As Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, four years after a tumultuous, defiant departure, Bay Area Republicans are feeling galvanized and rejuvenated, not just by their party’s presidential victory, but by what appeared to be a rightward lean on key down-ballot races in the famously blue Golden State.
At the Back Forty Texas BBQ Saloon in Pleasant Hill on Tuesday night, jubilant Contra Costa County Republicans started claiming victory by 9 p.m.
“I’m verklempt,” said Gloria Pope, a 69-year-old Pacheco resident. “We’ve been suffering so much for the last four years. This is a chance to climb out of the hole and go back to being humans.”
Andrew Armen arrived at the watch party straight off a plane from Philadelphia, where he spent the last two months canvassing for a pro-Trump political action committee.
“Up three points in Pennsylvania — that’s game,” the 26-year-old Orinda resident said.
Armen figured that his efforts were best spent in the swing state rather than in California, which predictably voted Democratic in both the presidential and Senate races, though early returns suggest by declining margins.
“California is an overwhelmingly blue state, but that doesn’t mean people vote blue rank and file,” said Bill Whalen, a political analyst and fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford. “There are nuances here, especially in the battle of ideas, and Republicans are making some gains on those fronts.”
The lack of a highly competitive race at the top of the ticket in California may have led to lower voter turnout than in 2020. And the certainty that California’s 54 electoral votes were destined for Harris may have created an opening for the state’s GOP.
“If you’re a Democratic voter in Michigan or Arizona, the import of your state’s outcome may have kept you motivated,” said Dan Schnur, a professor at UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies. “In deep blue, those voters might not have felt the same motivation.”
While California Republicans may not have delivered the state to Trump, conservatives here still had plenty to celebrate, as voters pushed a number of Republican congressional candidates to victories in swing districts, blocked progressive ballot measures and ousted a progressive Oakland mayor and Alameda County district attorney in recalls.
Early results show California voting overwhelmingly conservatively on ballot measures this year. Proposition 36, which increased penalties for theft- and drug-related crimes, passed with 70% of the vote. They shut down Proposition 33, the measure to expand rent control, with just 38% of voters in favor. And they appear to have rejected Prop. 5, which would have lowered the threshold needed to pass future bond measures from a two-thirds majority to just 55%.
In the down-ballot races, Republicans seemed to be inching ahead in the six competitive U.S. House districts that could decide the balance of power in Congress, though it is still too early to call.
“California voters are sending a clear message to Democrats: they are fed up with failed, radical policies that have taken our state and nation in the wrong direction – from the …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
