Denham talks about future of GOP in state

WASHINGTON — There is nothing California Republican Rep. Jeff Denham says he could have done to keep his seat. Not even embracing — or criticizing — President Donald Trump.

Denham lost to Democrat Josh Harder, and downplayed the impact of Trump’s inflammatory comments about a migrant caravan headed to the U.S. had on voters in his district, which is about 40 percent Latino.

Instead, Denham turned to the Republican Party, saying it needed to re-evaluate its strategy in California.

Republicans are expected to hold only eight of the state’s 53 House seats in the next Congress. If Republicans in California don’t re-evaluate strategy, even the reddest districts in California could be at risk in future elections, Denham warned.

Denham said his own race and those of other Republicans were faced with trouble this year from a Democratic operation well-positioned to turn out voters, unprecedented Democratic fundraising and new California voter laws designed to register more younger voters.

Democrats targeted seven Republican seats in California in districts won by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Six were flipped, including all of the House seats in Orange County, a traditionally Republican area.

Denham focused on water, a huge issue in the agrarian district, while Harder focused on health care. Neither focused heavily on Trump, preferring to highlight local issues.

“I’ve been through a number of tough elections, but this was the toughest,” Denham told McClatchy in his first post-race interview.

Mike Lynch, a veteran Democratic strategist based in Denham’s district, said he agreed there was likely little Denham could do personally to keep the seat.

Lynch did cite one big Denham stumble: The congressman’s vote for the Republican repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which would have weakened protections for pre-existing conditions, after telling constituents at a town hall the week before that he wouldn’t vote for it. But it’s still hard to say if that would have changed the results.

Lynch didn’t agree with Denham’s lack of blame for Trump, saying even Republican attitudes in the district tend to run anti-Trump.