With the fate of President\u2019s Trump\u2019s right-wing agenda at stake, the California ballot measure crafted to tilt Congress to Democratic control has turned into a fight among millionaires and billionaires, a former president, a past movie-star governor and the nation\u2019s top partisans.<\/p>\n
Californians have been inundated with political ads popping up on every screen \u2014 no cellphone, computer or living-room television is spared \u2014 trying to sway them about Proposition 50, which will reconfigure the districts of the largest state congressional delegation in the union.<\/p>\n
Besides opposing pleas from former President Obama<\/a> and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger<\/a>, the state\u2019s powerful, left-leaning labor unions are another factor that may influence the outcome of the Nov. 4 special election. <\/p>\n Unions representing California school teachers, carpenters, state workers and nurses have plowed more than $23 million into efforts to pass Proposition 50, according to an analysis of campaign finance disclosure reports about donations exceeding $100,000. That\u2019s nearly one-third of the six-figure donations reported through Thursday.<\/p>\n Not only do these groups have major interests in the state capitol, including charter school reform, minimum wage hikes and preserving government healthcare programs, they also are deeply aligned with efforts by Gov. Gavin Newsom and his fellow Democrats to put their party in control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 election. \u201cThere\u2019s always a risk when making sizable donations, that you\u2019re putting yourself out there,\u201d Kaufman said. \u201cBut the truth is on Proposition 50, I think it\u2019s much less calculated than normal contributions. It really is about the issue, not about currying favor with members of the Legislature, or the congressional delegation, or the governor. Even though, of course, it benefits them if we win.\u201d<\/p>\n High stakes brings in big money from across the nation<\/p>\n Newsom\u2019s pro-Proposition 50 committee has raised more than $116 million, according to campaign disclosure filings through Thursday afternoon, though that number is sure to increase once additional donations are disclosed in the latest fundraising reports that are due by midnight Thursday.<\/p>\n The multimillion-dollar donations provide the best evidence of what\u2019s at stake, and how Proposition 50 could determine control of the House during the final two years of Trump\u2019s presidency. If the Democrats take control of the House, not only could that derail major parts of Trumps agenda, it probably would lead to a slew of congressional hearings on Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown, use of the military in American cities, accepting a $400-million luxury airliner from Qatari\u2019s royal family, the cutting of research funding to universities and the president\u2019s ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, among many others.<\/p>\n The House Majority PAC \u2014 the Democrats\u2019 congressional fundraising arm \u2014 has donated at least $15 million to the pro-Proposition 50 campaign, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) was in Los Angeles to campaign for the ballot measure last weekend. Obama joined Newsom on a livestream<\/a> promoting the proposition Wednesday, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin hosted a bilingual phone bank in Los Angeles on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cMake no mistake about what they\u2019re trying to do and why it\u2019s so important that we fight back,\u201d Martin said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be the only party with one hand tied behind our back. If they want a showdown, we\u2019re going to give them a showdown and in just a little under two weeks it starts right here with Prop. 50 in California.\u201d<\/p>\n Billionaire financier George Soros \u2014 a generous donor to liberal causes and a bogeyman to Republicans \u2014 has contributed $10 million. Others have chosen to fund separate entities campaigning in favor of Proposition 50, notably billionaire hedge-fund founder Tom Steyer, who chipped in $12 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n On the opposition side, the largest donor is Charles Munger Jr.<\/a>, the son of the longtime investment partner of billionaire Warren Buffett, who has contributed $32.8 million to one of the two main committees opposing Proposition 50. The Congressional Leadership Fund \u2014 the GOP\u2019s political arm in the House \u2014 has donated $5 million to the other main anti-Proposition 50 committee and $8 million to the California Republican Party.<\/p>\n Although Republicans may control the White House and Congress, the California GOP wields no real power in Sacramento, so it\u2019s not surprising that Republican efforts opposing Proposition 50 have not received major donations from entities with business before the state. <\/p>\n The California Chamber of Commerce opted to remain neutral on Proposition 50. Chevron and the California Resources Corp., petroleum companies that have given to California Republicans in the past, also remain on the sidelines.<\/p>\n In contrast, Democrats control every statewide office and hold supermajorities in both houses of the California Legislature. The pro-Proposition 50 campaign has been showered with donations from groups aligned with Sacramento\u2019s legislative leaders \u2014 with labor organizations chief among them.<\/p>\n Among the labor donors, the powerful carpenters unions have donated at least $4 million. Newsom hailed them in July when he signed legislation altering a landmark environmental law for urban apartment developments to boost the supply of housing. The California Conference of Carpenters union has become one of the most pro-housing voices in the state.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the third of the last four years we\u2019ve been together signing landmark housing reforms, and it simply would not have happened without the Carpenters,\u201d Newsom said at the time.<\/p>\n Daniel M. Curtin, director of the California Conference of Carpenters, pointed to a letter he wrote to legislators in August urging them to put redistricting on the ballot because of the effect of Trump\u2019s policies on the state\u2019s workers.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are not normal times, and this isn\u2019t politics as usual. Not only has the Trump administration denied disaster assistance to victims of California\u2019s devastating forest fires, he\u2019s damaging our CA economy with mass arrests of law-abiding workers without warrants,\u201d wrote Curtin, whose union has 70,000 members in the state. \u201cThe Trump administration is now unilaterally withdrawing from legally binding union collective bargaining agreements with federal workforce unions. The President has made it clear that this is just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n Proposition 50 was prompted by Trump urging Republican leaders in Texas to redraw their congressional districts to boost the number of GOP members in the House and keep the party in control after the 2026 election. Newsom sought to counter the move by altering California\u2019s congressional boundaries<\/a> in a rare mid-decade redistricting.<\/p>\n With 52 members in the House, the state has the largest congressional delegation in the nation. But unlike many states, California\u2019s districts are drawn by an independent commission created by voters in 2010 in an effort to end partisan gerrymandering and incumbent protection.<\/p>\n The state\u2019s districts would not have been redrawn until after the 2030 U.S. census, but the Legislature and Newsom agreed in August <\/a>to put Proposition 50, which would give Democrats the potential to pick up five seats, on the November ballot.<\/p>\n Money from California unions pours in<\/p>\n Although much of the money supporting the efforts comes from wealth Democratic donors and partisan groups aimed at helping Democrats take control of Congress, a significant portion comes from labor unions.<\/p>\n The Service Employees International Union, which represents more than 700,000 healthcare workers, social workers, in-home caregivers and school employees and other state and local government workers, has contributed more than $5.5 million to the committee.<\/p>\n On Oct. 12, the union celebrated Newsom signing bills ensuring that workers, regardless of immigration status, are informed about their civil and labor rights under state and federal law as well as updating legal guidance to state and local agencies about protecting private information, such as court records and medical data, from being misused by federal authorities. <\/p>\n \u201cThank you to Governor Newsom for \u2026 standing up to federal overreach and indiscriminate, violent attacks on our communities,\u201d David Huerta, president of SEIU California, said in a statement. <\/p>\n Huerta was arrested <\/a>during the first day of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles in June and charged with a felony. But federal prosecutors are instead pursuing a misdemeanor case <\/a>against him, according to a Friday court filing. <\/p>\n An SEIU representative did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n The California Teachers Assn., another potent force in state politics, has contributed more than $3.3 million, along with millions more from other education unions such as the National Education Assn., the California Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers.<\/p>\n CTA had a mixed record in this year\u2019s legislative session.<\/p>\n Newsom vetoed a bill to crack down on charter school fraud, Senate Bill 414. The CTA opposed the bill, arguing that it didn\u2019t go far enough to target fraud in some of the schools, and had urged the governor to reject it.<\/p>\n Newsom signed CTA-backed bills that placed strict limits on ICE agents\u2019 access to school grounds. But he also vetoed union-backed bill that would have required the state Board of Education to adopt health education instructional materials by July 1, 2028.<\/p>\n CTA President David Goldberg said their donations are driven not only by issues important to the union\u2019s members, but also the students they serve who are dependent on federally funded assistance programs and impacted by policies such as immigration.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about our livelihood but it really is about fundamental issues \u2026 for people who serve students who are just incredibly under attack right now,\u201d Goldberg said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe governor\u2019s support for labor would be exactly the same with or without Proposition 50 on the ballot. But he would acknowledge this year is more urgent than ever for labor and working people,\u201d said Newsom spokesperson Bob Salladay. \u201cTrump is taking a wrecking ball to collective bargaining, to fair wages and safe working conditions. He would be backing them up under any circumstances, but especially now.\u201d<\/p>\n Critics of Proposition 50 argue that these contributions are among the reasons voters should oppose the ballot measure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe independent redistricting commission exists to prevent conflicts of interest and money from influencing line drawing,\u201d said Amy Thoma, a spokesperson for the Voters First Coalition, the committee backed by Munger Jr., who bankrolled the 2010 ballot measure to create the independent commission. \u201cThat\u2019s why we want to preserve its independence.\u201d<\/p>\n Other labor leaders argued that although they are not always in lockstep with Newsom, they need to support Proposition 50 because of the importance of Democrats winning the congressional majority next year.<\/p>\n Lorena Gonzalez, the head of the powerful California Labor Federation, said the timing of the member unions\u2019 donations of millions of dollars to Newsom\u2019s ballot measure committee for an election taking place shortly after the bill-signing period was \u201cunfortunate\u201d and \u201cweird.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause we have so many bills in front of him, we were gun-shy,\u201d she said, noting that the federation has sparred with the governor over issues such as the effect of artificial intelligence in the workplace. \u201cNever be too close to your elected officials. Because we see the good, the bad, the ugly.\u201d<\/p>\n Times staff writers Andrea Flores and Brittny Mejia contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the fate of President\u2019s Trump\u2019s right-wing agenda at stake, the California ballot measure crafted to tilt Congress…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7,17289,17287,1552,4416,17288,9172,48,52,51,47,50,49,63,2324,3290,6283,4489,225,17286,2328],"class_list":{"0":"post-21243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-committee","10":"tag-democratic-control","11":"tag-donation","12":"tag-effort","13":"tag-fellow-democrats","14":"tag-house","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-la-headlines","17":"tag-la-news","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","20":"tag-los-angeles-news","21":"tag-los-angeles-times","22":"tag-member","23":"tag-newsom","24":"tag-president","25":"tag-proposition","26":"tag-state","27":"tag-trump-agenda","28":"tag-union"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cThere are real issues here that are at stake,\u201d said veteran Democratic strategist Gale Kaufman, who has represented several unions that have contributed to Newsom\u2019s committee supporting Proposition 50.<\/p>\n