California Governor Gavin Newsom has made headlines this winter by vowing to defeat a proposal for a one-time 5 percent tax on billionaires in the state. Many national polls now rank him as the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, but aligning with the ultra-wealthy is hardly auspicious for winning over the party’s base.

Last year, Reuters/Ipsos reported that 86 percent of Democrats said “changing the federal tax code so wealthy Americans and large corporations pay more in taxes should be a priority.”

Newsom has drawn widespread praise for waging a rhetorical war against Donald Trump. But few outside California know much about Newsom’s actual governing record. Many Democratic voters may recoil upon learning that his opposition to a billionaire tax fits into a broader pattern of increasingly corporate-friendly politics.

A year ago, Newsom sent roughly 100 leaders of California-based corporations prepaid cell phones “programmed with Newsom’s digits and accompanied by notes from the governor himself,” Politico reported. One note to a........

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