GET TO KNOW THE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE’S RON NEHRING

Californian Ron Nehring has a uniquely comprehensive view of the Republican Party over the last 20 years.

He’s worked in the GOP at every level, chairing the San Diego County Republican Party from 2001 to 2007, chairing the California Republican Party and serving on the Republican National Committee from 2007 to 2011, running for lieutenant governor of California against Gavin Newsom in 2014 and being the national 2016 presidential campaign spokesman for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-texas.

Currently, his focus and interest is both global and local.

He champions the party on a global level, directing international programs for The Leadership Institute, which teaches conservatives how to succeed in politics, government and media.

And last year, the Crest resident was also elected to the Crest, Dehesa, Harbison Canyon and Granite Hills planning group.

He joined the Name Drop San Diego podcast to talk about how his immigrant parents shaped his views, the GOP today and why he got involved in politics in his own neighborhood.

Read excerpts here or listen to the full episode in

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On what he learned from his father about politics:

My father actually told a story very similar to what Gov. [Arnold] Schwarzenegger told, and that is that when he came to America, he saw the two parties and he thought that the party that best reflected the reasons why he came to America was the Republican Party. He came to America for freedom and opportunity, and he saw the Republican Party as more reflective of that than the alternative. So he became a Republican, and I think I picked some of that up in my time.

You have many people who come to America who are fleeing big government in their own country. And so the Republican principles of limited government and freedoms that are protected and limited powers should naturally be appealing . ... I think that the Republican Party has a natural ally in many people who come to this country and there should be more effort to see that connection.

On how the local Republican Party has changed:

It’s really important to understand that a local Republican Party only controls certain things. Political brands are defined nationally. There’s no Republican brand in San Diego or in California that’s any different from the national Republican brand. And that’s driven by media coverage — how much political news per day comes out of Washington versus how much political news per day comes out of Sacramento or City Hall. It’s overwhelmingly driven by national news coverage, so political parties are defined nationally.

The Republican Party of San Diego County has become one of the strongest county Republican parties in the United States as measured by the funds that it raises, the volunteers it can mobilize and so on. What has been working to the detriment of the Republican Party is there are demographic changes that are beyond the party’s control. For example, when I left as chairman as the county party in 2007, there were 100,000 more Republicans than Democrats in the county. Now there are 240,000 more Democrats than Republicans.

[Editor’s note: Nehring is pretty close. Records show Republicans with roughly 72,000 more registered voters than Democrats in February 2007, his last month as head of the local party, and Democrats with a 254,000person edge now.]

... That is not the doing of either party locally. This doesn’t mean the Republican Party is ineffective and the Democratic Party is more effective. There are broader demographic changes that are at work that the parties have to deal with. That, I think, is the most pronounced change in San Diego County. That’s reflected by some of the recent election results . ... Democrats have really benefited from demographic changes and how those demographic changes are influenced by the national party brands. That has worked to their advantage.

On being elected to a planning group and his future in politics:

In my little East County office, I want to make our neighborhood safer from wildfire. That is my goal. I want to do something. I don’t need the title, I don’t need to have to attend a meeting once a month, etc. There’s a sacrifice involved there because I travel so much for work. But I want to make East County safer because I am convinced that government is not doing everything possible to make our communities safer from wildfire. It’s just not, and I can give a long list of reasons why.

There’s not sufficient evacuation routes, there aren’t sufficient fire breaks, there’s not sufficient resources put into fuel reduction and so on . ... And if I can move that needle a little bit, I’m going to feel better about it. What the future holds? I don’t know . ... I still have a number of years left to advance those ideas that I think will improve things. I think that the ideas at the Republican Party have an opportunity to improve the lives of other people when they’re put into action so I hope to continue to do that as long as I can.