Just blocks away from theme parks that promise happiness, a fight was brewing among California Republicans.
The issue? Just what the future of the party should look like.
And now, without a California representative as Speaker of the House of Representatives, that future may just be a bit murkier.
California Republicans were propelled into the spotlight last week as the state played host to the party’s second presidential primary debate and, later in the week, a gathering that included former President Donald Trump, three other GOP presidential hopefuls and massive crowds.
They also drew national headlines as Republicans who gathered at the state convention in Anaheim were tasked with a choice: Keep the party platform as is or strip it of the party’s opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage?
The effort to change the platform, essentially a list of values for the California Republican Party, was wildly unsuccessful.
“We’ve got so much excitement in our party right now. We want to capitalize on that excitement and stay unified as a force going into the 2024 election,” said Fred Whitaker, chair of the Orange County Republican Party and one of the leaders of the effort to keep the party platform as is.
But just days later, another Republican kerfuffle culminated in Washington, D.C., as a small group of conservative lawmakers were able to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield from his speaker role, the first time in history that has been done.
And while it’s still early in the aftermath of that drama — and a new House speaker has not yet been chosen — the ejection of McCarthy may not bode well for California Republicans.
“McCarthy had given California Republicans an excuse to explain why they aren’t competitive statewide,” said Dan Schnur, who teaches political messaging at USC and UC Berkeley.
“They could always say they were focusing on national politics to achieve a House majority. But his departure leaves them with even less…
Read the full article here