GOP governor hopefuls could build bridge, not wall

You’d think the Republican candidates for governor would be perfect for building a bridge to sanity during the upcoming immigration fight in Congress. Just by their position of running to lead the nation’s largest, most diverse state, they could have some influence over the debate unfolding in Washington.

At the same time, they differ from most Californians: They actually like President Trump.

Because they are unclouded by Trump animosity, they might be able to help find middle ground where no Democrat could in this fight where the lives of millions are in the balance.

Don’t hold your breath. They’re building a bridge to nowhere. The Republicans all are in lockstep with Trump’s immigration plan — largely for the cynical, politically nearsighted reasons that have doomed the California GOP to near minor-party status: the urge to pander to an ever-shriveling sliver of conservative immigration hard-liners who they think will help them be one of the toptwo primary finishers who advance to the November election.

Here’s how: In a field that also includes four Democratic candidates, analysts expect the three Republicans to compete for roughly 41 percent of the primary vote. Roughly 80 percent of the Latino primary voters will support a Democrat. Under this scenario, it doesn’t make political sense for the GOP candi-

dates to move to the left on immigration — even a little — in the faint hope that they would win over a few more Latinos.

“They’re not going to get any more Latino votes anyways. Not with Trump as the current head of the party and the current immigration proposal on the table,” said Melissa Michelson, a professor of political science at Menlo College in Menlo Park and coauthor of “Mobilizing Inclusion: Transforming the Electorate Through Get-Out-theVote Campaigns.” Yet given the current climate, “it’s a sound strategy. You can’t win the general if you don’t get through the primary.”

And so, the Republican candidates stick on the far right side of the road.

“As the next Governor of CA I will say it again, border security shouldn’t be controversial. I support the wall 110%” Republican businessman John Cox tweeted shortly after President Trump’s State of the Union address. A speech, by the way, that Cox tweeted was “the BEST #SOTU speech we’ve had in a long time!” High praise from the Gary Johnson voter.

Cox’s GOP gubernatorial rival, Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach (Orange County), is doubling down. He wants federal authorities to arrest California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for saying that — according to state law — California employers could be fined for cooperating with immigration officials during raids.

To further alienate Latinos, Allen mocked debate moderator Jorge Ramos at last week’s Latino Community Foundation debate in Los Angeles. The iconic Ramos, Univision’s anchor for three decades, is so trusted among his viewers that he’s often referred to as the Walter Cronkite of Spanishlanguage media.

Yet Allen tweeted this after the debate. “WATCH as @JoinTravisAllen DESTROYS Jorge Ramos at the Univision California Governor’s Debate. It’s time to TAKE BACK CALIFORNIA.”

This isn’t helping, Republicans. It’s not helping the immigration debate. And it’s not helping your party.

Ever since former Gov. Pete Wilson ran his 1994’s re-election campaign on the shoulders of the anti-immigration Proposition 187, Latinos have fled the Republican party like it was made of uranium. The GOP is never going to sniff power again in California until their candidates are no longer seen as anti-Latino.

A survey by Latino Decisions of 900 registered California Latino voters last month found that 46 percent of the respondents said Republicans “don’t care too much” for Latinos and 31 percent found them to be “hostile.” Only 17 percent thought Republicans “were doing a good job.”

One of the leading California GOP Latinos says candidates need to change.

“My advice to anyone in California running is to take a look and see what’s happening at the national level,” said Ruben Barrales, president of Grow Elect, which has helped elect 200 Latino Republicans to local office since 2013 in the hope that they will climb the political ladder. “You see conservatives talking about a pathway to citizenship. You see Democrats talking about border security.

“I would really encourage them to look long term — not just at winning the primary,” Barrales said. “I don’t think you need a hard line.”

There could be one bridgebuilder candidate in the mix. The newest Republican entrant in the race, former GOP Rep. Doug Ose, is trying to take a bit of a softer approach. At least he’s not trolling the Latino Walter Cronkite.

He’s not taking a softer position, mind you. Ose, as do Allen and Cox, largely backs Trump’s four-point plan: a path to citizenship for the “Dreamers”; an end to family migration and the visa lottery program; and $25 billion toward border security — whether that be Trump’s favored wall or something else.

He’s also in favor of a guest worker program instead of a pathway to citizenship for many immigrants. And like Allen and Cox, he opposes California being a sanctuary state.

Yet even though he is one of Trump’s longest and most loyal supporters in California, Ose doesn’t always agree with the way the president says things. Just like he doesn’t agree with how his Republican rivals are talking about immigration.

“I’m not running to criticize what they say,” Ose said. “But I would quietly counsel them about some of the rhetoric they use.”

At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, all three Republican candidates will share a debate stage for the first time when The Chronicle hosts a candidate forum at the City Club in San Francisco. Tickets are still available. It will be worth the price of admission just see if they’re going to try to build a bridge to Washington on immigration instead of just a wall.