Bernie Sanders and Gavin Newsom become adversaries over push to tax
California billionaires
[February 18, 2026]
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD
LOS ANGELES (AP) — As national Democrats search for a unifying theme
ahead of the fall's midterm elections, a California proposal to levy a
hefty tax on billionaires is turning some of the party’s leading figures
into adversaries just when Democrats can least afford division from
within.
Bernie Sanders will be in Los Angeles campaigning Wednesday for the tax
proposal that has the Silicon Valley in an uproar, with tech titans are
threatening to leave the state. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is among
its outspoken opponents, warning that it could leave government finances
in crisis and put the state at a competitive disadvantage nationally.
Sanders is planning a late afternoon rally near downtown, and in the
past he has turned out overflow crowds in the heavily Democratic city.
The Vermont senator, a democratic socialist, is popular in California —
he won the 2020 Democratic presidential primary in the state in a
runaway. He’s been railing for decades against what he characterizes as
wealthy elites and the growing gap between rich and poor.
A large health care union is attempting to place a proposal before
voters in November that would impose a one-time 5% tax on the assets of
billionaires — including stocks, art, businesses, collectibles and
intellectual property — to backfill federal funding cuts to health
services for lower-income people that were signed by President Donald
Trump last year.
Sanders wrote on the social platform X that he strongly supports the tax
“at a time of unprecedented and growing wealth and income inequality.”
“Our nation will not thrive when so few own so much,” Sanders wrote.
Debate on the proposal is unfolding at a time when voters in both
parties express unease with economic conditions and what the future will
bring in a politically divided nation. Distrust of government — and its
ability to get things done — is widespread.
The proposal has created a rift between Newsom and prominent members of
his party’s progressive wing, including Sanders, who has said the tax
should be a template for other states.
“The issues that are really going to be motivating Democrats this year,
affordability and the cost of health care and cuts to schools, none of
these would be fixed by this proposal. If fact, they would be made
worse,” said Brian Brokaw, a longtime Newsom adviser who is leading a
political committee opposing the tax.
Midterm elections typically punish the party in control of the White
House, and Democrats are hoping to gain enough U.S. House seats to
overturn the chamber's slim Republican majority. In California,
rejiggered House districts approved by voters last year are expected to
help the party pick up as many as five additional seats, which would
leave Republicans in control of just a handful of districts.
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U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during Mayor Zohran
Mamdani's inauguration ceremony, Jan. 1, 2026, in New York. (AP
Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)
“It is always better for a party to have the political debate
focused on issues where you are united and the other party is
divided,” said Eric Schickler, a professor of political science at
the University of California, Berkeley. “Having an issue like this
where Newsom and Sanders — among others — are on different sides is
not ideal.”
With the idea of taxing billionaires popular among many voters “this
can be a good way for Democratic candidates to rally that side and
break through from the pack,” Schickler added in an email.
It's already trickled into the race for governor and contests down
the ballot. Republicans Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton, both
candidates for governor, have warned the tax would erase jobs. San
Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a Democratic candidate for governor, has said
inequality starts at the federal level, where the tax code is
riddled with loopholes.
Coinciding with the Sanders visit and an upcoming state Democratic
convention this weekend, opponents are sending out targeted emails
and social media ads intended to sway party insiders.
It’s not clear if the proposal will make the ballot — supporters
must gather more than 870,000 petition signatures to place it before
voters.
The nascent contest already has drawn out a tangle of competing
interests, with millions of dollars flowing into political
committees.
Newsom has long opposed state-level wealth taxes, believing such
levies would be disadvantageous for the world’s fourth-largest
economy. At a time when California is strapped for cash and he is
considering a 2028 presidential run, he is trying to block the
proposal before it reaches the ballot.
Analysts say an exodus of billionaires could mean a loss of hundreds
of millions of tax dollars for the nation's most populous state. But
supporters say the funding is needed to offset federal cuts that
could leave many Californians without vital services.
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