What the SEIU endorsement of Swalwell reveals about California politics

One of the most powerful unions in California politics just made its move in the governor’s race, and it tells you a lot about how the state’s political machine works.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of the most powerful unions in California politics, endorsed Democrat Eric Swalwell for governor last week. 

It’s an endorsement that tells you a lot about how the state’s political machine works.

For a candidate looking to build momentum in a crowded Democratic field, the endorsement is a significant boost.

The SEIU is not just another political group offering a polite nod of support. It represents hundreds of thousands of government and health-care workers, and pours enormous sums into California elections every cycle.

When the SEIU endorses a candidate, it brings money, volunteers, field operations, and credibility inside Democratic politics. 

That makes the endorsement a clear win for Swalwell.

The timing is useful for his campaign. Rival Tom Steyer has been raising questions about whether Swalwell resides in California. The issue has been investigated in reporting here at The California Post. 

Landing the backing of a major union like SEIU helps Swalwell change the conversation and signal strength inside the Democratic coalition.

Organized labor has been split in the governor’s race. Several unions have lined up behind different candidates. Steyer, for example, has secured endorsements from the California Nurses Association and the California School Employees Association.

Swalwell had already picked up support from the California Professional Firefighters before the SEIU stepped in.

Different factions within the labor coalition are placing early bets on various candidates. But the SEIU endorsement carries particular weight because it wields enormous political power in California.

Unlike private sector unions, which operate within the constraints of market competition, public employee unions like SEIU negotiate with the officials whose campaigns they finance.

In other words, the same organizations that help elect politicians end up sitting across the bargaining table from those officials, negotiating taxpayer-funded contracts.

California offers perhaps the clearest example of this system in action. Public employee unions collect more than $1 billion in dues each year, much of which is funneled into political campaigns and ballot-measure fights.

According to Transparent California, average public employee compensation now is six figures per year.

When unions secure higher salaries and richer benefits, those costs do not disappear. They show up as higher taxes, expanding government budgets, and massive pension obligations that taxpayers will be forced to cover.

During Gavin Newsom’s recall fight in 202, the SEIU and there unions played a critical role, pouring money and manpower into the campaign to keep Newsom in office.

More recently, SEIU contributed at least $1 million to Newsom’s Yes on Proposition 50 committee to gerrymander California’s congressional districts.

The prison guards’ union offered another revealing example. In 2021, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association negotiated a contract with Newsom that included a 2.5 percent salary increase and $5,000 bonuses for thousands of prison guards. 

About a month later, the union contributed $1.75 million to Newsom’s recall defense campaign.

That’s how the system works.

The SEIU has long been one of the most ideological unions in the state, pushing expansive government programs and wading into political fights far beyond traditional labor issues. 

Its president, David Huerta, was arrested last year for interfering with a federal immigration enforcement action in Los Angeles and now faces a criminal charge.

Yet despite — or because of — that ideological profile, unions like SEIU continue to play a central role in determining the direction of California politics.

And with its endorsement of Swalwell, SEIU has chosen the Democratic candidate it believes should be the next participant in this pay-for-play political arrangement.

California’s system of public-sector bargaining grew over decades, beginning with the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act in 1968, and expanding through pension reforms such as Senate Bill 400 in 1999. 

Each step increased the political power of government unions.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, warned nearly a century ago that collective bargaining could not be transplanted into government service because public officials cannot fully represent taxpayers when negotiating with organized employees.

California ignored that warning.

Today, the result is a political system where unions funded by taxpayers’ payrolls wield enormous influence over elections and policy decisions.

Which brings us back to Swalwell. The SEIU’s endorsement gives him a powerful ally in a close election. 

The biggest shoe still waiting to drop is whether the California Teachers Association, the state’s most powerful public employee union, decides to enter the race and pick its own candidate, or joins SEIU in lining up behind Swalwell.

Either way, the game is the same. 

Jon Fleischman, a longtime strategist in California politics, writes at SoDoesItMatter.com.