His firm has had its hand stopping shakedown lawsuits, winning redistricting reform, pushing for open primary elections, and securing a two-thirds vote requirement to increase fees.

This election, Tom Ross, co-founder of campaign and public affairs powerhouse Meridian Pacific, helped engineer the defeat of Proposition 15, the split-roll property tax initiative that sought to undo the 40-year-old property tax protections put in place by Proposition 13.

For the past 25 years, Ross has worked to elect candidates, pass ballot measures, direct tens of millions of dollars in political giving, and solve complex government relations issues for associations and Fortune 100 companies. NFIB California invited him as a special guest for a podcast to discuss Prop. 15 and other issues and campaigns. Among the other things Ross and State Director John Kabateck discuss are:

• The future of Assembly Bill 5, the law severely clamping down on independent contractors, now that Proposition 22, which freed delivery and app-based drivers from AB 5’s clutches, passed.

• The surprising number of Republican congressional pick-ups in a hugely blue state.

• Whether President Trump was a drag on the Republican ticket. (Ross thinks the opposite).

• Who the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives will be in 2020 (Hint: another Californian).

As for Prop. 15, Ross says, “We were successful in beating Prop. 15 largely because of the diverse coalition we were able to build … We positioned this campaign on two levels. We made this about small-business owners … No. 2 we wanted to diversify the coalition so it actually looked like California … The third piece of this is we wanted even more diversity so we went out and had conversations with groups like the NAACP who came on board in opposition to the measure.”

Click the graphic below to listen to the 32-minute podcast, and click here to listen to all previous NFIB California podcasts.