Reminder: Californians rejected higher taxes and affirmative action last election cycle

Political analyst Tony Quinn recalls the far-left state Democrat party’s failure to pass key propositions in 2020. Despite huge voter turnout and extensive campaigning, their propositions to raise taxes on businesses and establish affirmative action were rejected. Quinn posits the Democrat party is “out of step” with local Californian’s perspectives—and that it may cost them in 2022.

But despite this massive turnout, labor and liberal groups took it on the chin. The Labor Federation took positions on nine ballot measures; they won on three and lost on six including the most important ones like Proposition 15 and the Uber-Lyft measure, Proposition 22. The state Democratic Party took positions on 11 measures, they were on the winning side on only four; they lost on seven.

Labor also provided most of the money promoting Proposition 15, $40 million of the $67 million spent in favor of this measure, and $16 million of the $20 million opposing Proposition 22. Uber, Lyft and their allies spent over $200 million promoting Proposition 22, so its success may not be much of a surprise. But the spending was roughly equal for Proposition 15, yet labor and the Democrats could not convince voters to raise property taxes.

Perhaps the biggest personal loser in the Proposition 15 campaign turned out to be Gov. Newsom who called it “a fair, phased-in and long-overdue reform to state tax policy.” While Newsom did not actively campaign for the measure, his support was featured in television ads encouraging a vote for the measure. But that was not his only loss.

Newsom, labor and the entire Democratic establishment put their names and prestige behind Proposition 16, a measure to restore affirmative action in California that was placed on the ballot by the legislature.
Proposition 16 proponents outspent their opponents by twenty to one, and had the support of virtually all California newspapers, plus Newsom, California’s two US Senators, and almost all elected Democrats (including a unanimous SJ City Council). Yet it was defeated with 57 percent voting no. With the state Democratic Party’s fixation on race and gender preferences, this defeat could have long range political implications.

This article originally appeared in Fox & Hounds Daily.

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