In abstract
California Republicans vie to capitalize on their November victories and break Democratic supermajority whereas balancing Trump’s affect
After flipping three seats within the state Legislature final fall and growing President Donald Trump’s vote share in practically each county, California Republicans are searching for to capitalize on the momentum this yr as they attempt to win again congressional seats and claw their manner out of superminority standing within the state capital.
Jubilant off their November positive factors, their subsequent to-dos are clear however not undaunting:
- Seize the second.
- Don’t blow it.
And so they have valuable little time to do it, particularly within the U.S. Home the place Republicans get pleasure from solely a slim majority, as they have been reminded on the state get together’s spring conference in Sacramento this weekend. The final time Trump was in workplace, the get together suffered steep losses in California, together with half its congressional seats within the 2018 midterm. The following midterm elections are in 2026.
“California is going to make the difference” in whether or not Republicans in Congress have the numbers to enact Trump’s agenda, Texas Rep. Tony Gonzalez advised get together members on Saturday.
Meeting Minority Chief James Gallagher of Yuba Metropolis mentioned Republicans might goal as many as eight Meeting districts within the Central Valley and Southern California to flip subsequent yr. Senate Minority Chief Brian Jones, of San Diego, proclaimed they’ll break the Democrats’ supermajority in his chamber subsequent yr.
The Republicans want to select up seven seats within the Meeting and 4 within the Senate to keep away from the superminority standing, which provides them little say in funds and different selections.
The street to get there? Count on quite a lot of the identical floor recreation the get together has performed over the previous six years: Exhibiting up in communities the place Republicans have historically uncared for to develop its ranks of Latino voters; messaging that blames Democrats for crime and the state’s cost-of-living disaster; and campaigning on poll initiatives, the place voters within the deep-blue state have at instances been prepared to aspect with Republicans.
Specifically, the get together backed Proposition 36which raised prison penalties for some drug and theft costs, and pushed again on Democratic lawmakers’ efforts to maintain it off the poll. Voters in the end authorized the measure overwhelmingly, whereas additionally rejecting progressive measures to lift the minimal wage, develop lease management and prohibit pressured jail labor.
“Voters are clearly with the California Republican Party on the ideas,” outgoing get together chair Jessica Millan Patterson mentioned.
She mentioned voters have been shifting as a result of they need enhancements in class efficiency, homelessness, housing affordability and crime.
Republican registration in California ticked again up barely to 25% of registered voters in 2024, however remains to be far behind the 46% who assist the Democratic Celebration. About 22% are registered as independents.
Newly elected get together chair Corrin Rankin mentioned Sunday that the GOP will likely be “going on the offense” and increasing efforts to transform voters in Democratic strongholds like Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Space.
A central problem for the get together stays the person within the White Home. Just one in three Californians approves of the president’s job efficiency.
Keep away from overt associations with Trump
Because the nationwide GOP more and more remakes itself into the get together of Trump, California Republicans have made their regular current positive factors largely by avoiding overt associations with him, mentioned longtime GOP guide Mike Madrid.
He warned that associating the California get together with Trump will likely be much more detrimental throughout a interval of financial uncertainty, with the president’s risk of sweeping tariffs inflicting inventory market slides and client confidence to dip. (On the conference, the financial sentiment amongst get together activists, officers and GOP lawmakers was overwhelmingly that of a shrug, and a “wait-and-see.”)
However, Patterson acknowledged the get together may even have to maintain Trump loyalists engaged if it needs to win any statewide seats sooner or later. About two million California Trump voters from 2020 stayed dwelling in the course of the unsuccessful Republican-backed recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom the subsequent yr, she famous.
“We need to make sure we are motivating those Trump voters and I don’t know that anyone has found that secret sauce yet,” she mentioned.
On the conference, newly elected GOP lawmakers who haven’t mentioned in the event that they voted for the president mingled with hardliner activists pushing resolutions for the get together to declare Trump’s “Make America Great Again” motion “the Greatest Movement.” The measure failed on Sunday.
However Rankin brushed apart solutions of intra-party division. She sought to tell apart the California GOP from nationwide politics, pitching it extra as a referendum on the Democratic supermajority.
“We welcome all voices,” she mentioned. “We’re focused on California and Californians … People are desperately looking for options.”
A brand new California Republican chair ascends
Rankin is the get together’s first Black chairperson. She was backed by a lot of the get together institution and plenty of of these new faces, together with a number of of the youthful and extra various new GOP lawmakers elected in recent times.
She ran as a pragmatist in opposition to former state Sen. Mike Morrell, who was backed by hardline conservative get together activists. Rankin boasts her personal longtime conservative credentials, backing Trump since 2015, and Morrell acknowledged having little distinction from her ideologically. However hardliners, pissed off with how lengthy it’ll take to flip a blue state, have accused the get together institution of not spending sufficient on long-shot contenders.
Although get together activists have been enthusiastic about the potential of having a aggressive statewide contender in 2026, few have introduced runs.
Steve Hilton, an ex-Fox Information host at present on a ebook tour, is contemplating a run for governor however hasn’t made an announcement. Chad Bianco, the conservative Riverside County sheriff, on Friday urged hardliner activists to grab a “window of opportunity” to consolidate assist behind his gubernatorial run after voters authorized tough-on-crime insurance policies in November.
“It’s great that we have choices in everything else, but we have to make the choice based on what’s best for the California party,” he mentioned. “Let the nine Democrats that are out there running right now, let them all destroy themselves, and we can sit back.”
Nonetheless, some officers acknowledged it’s a protracted shot.
“I think we’re going to be able to make greater strides,” Gallagher mentioned. “We know there’s still a bit of an upward climb when it comes to statewide, but we haven’t given up on it.”
