Gavin Newsom made headlines this winter by vowing to defeat a proposal for a one-time 5% tax on billionaires in the state. The move was a notable one for the California governor, whom many national polls now rank as the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028; aligning with the ultra-wealthy is not auspicious for wooing the party’s voters. Last year, a Reuters-Ipsos poll reported that a whopping 86% of Democrats said “changing the federal tax code so wealthy Americans and large corporations pay more in taxes should be a priority.”
Newsom has drawn widespread praise for waging an aggressive war of words against Donald Trump. Since at least June 2025, when the president deployed National Guard troops and Marines to quell protests in Los Angeles against his mass deportation campaign, Newsom and his team have successfully tapped into the need that many rank-and-file Democrats have for adopting a confrontational approach to Trump and his policies. But few people outside of California know much about the governor’s actual record — and many Democratic voters will be turned off to learn that his fervent opposition to a billionaire tax is part of an overall political approach that has trended more and more corporate-friendly.
