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Where do we go from here?
While the autopsy on Democrats’ losses in November’s election remains incomplete, it is time to address what happened in California.
It is difficult to dispute that California took a turn to the right. Ballot initiatives related to the minimum wage, rent control, and criminal justice all went down, and Kamala Harris performed worse than Joe Biden did four years ago.
There are many ways to interpret the results, and all of them may have been contributing factors. But it is worth considering that the fecklessness of Democratic one-party rule is significant. While Democrats hold supermajorities in local and state government, the California voter’s confidence in government lies at the bottom of the barrel.
Californians believe the state is on the wrong track and the California dream rapidly is dying. The California exodus is a testament to that reality, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving in 2024 for what they consider greener pastures.
The voters repeatedly have said that housing is their No. 1 concern, and yet six years into the Newsom administration, there is little to show for the tens of billions that have been spent on housing since 2019. During that time, homelessness has increased.
Entering 2025, is California a better place than six years ago? Resoundingly, no.
California is the poorest state in America based on cost of living. Yet we have the most billionaires — 178.
California is the canary in the coal mine. If liberal values die here, where will they survive?
True power always comes from grassroots. The shocking fall of the Assad regime in Syria is the latest example. California can pave the way for a progressive renaissance if we draw a clear line of demarcation that we stand squarely with the people against the billionaire oligarchs.
It is incumbent upon California to chart a course that puts the needs of the overwhelming majority over those of the privileged few. As daunting as our challenges now seem, the pendulum will swing back as it always has. Great struggles for social justice do not happen overnight, and the victories belong to those who don’t give up.
Big Real Estate is the most powerful lobby in California at the local and state level, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to secure its bounty. California’s 17 million struggling renters have gotten no meaningful relief despite the state spending tens of billions in recent years.
Why? Because Big Real Estate rules the roost. The bread-and-butter issues that affect the poor and the working class have received a lot of lip service but little concrete action.
It’s the economy, stupid. In California, it takes $100,000 to have any modicum of a middle-class existence.
There is little question that California has been socially liberal for quite some time. However, California Democrats have failed to deliver for the poor and the working class as much as in swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan or Wisconsin.
Many would have us believe that Democrats in California lost ground because we are too progressive. It is as if we are trapped in an outdated paradigm that ignores the vast income inequality gap dominating California more than any other state. Until or unless we can respond to people’s most pressing needs for food, housing, and healthcare, Californians won’t vote or will entertain right-wing approaches.
The freedom and prosperity that has characterized California is on the chopping block as much from the mismanagement of people’s needs by Democrats as from the threat from the right. The Democrats’ deference to Big Pharma, corporate landlords, oil companies and other industry interests spells doom in the long run. You rely on an electoral base that excludes the neediest at your own risk. Divided loyalties between high-rolling oligarchs and the people were a recipe for disaster at the voting booth and beyond in 2024, and it will only get worse.
California voters know that our government represents the richest donors and not them. It is our job to turn that around.
Michael Weinstein is the president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the largest global HIV/AIDS organization, and AHF’s Healthy Housing Foundation.
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