After a Disastrous Election, Will a New Leader Move California’s GOP to the Right?

The November 2018 elections were brutal for the Republican Party in California. Half of the party’s Congressional delegation lost their seats. And after years as a Republican stronghold, all of the Congressional seats in Orange County turned blue.

It’s not any better at the state level.

Democrats also hold 75 percent of seats in the Legislature and all statewide elected offices.

This is what the new chair of the California Republican Party (CRP) will be walking into after he or she is elected this weekend at the state GOP convention in Sacramento. Three candidates are running for the position. And while moderates are screaming for a more middle-of-the-road approach to politics, it doesn’t seem likely the party will heed their calls.

At least not if former Assemblymember Travis Allen is elected chair. He said Republicans’ biggest problem is that they’ve been backing what he calls “Republican lite” candidates for offices like governor.

“This sort of losing backward strategy has led to candidates like Meg Whitman and Neel Kashkari who are very middle-of-the-road, moderate Republicans and got absolutely destroyed in their races,” said Allen.

In his own recent unsuccessful race for governor, Allen tacked far to the right, appealing to many of the same voters who support President Donald Trump. Allen gives Trump credit for a strong economy and low unemployment.

“This is the message that needs to be told here in California,” he said. “This is why, not only do we have the most popular Republican president since Ronald Reagan, we have a Republican Party that is viable and strong. We simply need new leadership so we can re-energize the party and actually tell our side of the story.”

Allen also said the state GOP has done a poor job of reaching out to voters.

That’s the message long-time party member Steve Frank is running on too. He said his primary focus would be on rebuilding the party’s infrastructure.

“We didn’t run candidates on the November ballot. We have not helped our county chairs and our county committees,” said Frank. “It’s been called welfare helping the counties. But that’s the foundation of the Republican Party in California.”

Frank doesn’t see ideology as having a big role in the party chair position. Though he doesn’t believe the GOP’s ideology is hurting it.

“The responsibility of the CRP is to operate a political organization and ideology is a separate part of that,” he said. “And the problem is not the ideology of the Republican Party. Whether we’re too conservative or not conservative enough; the problem is the lack of the basics of politics.”

Basics like registering more voters and having a strong grassroots operation. Chair candidate Jessica Patterson thinks she’s the right person to jump-start those efforts. She’s the CEO of California Trailblazers, an organization to recruits and trains Republicans to run for the state Legislature. She said it’s time to bring the fight to Democrats.

“Democrats want to talk about President Trump and whatever (his) tweet was, because they don’t want to talk about their record,” she said. “I believe that we need to be talking every single day about this silly thing that they’re doing up in Sacramento because there is a new thing every single day.”

She said voters need to know there’s an alternative to the Democrats. Patterson, who worked for Meg Whitman’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign, is the choice of several moderates who think she’s more likely to steer the party in a helpful direction. Patterson said this last election should serve as a wake-up call for Republicans.

“I think the Democrats did a very good job on staying on message,” said Patterson. “Every single time we try to talk about the things that are local, and the things that matter most to Californians, it always gets brought on to this nationalized message.”

Patterson is supportive of Trump’s ideas for immigration reform. The president also has the broad support of Allen and Frank. That position will likely to help the candidates at a convention full of party faithful. The new chair will have to see if it’s as appealing to California voters in general.