In the 2016 contest for California’s open U.S. Senate seat, state Republicans failed to even get a candidate on the November ballot. State Attorney General Kamala Harris ended up besting Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez in the Democrat-on-Democrat race, and recent polling indicates history may repeat itself — the California GOP could fail to get a candidate into the 2018 general election matchup to replace outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown. GOP insiders say they’re also having a hard time fielding a slate of candidates for down-ballot statewide races.
Meanwhile, infamous mobster Salvatore “Sammy The Bull” Gravano is in talks with production companies about making his own TV show when he gets out of jail this year, proving we have come to the point where it’s easier to find a man in the witness protection program than it is to find a Republican on your November ballot.
If “Sammy The Bull” really wanted anonymity maybe he should have run for California Lieutenant Governor.
The last time Republicans won a statewide race in California was 2006 when then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was re-elected to a four-year term and Steve Poizner was selected as the state’s insurance commissioner.
Since then it’s been nothing but crickets.
State Republicans blame their string of losses on the state’s leftward tilt and declining registration numbers.
But that’s only part of the story, and doesn’t explain why Republicans are enjoying electoral success in states that are tougher for Republicans than California.
Consider this: The most popular governor in America right now is Charlie Baker, a Republican from Massachusetts, whose sky-high approval rating is 71 percent.
The second-most-popular governor in America is Larry Hogan, a Republican from the deeply blue state of Maryland. His approval number is an enviable 68 percent.
On Wednesday, November 9th, the day after Donald Trump was elected president, New Englanders in four out of the region’s six states — Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine — ended up with four Republican governors.
These governors won their elections, in large part, by vowing to serve as stop-gaps against one-party rule.
According to party affiliation numbers from 2014, only 11 percent of Massachusetts voters are registered Republicans, as are 10 percent in Rhode Island, 30 percent in New Hampshire and 25 percent in Maryland.
In California, 29 percent of registered voters are Republicans.
Just going by the numbers, Republicans should be as competitive in statewide races in California as they are in New Hampshire, and much more competitive than their counterparts in Massachusetts, Maryland and Rhode Island.
But they aren’t. Not by a long shot.
Recently dumped Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes, R-Yucca Valley, thinks the party needs to move decidedly to the left to regain their relevance.
The avowed “Never Trumper” told the New York Times, “I am going to continue to keep working toward changing the image that people in California have about California Republicans … California Republicans are different than national Republicans. We care about the environment. A huge number of California Republicans believe that climate change is real and state government has an obligation to address it. We shouldn’t be running away from it.”
Mayes is half right. California Republicans have a huge problem that is “man made,” but their problem is political and people like Mayes are the ones who caused it.
Frustrated with the national political scene, California Democrats are eager to transform the Golden State into their own laboratory of democratic socialism with Bernie Sanders as the mad scientist. This wish list includes onerous cap-and-trade legislation, incentivizing open borders, and hiking taxes and fees on everything from gasoline to health plans.
Instead of presenting an alternative worldview, or, at a minimum, vowing to serve as a curb on the Democrats’ excesses, Mayes and other legislative Republicans got drunk on the Sacramento Kool-Aide and have bought into much of their worldview.
East coast states have proven that California Republicans could be competitive in statewide races, but without a change in thinking, it won’t happen anytime soon. And that’s a shame — California’s voters deserve a choice.
John Phillips is a CNN political commentator and can be heard weekdays at 3 p.m. on “The Drive Home with Jillian Barberie and John Phillips” on KABC/AM 790.
