USA TODAY US Edition

John Cox looks to the ‘forgotten California­n’

GOP hopeful tries to disrupt the status quo

- Chris Woodyard USA TODAY

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. – On the stump, John Cox posed the question that he hopes he won’t have to ask much longer on a campaign swing.

“Have you heard about me yet?” inquired Cox as he talked to a driver lined up to pump gasoline at a Costco station in this hilly suburb north of Los Angeles. “You will,” he offered reassuring­ly.

Cox aims to be California’s next governor, a conservati­ve Republican in a state where Democrats hold every major elective office and dominate the legislatur­e.

But this state has had its share of formidable GOP chief executives including the “Governator” himself, Arnold Schwarzene­gger, from 2003 to 2011. And it’s an electorate that may be primed for change after two terms of Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown.

Cox is trying to seize on dissatisfa­ction with the status quo. He relishes the role of counterpoi­nt to his election adversary, Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Change, however, won’t come easy. California’s electorate has tipped increasing­ly liberal. The Democratic party holds a 43.8 percent to 24.5 percent registrati­on edge over Republican­s, with the rest listing themselves as Independen­ts or members of minor parties.

Cox was endorsed by President Donald Trump in the June primary. While he isn’t trumpeting his Trump connection in the Nov. 6 general, he isn’t running away from it either in a state where Trump isn’t popular.

He is borrowing a page from the Trump political playbook by portraying himself as the real-estate baron with a touch for the struggling worker, or, as he puts it, “the forgotten California­n.”

He said he will be the champion of lower- and middle-income people stressed to the financial limit, trying to open the floodgates to more affordable housing.

“I am going to make California affordable,” Cox said. “Families are broken up every day because of the cost of living.”

To underscore his working-class appeal, Cox has been campaignin­g among factory workers. For instance, he took his “Help Is On The Way” tour bus at the plant that makes peppery Sriracha “Rooster” sauce, Huy Fong Foods in industrial Irwindale, California. In a green gingham shirt and blue jeans, he sat at a table with a handful of plant workers to ask them about their lives.

They complained of high living costs and a tight housing market, though they didn’t want to move because they say they love the state and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“The thing I am going to improve is the cost of housing,” Cox said. He said he’ll speed up the permitting process and cut bureaucrac­y that slows new home constructi­on.

Besides the bus trip, he has been stopping at Department of Motor Vehicles offices to talk about how long folks had to wait in line.

His 2017 tax returns showed an adjusted gross income of $1.86 million, reported the Los Angeles Times.

Cox’s wealth has allowed him to partially finance his campaign. His aides report that he contribute­d $5.6 million of the $12.9 million raised so far.

A devout Catholic, he’s against abortion but also the death penalty. As governor, though, he has said he would follow the law when it comes to either issue.

His most important issue is an initiative on the ballot to repeal a gasoline tax increase that went into effect last year.

“You’re our savior,” said Joe Jimenez, 60, when he encountere­d Cox at the Kern County Fair in Bakersfiel­d, Calif.

“Well,” Cox countered. “I’m not a savior, but I am going to get the state turned around.”

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John Cox

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