Election 2026: California Republicans Have a Chance

[mystery-ak]

Election 2026: California Republicans Have a Chance › American Greatness
Arthur Schaper
7–9 minutes

Republicans have not held the governor’s mansion in California since 2010. During the Tea Party Wave election, Republicans swept into power nationwide, even in blue states—except for California. Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay, threw nearly $200 million at the governor’s race, but she couldn’t overcome the old retread Jerry Brown, who had remained in California politics decades after his prior gubernatorial term. He served as mayor of Oakland and attorney general and then won the governor’s office again. Why do Californians hate themselves so much?

It was all downhill from there, as California Republicans slowly but surely faced a complete shutout of every corridor of power. In 2016, Donald Trump seemed like the last nail in the CAGOP coffin, since his tough talk on immigration, tariffs, and public safety worried a weakened Republican Party brass trying to moderate its mission and message. I don’t blame Donald Trump. The problem is California voters, suffused with illegal aliens; purple-haired Karens running every major bureaucracy from Sacramento to San Diego; plus aggressive public sector unions and greedy left-wing non-profits calling the shots with our tax dollars.

Today, California Republicans struggle as a superminority, and their platform of common sense, sanity, and conservatism has failed every turn.  We lost Congressional seats in the Trump resurgence of 2024, and Proposition 50, if not overturned, spells doom for five more incumbent Republicans.

But a funny thing was happening on the way to Election 2026, starting with unexpected wins in the prior election cycle. Despite the 2024 Congressional losses, Republicans flipped two assembly seats in heavily Hispanic Imperial County (one of the most Democratic sections of the state) and Riverside County, which had rejected Trump in the two prior presidential elections. Across California, the growing Hispanic minority vote is also moving to the right. This trend isn’t just emerging in rural areas but even in urban sectors, including Los Angeles County.

more
https://amgreatness.com/2026/02/16/election-2026-california-republicans-have-a-chance/

[cato potatoe]

There has been too much ideological sorting.  California will be radical progressive for decades because people (including foreigners) were looking for that environment when they moved.  The situation is exacerbated by moderates leaving the state.

[DefiantMassRINO]

... not if a Ham sandwich runs as an Independent or 3rd Party candidate.

[PeteS in CA]

Meg Whitman had made her name in Silicon Valley for breaking HP into pieces. She made a lot of ordinary people in the valley her enemies. More recently, she was LIEden's Ambassador to Kenya for a couple of years.

In CA, R candidates for statewide office to end be of two sorts: RINOs who spend significant campaign time distancing themselves from conservatives and conservatives from whom "mooooooderates" withhold campaign $$$$.

[Hoodat]

Just over a year ago, these same people put Adam Schiff in the Senate.  Need I say more?