A Road to Nowhere for San Diego Republicans

A split party and a nutjob in the White House don’t bode well for the state leadership, either...

A statewide gathering of the California GOP elected Jessica Patterson as its leader earlier this week. She is representative of the demographics mostly not represented in the party these days: female, millennial, and Latinx. And she beat Travis Allen, the far-right advocate for all things Trump who placed fourth in last year’s gubernatorial primary.

Patterson, who says she voted for Trump in 2016, won while urging the party to steer away from “national issues’’ and focus in the next election cycle on matters like housing costs and taxes.

She has a lengthy history in Republican politics, most recently leading California Trailblazers, which prepares new candidates to run for office. Her career includes posts in Schwarzenegger administration, as well as the campaign of gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, among others.

Faux News dutifully greeted her victory with the headline: “California GOP picks Latina woman to lead historic 'Republican comeback,' suggesting in their coverage that “state Democrats are foundering on a series of high-profile issues on the national stage…”

The far-right flank of the California party fought hard, and somehow I think they’ll continue to sabotage the efforts of the new leadership to actually win elections.

From Politico:

Even with the powerful backing of [Congressman Kevin] McCarthy, and the lion’s share of California elected officials and party leadership on her team, Patterson faced a weekend of attacks by activists on the far right who charged that she was as part of the failed “establishment” and “elite” in the GOP, which now has fewer registered voters than Democrats or those who have declared “no party preference.”

The tense atmosphere extended to the streets outside, where a altercation between “Make America Great Again” supporters and liberal activists occurred Saturday night outside a “Build the Wall” dinner sponsored by Tea Party activists a few blocks from the convention. Police moved in after demonstrators gathered outside, some wearing bandanas and some chanting, “We welcome immigrants here.”

And across the street from the convention on the steps of the California State Capitol, speakers in support of Allen’s grassroots campaign who wore “Trump 2020” gear and #MAGA hats mingled with members of the extremist and nationalist group Proud Boys as officers on horseback looked on. Speakers railed against “Communist” Democrats running the state, led chants of “Lock her up!” and sung along to a “Build the Wall’’ hip hop tune as rally participants waved signs urging Republicans to “Take Back California.”

San Diego’s Carl DeMaio, still fuming over being doubled-crossed by Allen on 2018’s Gas Tax initiative, had a brief cameo in support of Patterson.

“The California Republican Party is in desperate shape,” said former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio, who supported Patterson and held a Saturday news conference where he said that Allen’s election would be the “final nails in the coffin” of the party.

The party’s desperate condition--it’s also basically broke--was the elephant in the room as delegates pondered their future leadership.

Republicans have not won statewide office since 2006. The GOP ranks as third party status in registration behind Democrats and No Party Preference voters.

The 2018 election pushed the party further along the road to extinction, with Democrats flipping seven U.S. House seats once considered GOP strongholds and Republicans holding only a quarter of state legislative seats.

But Wait! It’s actually worse than it seems.

A twitter rant by GOP political consultant Mike Madrid cuts to the chase. He calls out the rising nationalism in state and local Republican parties as being threat to businesses and business organizations, traditionally a strong source for endorsements and funding.

For years, what observers called the Republican fishhook was the source of the party’s strength in California. The inland counties plus Southern California (except downtown LA) served as a bulwark against the Democratic domination of the coast and Bay Area.

https://twitter.com/madrid_mike/status/1100149802170343424

Madrid points to the local party leadership’s full-throated support of President Trump’s border policies as an example of chair Tony Krvaric’s failure as a leader. Republicans held 57% of the 95 municipal seats in the San Diego County prior to the 2018 election. Post election that number has dropped to 46%.

https://twitter.com/madrid_mike/status/1100149825180323840

Madrid concludes by calling for state party and legislative leadership to intervene in San Diego to stop the bleeding. “It’s clear that current leadership at the local level is ill prepared, unsuited and not capable of fixing the problem.”

County GOP Chair Krvaric promised to step down last year, but reconsidered after no high-profile candidates stepped up to run for the job.

From the Times of San Diego:

Veteran politics watcher Carl Luna of San Diego Mesa College said: “Mr. Krvaric has the local support to stay chair and apparently has no heir or opposition in the wings (which is a testament to his leadership but also a possible sign no one else wants to skipper the political Titanic that seems to be the San Diego and California Republican parties).”

But another Carl — KOGO radio talk-show host and former San Diego Councilman DeMaio — said Thursday he was thrilled with Krvaric’s decision to “stay on.”

Coming off the “success” (defeated by roughly 1.7 million votes) DeMaio achieved with the Prop 6 Gas Tax repeal, he’s busy trying to get San Diego voters worked into a lather to oppose a  Metropolitan Transit Agency’s proposed tax measure to improve transit.

At this point fighting for the supremacy of freeways is the best shot local Republicans have got, unless they join in the national chorus of name-calling the national party has selected as a strategy.

Local Democrats, meanwhile, have their sights set higher. A newly elected county leadership won with substantial grassroots support. It’s within the realm of possibility for the Board of Supervisors to flip in 2020 and very likely the next mayor of the city will be a Democrat.

The Dems job will be made much easier if Krvaric remains in the top GOP post, along with President Bone Spurs fumbling through running the country in Washington DC..

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Email me at DougPorter@WordsAndDeedsBlog.com