None of this happened by chance or by accident. And it won’t necessarily happen again if we don’t keep up the momentum.
With the images of families being tear-gassed at the San Diego-Tijuana border being shown on television every day, it’s important that we emphasize the resistance that is growing in California.
Orange County has been a Republican stronghold in California for over 70 years. It’s the birthplace of Richard Nixon and the influential right-wing John Birch Society. It’s where President Ronald Reagan had a margin of victory that he credited not only for his success but also the overall success of the Republican party. Now, with a complete blue sweep of its formerly red Congressional seats, Orange County is no longer GOP territory, but instead it’s an example for how Democrats can engage a new, diverse, and energized electorate in 2020 for victory nationwide.
For over 70 years, politics in this region was rooted in mobilizing the white suburban majority and powerful elites — which required repeatedly campaigning on tax breaks for the rich instead of affordable healthcare or protections for working-class families. Demographics and money were on their side.
Change has been on the horizon since Republican-governor Pete Wilson waged a war on immigrants with Prop 187 in 1994, a move that energized a generation of young Latino voters and began GOP’s long slide toward irrelevance in California.
