California’s likely wealth tax defeat was a victory for Gavin Newsom and the establishment Democrats who lined up against it. It was also a victory for the billionaires – none other than Sergei Brin.
Embarking on his first real political campaign, the billionaire co-founder of Google effectively built and financed an opposition campaign against one of the state’s largest unions, SEIU-UHW. Although the Associated Press has not yet called the race, even supporters acknowledged their impending loss. In a since-deleted post on X, the union that sponsored the measure said Wednesday that the measure “seems unlikely to pass.” Brin’s The money helped convince voters in California, one of the most liberal states in the country, to reject an income tax. the rich. And he managed to achieve this in a political environment in which voters have poor vision billionaires and don’t believe they are pay their fair share of taxesand on a night when progressives across the country otherwise notched victories seemingly across the board.
This is a remarkable achievement for a man who until recently was largely disengaged from state politics. The question that now arises is where a Strandblessed with infinite resources, a newly capable political apparatus and a seemingly renewed interest in politics, then turns his attention – and so his allies follow suit.
“That’s the billion-dollar question,” said Brian Brokawa veteran Democratic consultant who helped early efforts to oppose the billionaires tax. “This is a group of people who don’t typically play together, and I think the challenge they face is: Can they agree on some policy priorities that unify them?”
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