How to defeat tech billionaire power? Look no further than Solano County, California, where local citizens have stalled a billionaire Goliath in its tracks. Their struggle holds crucial lessons for the fight ahead as Americans wake up to the threat of rampant billionaire power.

In 2023, a gang of tech billionaires invaded Solano County with plans to build a sprawling “tech utopia” city called California Forever. In response, Democrats and Republicans banded together to fight back. I called it the “Miracle in Solano” because, in these politically polarized times, the billionaires found a way to unite Solano County residents—against their weird city project.

In a triumph of local democracy, the citizens of Solano County have mostly staved off the project ... for now. Not even Gov. Gavin Newsom—who tried to help the billionaires with a last-minute bill in the legislature—could overpower the will of the people.

California Forever is a bizarre project. A group of billionaires handed $900 million to a guy with zero real estate experience to quietly buy up 60,000 acres of land—in an area that has no water, roads, or basic infrastructure...but does have a host of endangered species, an active air base, and rules specifically designed to prevent this exact kind of mega project. They promised to win over the county’s voters and, when that failed, they tried to do an end-run around democracy with a sneaky last-minute bill. It didn’t work.