After decades of sitting as the state’s minority at every level of government, California Republicans are hoping to capitalize on what they’re calling “gross mismanagement” regarding the still-burning wildfires across the state and leverage their way into electoral wins.
The California GOP isn’t straying far from national talking points or grievances, firing off shots at the Los Angeles Fire Department’s DEI programs, undocumented immigrants, and U.S. aid to Ukraine in their ongoing conflict against Russia.
Bureaucratic red tape in the long-Democratic state also looks to be a major target by GOP and MAGA operatives hoping to “red pill” the state.
X owner Elon Musk, who is likely to have a position of influence in the White House starting next week, even joined the fray, writing on the social media platform, “The real red pill will come when people try to get permits to rebuild their homes and face multiyear waits.”
The reason Republicans think this could be a major turning point for them out west was Donald Trump’s electoral gains in 45 of the state’s 58 counties during his successful bid to retake the White House in 2024.
So far though, the biggest beneficiaries of the GOP’s media barrage hasn’t been Republican leadership in the state but rather more moderate Democrats and independents, and Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom remains popular enough that he’s still mulling a bid for the Presidency in 2028. So it remains to be seen whether the MAGA loyalists will get the outcome they’re hoping for.