GOP fights to hold ground in Democratic bastion California
LOS ANGELES (AP) — If history is any guide, this weekend’s California Republican convention will be another prelude to Election Day disappointment.
With the June 5 primary closing in, hundreds of party delegates will spend the weekend in San Diego debating endorsements for candidates seeking statewide offices that are all held by Democrats.
For the GOP, the outlook is challenging.
Republican registration numbers continue to slide in the state — currently, an anemic 25 percent of the total — and the party could soon suffer the indignity of being eclipsed by independents in voter enrollments.
Democrats hold a 3.6-million-voter edge statewide, putting Republicans at a disadvantage from the start.
The GOP has no viable candidate for U.S. Senate, essentially ceding the race to Democrats. In the race for governor, it’s possible the GOP’s leading candidates, John Cox and Travis Allen, could split the Republican vote and allow two Democrats to advance to the November runoff.
“The ability of the Republican Party to put on a statewide campaign is severely limited,” conservative activist and blogger Steve Frank said.
And there’s more. A string of Republican-held congressional districts that were carried by Hillary Clinton in 2016 are under threat. President Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot, but he is unpopular in the state and could energize Democrats and keep moderate Republicans at home.
Another troubling sign: Republicans don’t even have candidates for six of 20 state Senate seats being contested. Meanwhile, there are so few Republicans in the Legislature that the party is largely irrelevant.
At this point, the party is fighting to hold its ground.
Republicans have opened a headquarters in the one-time Republican fortress of Orange County to help defend four endangered congressional seats there.
Party leaders believe a buoyant economy will win over voters. And they hope backlash against illegal immigration and a proposed gas-tax repeal in November will draw supporters to the polls.
Party leaders have been pumping money into the effort to get the tax repeal on the November ballot.
Meanwhile, Republican elected officials in a string of cities and Orange and San Diego counties have passed ordinances or taken other actions in opposition to the state’s so-called sanctuary law for immigrants, enacted by the Democratic-run Legislature in response to Trump’s calls for more deportations and a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.