Every major candidate for governor is against the billionaire tax — and yet there it is, sitting on your November ballot anyway. If you're just joining us: this race has narrowed to Xavier Becerra versus Steve Hilton, with Becerra holding a big early polling lead. Hilton's been trying to make the fall about cost-of-living pressure, a Trump-aligned case for change, and a promised review of the pandemic lockdown calls. That's the backdrop — before the actual policy contrasts start to harden. This is the California Governor's Race. Today, the ballot stops asking permission: a wealth tax nobody onstage wanted, plus a stark split on immigrant healthcare. We start with the tax. We're staying on Becerra-Hilton general election — follow the show and you won't miss what comes next. Newsweek, with Jasmine Laws:
A controversial proposal to tax California’s wealthiest residents is officially headed to the November 2026 ballot, setting up a high‑stakes political fight despite opposition from the state’s top leaders, including Governor Gavin Newsom and both major candidates vying to replace him.
Here's the thing scrambling the donor map we've been drawing all week: a 5 percent wealth tax on California billionaires just qualified for November — over 1.5 million signatures, well past the 875,000 threshold — and Newsom, Becerra, and Hilton all oppose it. So both finalists now have to campaign alongside a ballot measure neither of them wanted. Very different rhythm than dinner photos and endorsement stacking. And watch what it does to Becerra. His institutional money — the same business coalition that pushed CalChamber toward him — hates this tax. His base voters? They're for it. That fracture is live, and he can't just talk his way around it. Newsom ran a behind-the-scenes campaign to kill it, and lost. To a healthcare workers' union. SEIU-UHW filed this back in October, framed it as backfill for the Trump healthcare cuts — and the direct initiative process means nobody at the top got a veto. And that's why this matters — the legislature and the candidates are bystanders here. California lets citizens go straight to the ballot, so the environment is forcing the candidates' hands instead of the other way around. If even Democrats are running away from a billionaire tax, the anti-Sacramento populist lane Hilton wants just got a lot more crowded. Becerra can't out-populist a ballot measure he's opposing. From AOL:
For decades, Californians have generally said immigrants, who make up more than a quarter of the state's population and a third of its labor force, are beneficial to the state and its economy. But budget instability and concerns about rising costs are spilling into a debate over the controversial and expensive policy of allowing low-income immigrants without legal status to receive state-funded health coverage.
Here's the number that matters: immigrants are over a quarter of the population and a third of the labor force, per AOL. So when Hilton promises to eliminate state-funded coverage for low-income undocumented residents, he's picking a fight in communities that actually fill Medi-Cal clinics. And both of them frame it as economics, which is the tell. Becerra says it's "foolish" to push the poorest into emergency rooms on the taxpayer's dime; Hilton calls it fraud and abuse. Same word — cost — pointed in opposite directions. Put that next to the billionaire-tax fight we just covered, and there's your November terrain: a wealth tax neither candidate wanted, plus a healthcare divide neither can dodge. The dinner photos are over — this is what voters decide. And this is the first wedge Hilton's got that doesn't require defending Trump or relitigating COVID. Budget instability, rising costs — same cost-of-living lane, but now he's pointing at a concrete policy split. That's a sharper Hilton than we've seen. Sharper, sure — but it also forces Becerra into a lane he's clearly chosen. That's the clearest signal yet on where the progressive donor and voter bloc lands. If you're tracking statewide politics, you might also like Los Angeles Politics and Urbanism Daily. It covers City Hall, housing abundance, homelessness response, Metro, public safety, and small-business permitting. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
We'll be watching the November ballot, when California voters decide the Billionaire Tax Act.
You'll find links to all the stories from today's episode in the show notes. If something caught your ear, that's the place to dig in a little further.
That's California Governor's Race for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.