A surprising thing happened last November. The racist and divisive Proposition 16 failed miserably at the ballot box despite President Joe Biden winning the state by 29 percentage points and record spending by the “yes on 16” camp to the tune of $17 million, outspending the “no” side, which raised just over $1 million.

Proposition 16 sought to institute race-based preferences (affirmative action) into public education and public sector jobs and contracting, but it was shot down 57-43. Californians were tired of race-baiting by the Left and actually wanted nuance on the affirmative action issue, which the “no” campaign (which I worked on) aptly redefined as “race-based preferences.”