego and campaigned for Republicans such asRichard Nixon andBarry Goldwater. Wilson won election to theCalifornia State Assembly in 1966 and became the mayor of San Diego in 1971. He held that office until 1983, when he became a member of the United States Senate. In1982, he defeated then-incumbent GovernorJerry Brown to become the United States senator from California. In the Senate, Wilson supported theStrategic Defense Initiative and theCivil Liberties Act of 1988, while he opposed theOmnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990.
Wilson resigned from the Senate after winning the1990 California gubernatorial election. As governor, Wilson signed athree-strikes law and supported energyderegulation andterm limits. He was also an advocate forCalifornia Proposition 187, which established a state-run citizenship screening system with the intention of preventingillegal immigrants from using social services; this was said to have contributed to the decline of the Republican party's power in California. Wilson won reelection in the1994 gubernatorial election. He sought the Republican nomination in the1996 United States presidential election but dropped out of the race beforethe primaries began.
Wilson retired from public office after serving two terms as governor. Since leaving office, he has worked for several businesses and has been affiliated with several other organizations. He is a distinguished visiting fellow at theHoover Institution. As of 2026, Wilson's1988 re-election is the last time a Republican has won aU.S. Senate race in California.
Peter Barton Wilson was born on August 23, 1933, in Lake Forest, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago, at the height of theGreat Depression. His parents were James Boone Wilson and Margaret (Callaghan) Wilson.[1] His father sold college fraternity jewelry to work his way through University of Illinois, and later became a successful advertising executive. The Wilson family settled inSt. Louis, Missouri, when Pete was in elementary school. He then attended the private, non-sectarianpreparatory middle schoolJohn Burroughs (grades 7–9) inLadue, and thenSt. Louis Country Day School, an exclusive private high school, where he won an award in his senior year for combined scholarship, athletics, and citizenship. In the fall of 1951, Pete Wilson enrolled atYale University inNew Haven, Connecticut, where he received aUnited States Navy Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship, majored in English, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree. In his junior year he elected to join the Marine Corps upon his graduation.
After graduating from Yale, Wilson served for three years in the United States Marine Corps as an infantry officer, eventually becoming a platoon commander. Upon completion of his Marine Corps service, Wilson earned aJuris Doctor degree from theUniversity of California, Berkeley School of Law in June 1962.
In 1962, while working as an Advance Man for the Republican gubernatorial candidateRichard M. Nixon, Wilson got to knowHerb Klein, one of Nixon's top aides. Klein suggested that Wilson might do well in Southern California politics, so in 1963, Wilson moved to San Diego.[2][3]
After passing the bar exam on his fourth attempt,[4] Wilson began his practice as a criminal defense attorney inSan Diego, but he found such work to be low-paying and personally repugnant. He later commented to theLos Angeles Times, "I realized I couldn't be a criminal defense lawyer – because most of the people who do come to you are guilty." Wilson switched to a more conventional law practice and continued his activity in local politics, working forBarry Goldwater's unsuccessfulpresidential campaign in 1964. Wilson's liking for politics and managing the day-to-day details of the political process was growing. He put in long hours for the Goldwater campaign, earning the friendship of local Republican boosters so necessary for a political career, and in 1966, at the age of thirty-three, he ran for, and won a seat in the California State Assembly, succeedingClair Burgener.
Wilson was re-elected to the Assembly in 1968 and 1970, and in 1971 was electedmayor of San Diego.
Wilson served three terms asmayor of San Diego, from 1971 to 1983, winning election by a 2:1 margin each time.[5] During his three terms he restructured theSan Diego City Council, reorganized the planning and civil service commissions, instituted campaign finance reform, and promoted the redevelopment ofdowntown San Diego.[5] He also helped to keepMajor League Baseball'sSan Diego Padres in the city, helping to persuade local millionaireRay Kroc to buy the team.
The1972 Republican National Convention had been scheduled to take place in San Diego in August 1972. However, in May 1972 the Republican National Committee voted to move the convention toMiami Beach because of a scandal involving a donation to the event byITT Corporation, as well as concerns about the proposed venue (theSan Diego Sports Arena) and the adequacy of hotel space. Wilson proclaimed the week of the convention to be America's Finest City Week, which became an annual event and gave rise to San Diego's unofficial nickname.[6]
In 1972, Wilson recruitedClarence M. Pendleton Jr. to head theModel Cities Program in San Diego. In 1981, PresidentRonald Reagan appointed Pendleton to chair theUnited States Commission on Civil Rights, a position that he held from 1981 until his death in San Diego in 1988.[7]
In1982, Wilson won the Republicanprimary in California to replace the retiring U.S. SenatorS. I. Hayakawa. Wilson's Democratic opponent was the outgoing two-term GovernorJerry Brown. Wilson was known as a fiscal conservative who supported the property-tax limitingProposition 13, although Wilson had opposed the measure whilemayor of San Diego. However, Brown ran on his gubernatorial record of building the largest state budget surpluses in California history. Both Wilson and Brown were moderate-to-liberal on social issues, including support for abortion rights and environmentalism. The election was expected to be close, with Brown holding a slim lead in most of the polls leading up to Election Day. Wilson hammered away at Brown's appointment of California Chief JusticeRose Bird, using this to portray himself as tougher on crime than Brown was. Brown's late entry into the 1980 Democratic presidential primary, after promising not to run, was also an issue. President Ronald Reagan made a number of visits to California late in the race to campaign for Wilson. Reagan quipped that the last thing he wanted to see was both of his home state'sU.S. Senate seats falling into Democrats' hands, especially to be occupied by the man who succeeded him as governor. Despite exit polls indicating a narrow Brown victory, Wilson edged him out to win the election. A major contributing factor may also have been a late influx of theArmenian vote in the California Governor's race betweenGeorge Deukmejian andTom Bradley.[citation needed] Many of these votes came from heavily Republican areas. The Deukmejian voters likely also voted for Wilson for United States Senator.
On October 19, 1983, Wilson voted in favor of a bill establishingMartin Luther King Jr. Day.[8] The legislation was signed into law by President Reagan the following month.[9] In January 1988, Wilson voted in favor of theCivil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to overridePresident Reagan's veto in March).[10][11]
In June 1984, Wilson voted in favor of legislation restricting federal highway funds for states that did not raise the minimum age for drinking to 21.[12][13]
In May 1985, Wilson underwent surgery for a ruptured appendix at Bethesda Naval Hospital, concurrently as fellow Republican SenatorBob Dole hoped to gather enough votes for the Reagan administration's 1986 budget. The surgery was expected to keep Wilson hospitalized for days, but Wilson returned to Capitol Hill via an ambulance to cast a vote in favor of the budget on May 10.[14] After voting, Wilson stated he made the decision to forgo further bed rest as he believed the vote was possibly the most important of his career.[15]
Convinced byJapanese-American farmers in theCentral Valley to support redress, Wilson co-sponsored theCivil Liberties Act of 1988. The bill was signed into law by President Reagan.[16]
As a member of theSenate Armed Services Committee, he called for early implementation of President Reagan'sStrategic Defense Initiative, a nationalballistic missile defense system.[17]
Wilson also co-sponsored the Federal Intergovernmental Regulatory Relief Act requiring the federal government to reimburse states for the cost of new federal mandates. Afiscal conservative, he was named the Senate's "Watchdog of the Treasury" for each of his eight years in the nation's capital.[18]
In1988, Wilson won the race for the United States Senate against his Democratic opponent,Leo T. McCarthy. In that election, he became the first person to get more than 5 million votes in a single Senate race, and his 5.1 million votes was a record for the most won by a Republican candidate for Senator that wasn't broken until 2020, whenJohn Cornyn of Texas topped it.
On January 20, 1989, he presided over theinauguration of George H. W. Bush as President of the United States. He voted againstOmnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, Bush's tax increase, thus remaining a fiscal conservative.[19]
In the weeks following incumbentgovernor of California George Deukmejian announcing that he was not running for a third term, Wilson considered a gubernatorial bid; by late January 1989, Wilson admitted to the decision being agonizing for him amid his consulting with others on a possible run.[20] At the beginning of his second six-year term in the Senate, Wilson announced plans to run for Governor of California.
On October 2, 1990, Wilson, away from Washington to campaign for California governor, became the only sitting senator from either party to not vote on the nomination ofDavid Souter for Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court. He had previously endorsed Souter for confirmation.[21][22] Wilson voted in favor of theRobert Bork Supreme Court nomination.
On January 7, 1991, he resigned from the Senate upon his inauguration as California's governor and appointedJohn Seymour as his successor.[23]
Wilson won the Republican nomination for Governor of California to succeed two-term Republican governor George Deukmejian, who chose not to seek a third term in 1990. In the general election, he defeated Democratic former San Francisco MayorDianne Feinstein, who would go on to be elected to Wilson's former U.S. Senate seattwo years later.[19] Wilson was sworn in as governor on January 7, 1991.
As governor, Wilson oversaw economic recovery in California, just as the rest of the country was recovering from an economic slump.[19] Inheriting the state's worst economy since theGreat Depression, Wilson insisted on strict budget discipline and sought to rehabilitate the state's environment for investment and new job creation. During his term,market-based, unsubsidizedhealth coverage was made available for employees of small businesses.
Despite his belief in fiscal conservatism, Wilson raised sales tax rates to reduce the state deficit, including instituting a new sales tax on newspapers as well as a sales tax on "snack" foods.[19] He also raised car license fees and college tuition; by 1991, tuition fees at theUniversity of California rose by 40%, while they rose by 24% atCalifornia State University.[19] Additionally, he raised the income tax in the top bracket temporarily.[19] However, by 1993, the snack tax was repealed by the Democratic state legislature and the sales tax increase expired.[19] On April 26, 1991, Wilson proposed an increase in the sales tax by 1 1/4 cents and state taxes by $6.7 billion (equivalent to $13.7 billion in 2024[24]) as part of plan to reduce the state's budget deficit. The revenue gap had increased by $5 billion (equivalent to $10.2 billion in 2024[24]) in the four months of his governorship.[25] In response to the April 1991 proposal, theLos Angeles Times wrote of Wilson,
He has done what has been asked of him, but thought near-impossible for any Republican centrist: constructing a revenue and spending plan that will hurt almost everyone and help almost no one, but that will also – for the first time in a long time – put the state on a sounder fiscal footing.[26]
In July 1991, the Senate voted 28 to 9 in favor of a bipartisan tax plan that would have increased taxes on the wealthiest Californians, increased the corporate tax rate, and imposed a tax increase on telecommunication services by 2%. Wilson returned the budget bill to the legislature without his signature, revoking a prior commitment to vetoing the measure.[27]
On July 12, 1991, Wilson signed a bill mandating that parents neglecting to pay child support could be levied stiff fines and potential suspensions of business and professional licenses. The legislation was intended to address an increasingly serious cause of poverty among children and women in the state at a time when Californians collectively owed $2 billion (equivalent to $4.09 billion in 2024[24]) per year in unpaid child support.[28] On July 24, 1991, Wilson signed a bill requiring mass transit rail lines to be built underground in the event construction took place in the residential neighborhoods of North Hollywood and Van Nuys. The bill, requested by the residents of those neighborhoods, was aimed at easing "homeowners' fear of noise from ground-level trains running along a proposed rail route that paralleled Chandler and Victory boulevards".[29]
Less than a year into his first term as governor, Wilson vetoed AB 101, a bill written to prohibitemployment discrimination based onsexual orientation in the state. Wilson feared that the bill would lead to more lawsuits and make California less economically competitive .[30][31] The veto was met withprotests in San Francisco that included demonstrations during Wilson's subsequent public appearances and speeches.[32][33][34] Wilson was the driving force behind the 1996 legislation that deregulated the state's energy market, which was the first energy utilities deregulation in the U.S. and aggressively pushed by companies such asEnron.[35]
Wilson also enacted education reforms aimed at creating statewide curriculum standards, reducing class sizes and replacingsocial promotion with early remedial education. Wilson promoted standardized testing of all students, increased teacher training, and a longer school year. However, it was Wilson's uncompromising stance on reducing education spending that led to the budget impasse of 1992,[36] leaving state workers without paychecks from July until September, when the California Supreme Court forced the Governor and the legislature to agree to terms that ended the sixty-three-day stand-off.[37][38] On February 22, 1993, Wilson issued an executive order banning smoking in a majority of state buildings excluding only "buildings controlled by the courts, the Legislature or the state's two university systems". The order was set to take effect December 31 of that year. Wilson said secondhand smoke "threatens the health of non-smoking state employees" and alleged workplace smoking increased the cost of cleaning, damaged furniture and carpets, and heightened the chances of starting fires.[39]
Despite this, in a leaked Philip Morris memo, the company's chief executive, Hamish Maxwell, said, "You will be pleased to know that Pete is still 'pro-tobacco.'" His move to revoke Proposition 99, a $114 million dollar voter-approved bill to tax cigarette companies to research and educate on the effects of tobacco, while also shutting down a highly effective anti-tobacco ad with footage of tobacco executives testifying to Congress that nicotine was not addictive which also a prompted defamation lawsuit against it), was claimed to be illegal[who?] and caused multiple lawsuits, while also being criticized as serving the tobacco lobby’s interests. While he claimed to take no funding personally in response to allegations of being pro-tobacco, he collected over $100,000 from a New York fund-raising dinner organized by Phillip Morris. While Phillip Morris didn't directly fund his campaign, they were major funders of the California Republican Party which he led. The leaked memo was in response to worries over Wilson's rejection of direct campaign donations. Maxwell claimed to have been told by Wilson over a phone call that this was to "protect Hamish and himself," being assured that it was not due to a lack of support.[40][41]
In late 1993, Wilson traveled to Asia to promote Californian goods and investment opportunities for overseas investors.[42] Wilson's six-day tour was also marked by his insistence on creating export-oriented jobs.[43] Wilson was re-elected to a second gubernatorial term in 1994, gaining 55% of the vote in his race against DemocraticState TreasurerKathleen Brown, daughter of former California GovernorPat Brown. According to one study, Wilson exploited anti-immigrant sentiment to win re-election.[44] Wilson spoke at the funeral services for former First LadyPat Nixon in 1993 and former PresidentRichard M. Nixon in 1994 at theNixon Library inYorba Linda, California. Two years later, Wilson became, to date, the most recent governor to speak at a California gubernatorial funeral, that of former Governor Pat Brown.
For most of his time as governor, Wilson reduced per-capita infrastructure spending for California, much as he had done as themayor of San Diego.[45] Many construction projects – most notably highway expansion/improvement projects – were severely hindered or delayed, while other maintenance and construction projects were abandoned completely.[46]Term limit laws passed by voters as Proposition 140, and championed by Wilson in 1990, prohibited Wilson from running for re-election to a third term. At the end of his time in office, Wilson left California with a $16 billion budget surplus (equivalent to $28.6 billion in 2024[24]). He was succeeded by then-lieutenant governorGray Davis as governor. A September 1998Los Angeles Times poll found 55% of registered voters in California had a favorable view of Wilson's job performance.[47]
On December 14, 1991, in an address to Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Wilson criticized the Democratic leaders of the state legislature for their opposition to his budget-balancing plan and "spent most of his hour at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles railing against the state's entitlement programs – including education and Medi-Cal, but especially Aid to Families with Dependent Children and other welfare programs".[48] On January 8, 1993, Wilson submitted his 1993 spending plan, advocating an immediate cut in welfare grants by 4.2% that would be followed 6 months later by a larger reduction of 15% to be directed at recipient families with an able-bodied adult. The twin cuts would reduce California's standing as the 5th highest benefit granting state to the 12th.[49]
By the end of his first term, Wilson allied with members of the state legislature that supported the continuation of recession-inspired cuts to welfare benefits. A bill imposing the continued reduction of benefits was passed by 2 committees of the Republican-majority assembly. H. D. Palmer maintained Wilson's priorities rested in other areas and though admitting to an improvement in revenues, disclosed that "the governor does not believe that the first call on those revenues should go to double-digit cost-of-living increases for welfare recipients."[50]
Wilson's second inaugural address featured a proclamation that the administration would initiate welfare reform:
We will demand that all citizens meet the test of common decency, respecting the rights of others, and we will demand that those who can, pull their own weight and meet the test of personal responsibility. We will make clear that welfare is to be a safety net, not a hammock — and absolutely not a permanent way of life. We will correct our laws to make clear that bringing a child into the world is an awesome personal responsibility for both the mother and the father. The costs are simply too high for society to continue tolerating the promiscuity and irresponsibility that have produced generations of unwed teen mothers. It is monstrously unfair to the children; to their sad, ill-equipped teen mothers; and certainly to working taxpayers, who must support them at a cost to their own children.[51][52]
In his 1997 State of the State address, Wilson criticized welfare recipients[53] and charged the program with creating conditions producing out-of-wedlock births, the lack of paternal involvement in the lives of children, and lifelong ramifications to children caused by the absence of fathers.[54] Under Wilson's welfare overhaul package, mothers would have to go to work after two years and they would only be eligible to return to welfare a year after that. Additionally, eligibility for welfare would only last for five years. Paternity for each child would also have to be established for the mother to begin receiving benefits.[55]
As governor, Wilson was closely associated withCalifornia Proposition 187, a 1994 ballot initiative to establish a state-run citizenship screening system and prohibitillegal immigrants from using health care, public education, and other social services in the U.S. State of California. Voters passed the proposed law as a referendum in November 1994; it was the first time that a state had passed legislation related to immigration, customarily a federal matter.[56] The law was challenged in a court, found unconstitutional by a federal court in 1998, and never went into effect.[57]
Passage of Proposition 187 reflected state residents' concerns about illegal immigration into the United States[citation needed]. Opponents believed the proposition was discriminatory and unfairly targeted children, while turning tens of thousands of adults into government informants;[58] supporters generally insisted that their concerns were economic: that the state could not afford to provide social services to so many who entered the state illegally or overstayed their visas.[59] Wilson himself would state that the policy was "about supporting the people who came here the right way".[60]
Opponents of Proposition 187 cited its passage as the cause of a long-term decline in support for the Republican Party in California. Noting a rapid increase in Latino participation in California elections, some analysts cite Wilson and the Republican Party's embrace of Proposition 187 as a cause of the failure of the party to win statewide elections.[61] GovernorArnold Schwarzenegger is the only Republican to win a California gubernatorial, senatorial, or presidential election since 1994, via aunique 2003 recall election and then are-election in 2006.
Since 1995 the following states have had similar ballot initiatives or laws passed: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma and Texas.[62]
Wilson led efforts to enact "tough on crime" measures and signed into law the "Three Strikes" (25 years to life for repeat offenders)[63] As a result of the Three Strikes Law, 4,431 offenders have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 25 years to life for their offenses.[64] The law required the construction of new prisons, leading some[who?] to question the influence the California Correctional Peace Officers Association had over his campaign, as that prison guard lobbying organization gave $1.47 million (equivalent to $2.71 million in 2024[24]) to Wilson's gubernatorial campaigns.[65] On September 26, 1995, Wilson signed a bill authorizing the possible use of capital punishment toward any individual who committed a murder during a carjacking or killed a juror. Wilson said the law was the result of 4 years' worth of attempts on his part to toughen the laws against carjacking: "This bill sends an unmistakable message to gang bangers: If you take someone's life while committing a cowardly carjacking, you can expect to pay for your crime with your own life."[66] Wilson also supported the resumption of capital punishment in California, after a 25-year moratorium, and he signed the death warrant for the execution of child-murdererRobert Alton Harris. Harris was executed in 1992. A total of five people were executed during his administration (the first 2 in thegas chamber, the latter 3 bylethal injection).
Wilson supported deregulation of the energy industry in California during his administration due to heavy lobbying efforts byEnron.[35] Nevertheless, during the Californiaenergy crisis caused by companies such as Enron, Wilson authored an article titled "What California Must Do" that blamed Gray Davis for not building enough power plants. Wilson defended his record of power plant construction and claimed that between 1985 and 1998, 23 plants were certified and 18 were built in California.[67]
Historians have suggested that Wilson's willingness to deregulate and commoditize California energy was also a major cause of the subsequent2000–2001 California electricity crisis.[68]
Despite a campaign promise to the people of California not to do so, Wilson also unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for President in the1996 election, making formal announcements on both coasts.[69] Wilson announced first on August 28, 1995, in New York City, atBattery Park, with theStatue of Liberty as a backdrop.[70] He completed a cross-country tour. In April 1995, he had surgery to remove a benign nodule on his vocal cords. When Wilson did not lighten his speaking schedule, it resulted in the occasional cracking of his voice. It ended up keeping him from announcing – or even talking – for months.[71] His campaign ended on September 30, 1995.[72]
A September 6, 1995,UC Irvine poll showed equal support for Wilson and incumbent PresidentBill Clinton amongOrange County voters. The same poll indicated Wilson as trailing his former Senate colleagueBob Dole by a 20-point margin.[73] Dole would become the Republican nominee in the general election. Later that month, aLos Angeles Times poll found 23% of Californians believed Wilson should seek the presidency, including 30% of state voters identifying as Republican.[74] On September 29, 1995, Wilson told supporters in Sacramento that he was dropping out of the Republican primary, citing he lacked the "necessary campaign funds to take this message to the people who need to hear it". He became the first candidate to exit the Republican primary.[75][76]
After leaving office, Wilson spent two years as a managing director of Pacific Capital Group, amerchant bank based in Los Angeles. He has served as a director of theIrvine Company,TelePacific Communications, Inc., National Information Consortium Inc., an advisor to Crossflo Systems, andIDT Entertainment. He has been a member of the Board of Advisors of Thomas Weisel Partners, a San Francisco merchant bank. He also served as chairman of the Japan Task Force of the Pacific Council on International Policy, which produced an analysis of Japanese economic and national security prospects over the next decade entitled "CanJapan Come Back?"[77]
Wilson is currently a distinguished visiting fellow at theHoover Institution, a conservativethink tank located on the campus ofStanford University; the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation; theRichard Nixon Foundation; and the Donald Bren Foundation. He is the founding director of the California Mentor Foundation and is the chairman of the board of trustees of the National World War II Museum. Wilson sits on two prestigiousFederal advisory committees: thePresident's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and theDefense Policy Board Advisory Committee. He previously worked as a consultant at the Los Angeles office ofBingham McCutchenLLP, a large, national law firm,[78] and is currently Of Counsel with boutique law firm Ellis George Cipollone.[79] He is also a Principal at Wilson Walsh Consulting.[80]
In 1999, Wilson was awarded the prestigious Patriot Award by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society at its national convention in Riverside, California.[81] In2003, Wilson was co-chair ofArnold Schwarzenegger's successful campaign torecall and replace GovernorGray Davis.[82]
In 2007, a statue of Wilson joined Ernest Hahn andAlonzo Horton on the San Diego Walk of Fame.[83] Two hundred sponsors donated $200,000 to build the statue.[84] On May 23, 2009, Wilson gave the commencement speech and received an honorary degree from San Diego State University's College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts.[85] In 2009, Wilson chaired the unsuccessful campaign ofMeg Whitman for governor.[86]
On April 30, 2016, Wilson endorsed U.S. SenatorTed Cruz for the Republican nomination in the2016 presidential election.[87] On April 4, 2019, Wilson donated $5,000 to the reelection campaign of PresidentDonald Trump.[88] Wilson was among the signatories of a letter released on October 1, 2020, endorsing President Trump for reelection in the2020 presidential election and argued in an interview that the president "has very good judgment, and very good people around him making honest calls."[89] He served as a campaign advisor forLarry Elder's unsuccessful2021 campaign to recall and replace GovernorGavin Newsom.[90]
During and after Wilson's career, he was awarded numerous awards and honors:
Taxpayers [will] no longer subsidize idleness and promiscuity," he declared in praising the arrival of welfare reform. "We're ending welfare's warehousing of people who don't want to work.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Mayor of San Diego 1971–1983 | Succeeded by Bill Cleator Acting |
| Preceded by | Governor of California 1991–1999 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator from California (Class 1) 1982,1988 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of California 1990,1994 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 1) from California 1983–1991 Served alongside:Alan Cranston | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former US Senator | Order of precedence of the United States | Succeeded byas Former US Senator |
| Class 1 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
| Under Spain (1769–1822) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Under Mexico (1822–1846) | ||
| Under U.S. military (1846–1850) | ||
| U.S. state (since 1850) | ||
 |  | ||
1 denotes acting or interim mayor | |||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
