The Special Interest Machine Is Selecting Their Pick for California Governor

California’s public sector unions are picking their next governor, and the candidates are lining up to audition. Katie Porter locked down ATU, SMART, NUHW, and UAW. Eric Swalwell grabbed CMA and the firefighters. Tom Steyer snagged CNA and CSEA. The unions collecting $921 million a year in dues are choosing who gets to manage their $240 billion firehose.

Here’s the rundown and it isn’t pretty:

This isn’t collective bargaining. It’s a protection racket.

The Rent-Seeker Endorsement Tracker

David Crane’s analysis in his Substack lays it bare: these unions are “the principal beneficiaries of more than $500 billion of annual state spending and ~155,000 statutes in California’s 29 legal codes.” They don’t endorse candidates who serve the public. They endorse candidates who serve them.

Look at the endorsement pattern. ATU represents public transit employees, so they lobby for more transit spending because the vast majority goes to employees. CHA, CMA, and CNA lobby together for more healthcare money, then individually lobby for laws that favor their share. In every case, they “beard themselves as protectors of the public interest but in reality it’s just a business for them.”

The $3.7 Trillion Spending Explosion

California spending has ballooned but what Californians have to show for it is not clear. According to CalMatters, spending jumped 72% while revenues grew only 60%. The state workforce ballooned 28%, from 376,990 to 481,850 employees. Cumulative spending reached $3.7 trillion. Nearly 6,000 new laws signed.

Remember Newsom’s $97.5 billion surplus in 2022? The one he called “the largest in American history”? It was an illusion. The administration later admitted they overestimated revenues by $165 billion over four years.

The public is worse off than in 2019. That’s the scoreboard after $3.7 trillion spent and 6,000 laws passed.

The $240 Billion Firehose

Why do public sector unions fight so hard to control Sacramento? Because $240 billion per year flows to public employee compensation and benefits. That’s what Govern For California documents. The California Policy Center adds that unions collect $921 million annually in dues, their political war chest.

Unlike private sector unions that negotiate with management controlled by shareholders, public sector unions can elect their own management. The politicians who depend on union endorsements are the same people sitting across the negotiating table. Services have declined since California authorized public employee collective bargaining in 1968, while taxes increased. Nine figures of political spending seems like a lot, but it’s a drop in the bucket when you’re protecting $240 billion.

Aura Farming on the Picket Lines

Governor candidates showed up on teacher picket lines for photo ops without offering real budget solutions. Parag Gupta, an SF school board and DCCC member, wrote an op-ed calling it what it is: “aura farming.”

At least 32 districts faced potential strikes simultaneously. This is coordinated CTA brinksmanship, not local bargaining. Union sources confirmed they’ll strike for show, then accept the same deal. Meanwhile, Steyer spent $27 million on attack ads, twice everyone else combined, while running as a populist champion of working people. Populism is performance art when you’re a billionaire who made his money on the backs of non-union labor.

Archived tweet

California’s public sector unions are picking their next governor and the candidates are lining up to audition. Katie Porter has ATU, SMART, NUHW, and UAW. Eric Swalwell locked down CMA and the firefighters. Tom Steyer grabbed CNA and CSEA. https://t.co/uMdTXBgHdD

Garry Tan @garrytan February 16, 2026

Legislative Analyst Gabe Petek projects $20-35 billion annual structural deficits going forward. Porter, Steyer, and Swalwell are all competing to be the next Newsom. More spending on insiders, more laws that kill competition, more decline.

California deserves a governor who works for taxpayers, not rent-seekers. The only path out is accountability, efficiency, trust, prosperity.

Mahan: The Anti-Audition Candidate

Matt Mahan has actual results, not union endorsements. San Jose built 2,000+ housing units in 2025 versus ZERO in 2024 under his leadership. Unsheltered homelessness dropped 23%. San Jose earned the safest big city in America ranking.

He’s running on results, not rent-seeker endorsements. California needs a fixer, not another performer auditioning for the unions who collect $921 million a year to pick their own management.

The choice is boom loop or doom loop. Matt Mahan is the only Democrat in the field who will actually fix the rot. No cavalry is coming. No one else is going to do this for us.