"For most of this 2026 midterm election cycle, the attention around California’s billionaire class has focused heavily on their opposition to a one-time tax on their wealth, money that would be used to help offset massive federal cuts to safety-net health care programs in the state.
That’s fine as far as it goes, but it goes nowhere near far enough. In truth, the billionaires are on an all-time spending spree when it comes to politics at both the state and federal levels — and their interests range far afield from simply defeating a single proposition, no matter how irksome the Billionaire Tax Act is to them.
California’s mega-wealthy are also using their resources to pave the way for them to expand their futures in the cryptocurrency and AI industries with as little regulation or pushback as possible.
“It’s not just putting money into the [billionaire tax] ballot measure. There is a very precise legislative agenda here as well,” said Crystal Zermeno of California Common Good, a coalition of labor and community groups that has been researching this energized round of spending."
