California Republicans face many reasons to be a dispirited bunch.
There numbers have dwindled significantly in the face of Democratic dominance.
Out of 53 Congressional seats, Republicans only hold 14.
The last time a US Senator was a Republican was in 1994, when Pete Wilson was still governor.
The last Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, governed in a fairly reasonable fashion, then turned left after his reelection in 2006.
At one time, there were three statewide Republican elected officials in Sacramento.
In 2010, party leaders spent $187 million dollars, both on the gubernatorial and the US Senate campaign to unseat Barbara Boxer.
The result? Net losses across the board. Democrats even gained the supermajority in 2012.
Then came Jim Brulte.
The California Republican Party was in trouble.
Now, the grassroots are growing again.
Republicans took a two-to-one Democratic state senate seat in the Central Valley.
The Republicans took back San Diego, with Kevin Faulconer as the new mayor.
And Republicans stopped the Democratic Supermajority n Sacramento in 2014.
I have a Republican assemblyman representing me for the first time in … 24 years!
There is a Republican representing residents of the Eastern San Francisco Bay, too: Catharine Baker.
Central Valley Democrats are voting Republican, and Democratic registration numbers are falling over the state!
Democrats have all but given up in some races. Sharon Runner reclaimed a state senate seat uncontested. Democrat did not even bother to run a state senate candidate to replace Mimi Walters.
Clint Oliver may sweep another special election seat.
Not only that, but Republican leaders are emerging in key regions once thought untouchable
Like San Francisco County.
The San Francisco County Party Chairman, Harmeet Dhillon, is a conservative's conservative.
She runs her own small business, and she has fought to represent conservative principles in the most liberal district in the country–so liberal, that Ronald Reagan did not win the City in 1980 or even 1984, when he swept 49 states!
Born in India, but raised in North Carolina, Harmeet has a conservative pedigree which should impress or put to shame.
She took over the Dartmouth Review from none other than … D'nesh D;Souza.
She also worked for the University of Virginia Law Review.
Harmeet Dhillon |
One of her closest friends? Ann Coulter, who wrote a recommendation on her behalf when she ran for–and won!–vice chair of the California Republican Party!
And she won.
The registration numbers are higher in San Francisco (don't get me wrong — there is still so much to do in the Bay Area), and also in San Mateo, and even in my South Bay home.
Now, Harmeet wants to take her active and expansive vision to the national level.
Now, some voices in the California Republican Party have told me that she is really liberal.
Two very high-up and respectable sources refuted that argument.
She expressed her views in a number of high profile interviews on San Francisco media, too:
Here, she explains her work on civil rights cases with Arthur Bruzzone.
Here, she rebuffs the argument that her role as San Francisco GOP Chairman meant she was a non-entity pushing a lost cause. "Whom do you represent?" Harmeet was no fool, and smartly answred: Small business owners, taxpayers, a property owner, somebody like me who runs a small business. Those are typically our supporters."
Indeed!
As an assembly candidate, she did remarkably well, raising more than $100k and winning above the GOP registration in key precincts. She also ran against Mark Leno in 2012 for state senate district 11.
The long-term stereotype about Harmeet, or anyone from the Bay Area, is: "She's a liberal! She's a moderate!"
Well …
I contacted Harmeet, and she called me back right away.
She answered every question.
She is pro-life.
She is pro-marriage: one man and one woman.
She is pro-Second Amendment, and a proud member of the NRA.
She supports a secure border, no amnesty. She is a legal immigrant herself!
And when I was talking to her she was walking precincts in a special election assembly race!
She stands her ground in hostile territory, reaches out to different groups.
She wants to work for California Republican Party and help her state and country.
And today, I am proud to endorse her to be California's RNC National Committee Woman.