Former President Trump’s resilience within the 2024 presidential marketing campaign is offering the California Republican Occasion, whose members gathered within the Bay Space this weekend to hone their technique for the November election, with goals of energy and payback in a state the place Democrats have lengthy reigned.
Regardless of the Golden State’s leftward tilt, a variety of liberal insurance policies — together with these on abortion, automobile emissions requirements and protections for immigrants who entered the nation illegally — might be undercut if Trump returns to the White Home and Republicans take management of Congress.
“A Trump administration would positively change issues right here a little bit bit in California to make [life] a little bit bit simpler for Californians,” mentioned state GOP chair Jessica Millan Patterson, citing the excessive value of gasoline, the fentanyl disaster and border points.
Dan Schnur, a politics professor at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine, mentioned it was arduous to think about a coverage space that may not be affected if the previous president beats the incumbent in November.
“For California Republicans, it’s a dream. For California Democrats, it’s a nightmare,” Schnur mentioned. “Republicans have been dramatically outnumbered on this state for a era, however now they’d have a president who would be capable to act on their most necessary points. And on the flip aspect, Democrats have absolute management in state politics and state authorities, however a Republican president — particularly Trump — would create an immense impediment to nearly all of their objectives.”
If Trump wins, California will turn out to be “a final bastion of security” for Democrats nationally, Schnur mentioned.
Leaders of the California Democratic Occasion met this weekend in San Diego to plan their agenda and fortify their ranks. With the occasion riven by discord over President Biden’s response to the battle within the Gaza Strip, audio system known as for unity and forged nightmarish visions of how a second Trump time period would possibly threaten their progressive agenda.
“We can not let ourselves be divided, as a result of the end result of that division is Donald Trump,” David Campos, the state occasion’s vice-chair and a former San Francisco supervisor, mentioned.
Campos raised the specter of the 1968 Democratic Nationwide Conference in Chicago, the place protesters within the streets have been met with police violence, and divisions erupted contained in the venue. He cautioned that the chaos resulted in Republican Richard Nixon’s election to the Oval Workplace.
The Democratic Occasion’s conference returns to Chicago this summer season.
California Democratic Occasion leaders described the prospect of a second Trump time period in dystopian phrases, with threats to abortion, immigrant and voting rights and the state’s dearly held environmental protections. They painted an image of a fragile democracy that’s itself in danger.
“This nation is in peril,” California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, the highest election official, warned, saying every part for which the occasion has fought for many years is “slowly being ripped away.”
Leaders in each events vowed to combat for a number of aggressive California Home seats, arguing that the state will likely be important to figuring out which occasion controls Congress.
Though California is an overwhelmingly blue state, with Democratic voters outnumbering Republicans by nearly 2 to 1, it’s dwelling to greater than 5.3 million members of the GOP.
Amongst California Republicans, the passion for the previous president was palpable at their conference, with attendees posing alongside a life-size cardboard cutout; sporting sparkly purple lapel pins bearing his identify; and chanting, “Trump! Trump! Trump!” at a “Make California Nice Once more!” breakout session.
“It’s a must-win election, proper?” Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican Nationwide Committee and the previous president’s daughter-in-law, mentioned at a Saturday evening banquet. If President Biden wins, she mentioned, “we’re not going to have the identical nation left on the opposite aspect.”
She urged attendees, who spent as much as $750 on tickets for her occasions, to counsel voters who could also be turned off by Trump’s character.
“Say, if you’re going to rent any individual for a job, and also you had an individual you knew was going to be distinctive at that job, however perhaps you didn’t just like the individual. I don’t know — perhaps you didn’t wish to hang around with them or exit after work with them,” she mentioned. “And then you definately had one other one that was perhaps — I don’t even wish to say ‘nice to be round’ — and fell asleep rather a lot. Was type of very, very calm, very subdued, however was going to be horrible at that job. Who would you select for that job? You’ll select the one that would get the job achieved. Exit and vote for that man, Donald J. Trump.”
Delegate Lanhee Chen, a Stanford College professor and former advisor to GOP presidential candidates resembling Mitt Romney, argued {that a} Trump reelection could be a “blended bag” for California. The state’s efforts to guard abortion entry, in addition to the previous president’s populist streak, may present insulation, although it might not be as protected on different points {that a} Republican president may act on by means of regulatory or government motion.
“You possibly can see a special method in Washington on points like [electric vehicles], on the vitality points, on environmental points as nicely,” mentioned Chen, who unsuccessfully ran for state controller in 2022. “Curiously sufficient, there might not be as a lot change as you’ll suppose.”
In the meantime, in San Diego, Democrats argued that one other Trump time period would trigger irreparable hurt to Californians and the rights and freedoms they cherish.
“Given what Trump and his minions are brazenly saying at this level, there’s no attempting to cover the ball. They’ve been fairly clear about what their plans are,” mentioned state Democratic Occasion Chair Rusty Hicks, describing California management as the alternative of Trump’s agenda.
The state was a bulwark in opposition to Trump’s insurance policies throughout his presidency. And Democratic leaders used their opposition to Trump to burnish their liberal bona fides within the state, in addition to to boost their nationwide profiles; probably the most notable instance is Gov. Gavin Newsom. Broadly thought of a future presidential candidate, Newsom has demurred whereas spending his marketing campaign coffers throughout the nation, trolling Republicans and backing Democratic candidates.
California’s feud with the Trump White Home additionally performed out within the courts. Xavier Becerra, the state’s legal professional normal on the time, filed greater than 100 lawsuits in opposition to Trump insurance policies.
Litigation from Becerra, who now serves as Biden’s secretary of Well being and Human Providers, included challenges to Trump administration insurance policies on the setting, immigration, healthcare, schooling, gun management, client safety, the census, the U.S. Postal Service and civil rights points.
California Democrats would inevitably return to their courtroom battles if Trump wins a second time period.
The state’s present legal professional normal, Rob Bonta, informed The Occasions this month that his workplace has been reviewing Trump’s potential second-term agenda to organize for the same onslaught of lawsuits ought to he defeat Biden.
With Newsom term-limited, Bonta and Becerra are among the many outstanding Democratic politicians contemplating a 2026 bid for governor. If Trump wins the presidency, opposition to his agenda will form the gubernatorial race, as candidates vie to place themselves as greatest suited to guide a brand new chapter of California opposition.
The state’s measurement, historical past and Democratic dominance means it can as soon as once more be the symbolic headquarters of the liberal “resistance,” mentioned Fernando Guerra, a political science professor and director of the Heart for the Examine of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount College.
“However then, substantively, they must be the resistance due to the insurance policies that we’ve been pursuing for a very long time that we wish to proceed,” he added, citing the state’s environmental protections that may battle with a Trump presidency.
Guerra additionally raised questions on how a Trump presidency may have an effect on federal funding to combat homelessness in Democratic-led cities like Los Angeles, the place Mayor Karen Bass has touted her federal relationships as a key a part of the homelessness technique.
