Labor boss Dave Regan tried unsuccessfully to tax billionaires this election season, earning a humiliating, if unofficial, title: California’s biggest election loser.
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Regan → try → title
Regan, who serves as president of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, led an unprecedented effort this year to levy a one-time tax on the state’s billionaires, kicking off a nearly $400 million fight on three connected state ballot measures.
And if that shellacking wasn’t bad enough, Regan’s other pet ballot measure — Prop. 44, which could have forced community health clinics to spend 90% of their revenues on program services — was rejected by 82% of voters.
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which → serve → voters
The union and its political spending arm squandered $17 million on the failed measure.
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union → squander → measure
“His members should be driving him out with a pitchfork,” one California Democratic strategist told The California Post.
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strategist → drive → Post
“He should be embarrassed, but he won’t be because that’s just the kind of guy who he is.”
From past failed attempts to rein in dialysis clinics to this year’s billionaire tax and Prop. 44
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he → embarrass → tax
, the strategist estimated that Regan’s union had burned through more than $100 million in members’ dues on losing ballot fights over the years.
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union → estimate → years
SEIU-UHW’s committee that backed the billionaire tax reported $37.3 million in expenditures through Oct. 17.
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that → back → Oct.
The union’s Proposition 44 committee reported another $11.1 million in expenses, and all it had to show for that effort
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it → report → effort
Before results came in Tuesday night, Regan was already venting about the money billionaires had poured into what he called a “corrosive” advertising blitz.
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he → come → what
Flanked by Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna, he vowed to put another billionaire tax on the ballot in 2028 if lawmakers failed to make the ultrawealthy “pay their fair share.”
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ultrawealthy → flank → share
“Whatever happens tonight, the reality is … somehow lost in the flood of advertising over the last few weeks, is the reality that since the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ passed, 1.8 million Californians have lost their health insurance,” said Regan.
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Regan → happen → insurance
Regan and his progressive cohort argued Prop. 40 was necessary to backfill federal healthcare cuts made by President Trump.
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. → argue → Trump
But with so much money at stake, California billionaires corralled over $330 million in combined spending across multiple committees.
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billionaires → corral → committees
Google co-founder Sergey Brin personally put up more than $100 million.
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Brin → put → million
Regan’s future at the union could now hang in the balance.
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future → hang → balance
Politico reported that SEIU International President April Verrett has the power to suspend or expel him as the national union weighs misconduct charges and his countercharges.
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union → report → charges
Regan was reelected by a wide margin earlier this year.
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Regan → reelect → margin
A law firm’s investigation corroborated several allegations that Regan threatened union officials in the fight over the wealth tax and did not substantiate his claim that rivals retaliated against him.
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rivals → corroborate → him
Regan denied the accusations and said opponents of the tax were using them to undermine him.
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opponents → deny → him
There’s also a question of whether Regan and SEIU-UHW executives may have personally profited off of the effort to tax billionaires.
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Regan → ’ → billionaires
As of mid-October, the billionaire tax committee owed the union nearly $6.3 million, including $3.6 million for canvassing and nearly $638,000 listed as campaign workers’ salaries, according to state records.
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committee → owe → records
Suzanne Jimenez, chief of staff for SEIU-UHW, issued a statement to The California Post saying that a “political reckoning” is still coming for billionaires.
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reckoning → issue → billionaires
“Billionaire-funded propaganda may mislead voters about the consequences of these cuts today, but as hospitals reduce services, emergency rooms close and families lose access to care, the truth will become increasingly difficult to hide,” Jimenez said.
“
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Jimenez → fund → care
If Sacramento fails to protect patients and deliver a real solution that makes billionaires pay their fair share, healthcare workers will pursue every available avenue, up to and including returning to the ballot in 2028 with a billionaire tax.”
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workers → fail → tax
A source in California’s Democratic labor movement dismissed the allegations against Regan as insider squabbling, adding that Regan’s bigger problem with voters this year was a split progressive coalition.
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problem → dismiss → voters
US Sen. Bernie Sanders and Khanna campaigned aggressively for the tax and the state Democratic Party endorsed it, but Newsom, Becerra, Planned Parenthood and the California Teachers Association opposed it.
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Newsom → campaign → it
That split “gave the billionaires a message to use beyond the losing message of ‘don’t tax us,’” the source said.
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source → give → us
Political science professor Thad Kousser said the Prop. 40 defeat would likely be cast nationally as a “death knell for the wealth tax movement.”
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defeat → say → movement
However, Kousser said a federal tax would be better positioned to accomplish what Regan wanted because billionaires can move out of a state — an approach Newsom and Becerra also advocated for.
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Newsom → say → state
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