A University of California workers’ union was successful in its fight to oust an Orange County Democrat from the Senate after he failed to support a bill it supported in the Legislature. But in doing so, the union may have helped elect a Republican who has a history of opposing organized labor.
Democratic Sen. Josh Newman of Fullerton lost reelection after the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 spent more than $1 million backing candidates to replace him in the primaries and later in ads featuring him was targeted and tied to high gas prices and crime.
Although the union, which represents service workers on all UC campuses, did not endorse Republican Steven Choi, a conservative from Irvine, its decision to oppose a largely pro-labor Democrat likely helped settle the race in an exciting battle.
It was a strategy that shows how much power unions can wield in California politics. In a legislature where Democrats hold more than enough seats to form a supermajority, keeping a member of the party may be less important to the union than making a point about the consequences of labor crossing.
“This is an unprecedented circumstance where a union has spent well over a million dollars of its members’ money to take down a Democrat with a solid record of employment in favor of a Republican who has spent his entire parliamentary career has been anti-labor,” Newman said. said. “It’s really breathtaking.”
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The California Federation of Labor gave Choi a 6% rating on its annual legislative rating in 2022 when he was a member of the State Assembly, where he voted against bills to support fast-food workers, allow striking workers to keep health benefits and farm workers who to join a trade union. The same year, Newman achieved an 87% rating and voted for many union-backed bills.
Representatives for AFSCME Local 3299 did not respond to requests for comment.
Newman conceded last month after losing to Choi by less than 2 percentage points, or about 6,000 votes. The Democrat said the union’s 35,000 members should be “furious” at his leadership for helping Choi – who has been anti-labor in the past – win a seat in Parliament.
He believes the union’s campaign against him was fueled by his reluctance to support a bill last year that would have put a measure on the ballot asking voters to enshrine core labor standards for all UC employees. The bill was sponsored by AFSCME Local 3299 and failed before ever reaching the governor’s desk. It faced a long list of opponents who said it was unnecessary and unfairly singled out one group of government workers.
Choi, an 80-year-old immigrant from South Korea who previously served as mayor of Irvine, is reluctant to give the union any credit for his victory. Like Newman, he also said he would not have supported the bill that angered the union.
Choi, a conservative who opposes gay marriage, said his plans for his four-year term are aimed at “achieving a balance of power” in the Democratic-dominated Legislature.
He opposed a union-backed measure on last month’s ballot that would have raised the minimum wage to $18 an hour, saying he’s concerned about the size of unions like the California Teachers Assn. use their power – often donating millions to support Democratic candidates and winning some of the strongest labor laws in the country.
In an interesting twist, Choi is considering proposing legislation that would ban unions from financially backing and endorsing their preferred candidates in elections, saying they would hold politicians who don’t vote their way “hostage.”
“It’s very unfair how powerful they are,” he said. “It’s a very unhealthy practice.”
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Unions spent heavily on the 2024 elections, with the Service Employees International Union and the California Teachers Assn. alone in support of Democrat Michelle Chambers in the hotly contested race for Senate District 35, unions spent about $2 million on ads against her Democratic opponent Laura Richardson, who narrowly won the South Los Angeles race.
Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Labor Federation, did not comment on the details of the race between Newman and Choi in Senate District 37, but said in an email Friday that “where and when working people will hold elected officials accountable to the promises they made These officials do for voters seems to make people nervous.”
Choi is unlikely to have much influence in the California Capitol, where Republicans have struggled to get any major policies signed into law.
He thinks the union that targeted Newman knew that and chose to risk helping elect a candidate it disagrees with, sending a message to other Democrats about what happens when you stand against resist them.
“I think this was a power play to show how strong they are,” Choi said. “And what kind of punishment they can mete out to uncooperative lawmakers.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
