Fewer than two months before California's March 11 filing deadline, no major Republicans have announced or declared their candidacy to challenge incumbent Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Alex Padilla.
Mike Madrid, a longtime Republican political consultant in Sacramento and co-founder of the anti-Trump political action committee known as the Lincoln Project, told KCBS Radio in an interview on Monday that reflects the party's diminished standing in the state. The Republican Party is "essentially writing California off" at the ballot box and beyond, in Madrid's estimation.
"There's a lot of donor fatigue," Madrid said Monday on "The State of California." "A lot of the bigger money that would actually be required, both from individual contributors and special interest groups that provide the backbone of the Republican Party, have basically looked at the results of the recall and said, 'If it couldn't happen then, if it was an extreme blowout then, it's going to be worse this year.' "
Many donors, Madrid added, are focusing on more conservative parts of the state to "have their dollar go farther."
California voters overwhelmingly backed Newsom to remain in office last September, with nearly 62% of voters choosing not to recall Newsom. Nearly 3.6 million people who selected a replacement candidate voted for Republican frontrunner Larry Elder, whereas almost 8 million voted to keep Newsom in office.
Madrid said politicians like Elder, who told the editorial boards of California's McClatchy-owned newspapers last year that the ideal minimum wage was "$0.00," are now the norm for the party rather than "fiscally conservative" moderate Republicans "who are good on the environment, good on socially progressive issues as Californians are."
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, for instance, was last elected mayor in 2016. That year, Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton won more than 56% of the vote in San Diego County.
Last year, Faulconer garnered a little more than 590,000 votes in the recall, or 4.6% of the overall vote.
"They continue to double down," Madrid said of the Republican Party moving further to the right. "They have for decades, and I think we are probably seeing the final gasps of a party that is no longer even trying to be relevant in California."
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