GOP candidates jockey for endorsement
Some people are ticked off that the California Republican Party has decided to endorse a candidate in the Sept. 14 recall election.
At least one of them is among the top Republican candidates seeking to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, should voters choose to recall him.
“Trickery. Political scheme.
Moving the goalposts. The insiders at California Republican Party are now no better than the Democrats,” said John Cox, who was the GOP’s nominee in 2018 when Newsom trounced him by 24 percentage points.
Cox was so incensed that the endorsement process is “rigged” in favor of former
San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer that he said he won’t seek the nod.
It is a sign of how winning the party’s endorsement is mixed bag. It could wind up doing more harm — to Republicans. If the process is seen as an inside job run by party loyalists, it could alienate the grassroots voters who powered the recall petition onto the ballot.
Nevertheless, other top Republicans in the recall are trying to win the coveted endorsement. They need to, as even the top candidates are searching for ways to differentiate themselves during this sprint of a campaign
Winning the organization’s imprimatur has its benefits, starting with financial.
where there isn’t much time to build name identification. None of Republicans packs the star power that Arnold Schwarzenegger did in 2003 when he prevailed during the recall of Democrat Gov. Gray Davis.
Even those dubious about the value of an endorsement are pursuing it.
“Successful campaigns — and unsuccessful ones — rise and fall on the strength of the candidate,” former Sacramento Rep. Doug Ose said Monday. “The party ought to stay out of it.”
That said, Ose said he was “spending all day on the phone calling delegates to see if they’ll support me” in winning the nomination.
Winning the organization’s imprimatur has its benefits, starting with financial. The anointed candidate would be able to save money by using the party’s bulk mailing rate on campaign materials sent to thousands of households across the state. Plus, the party could then spend money on everything from advertising to doortodoor voter contact on behalf of its chosen candidate.
An endorsement also could help Republican voters looking for clues on which of the 24 GOP candidates on the ballot to support. The recall ballot that all registered California voters will receive in the mail in midAugust will have two questions. The first will ask if they want to recall Newsom. The second will ask who — other than Newsom — they want to replace him.
However, some Republicans say there is a downside to a heated endorsement battle. A contentious fight over the next two weeks could divert the GOP from its primary mission: Removing Newsom from office. The GOP can’t afford to alienate any potential supporters, given that there are nearly twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans in California.
Some, including Faulconer’s campaign manager Stephen Puetz, are worried that Republicans — who are united by their shared dislike of Newsom and more enthusiastic about voting than Democrats are — will lose that unified feeling should 60% of the party’s delegates, meeting online, pick a candidate to endorse on Aug. 7.
With several Republicans in the race enjoying sizable followings — including Cox, Faulconer, Ose, Assemblymember Kevin Kiley, RRocklin (Placer County), nationally syndicated talk show host Larry Elder and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner — it is unlikely that any would receive 60% of the support. If no candidate crosses that threshold, the party will offer a “no endorsement.”
Cox didn’t even win the party’ nomination in 2018 when the choice was between himself and Orange County Assemblyman Travis Allen. Cox won 55.3% and Allen 40.5%, with the rest of the delegates choosing no endorsement or abstaining.
“It’s tough. It really is tough,” to win 60% support from delegates, said Tim Rosales, who managed Cox’s campaign then and is now an adviser to Kiley.
Harmeet Dhillon, a Republican National Committee committeemember and former state party vice chair, said Monday that the endorsement will “drive enthusiasm among our delegates.”
“They will have to turn out and vote for the candidate they support,” said Dhillon, who has not decided who to back. “And they will learn about the others, too, in case their candidate doesn’t win.”
Other than Cox and Faulconer trading barbs, most of the GOP candidates have focused more on Newsom than on each other thus far.
Kiley told The Chronicle after a rally in San Francisco over the weekend, “I’m aiming all my fire at (Newsom). The other folks who are running, I see as teammates. We all want to recall Newsom.”
Those fuzzy feelings may fade on Aug. 4, when Cox, Faulconer, Ose, Kiley and Elder are set to debate at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. Ose, for one, is looking forward to taking on his rivals.
“This is politics. This isn’t church,” Ose said Monday. “We have one objective — to get rid of Newsom. And we have another — to find out who is going to take his place.”