AHC: California remains a red state

[Bmao]

It's not about winning a majority of blacks, it is about changing optics. Swing the black and hispanic vote by 15 percent and California is red today. They had a Red governor even in the 2000s.

Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't the typical Red State governor though. Throughout his governorship he gradually drifted to the center and was even considered left wing when it came to environmentalism (like the Global Warming Solutions act in 2006, or the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative the following year), not to mention the fact that the Governator was as a big Star in Hollywood and that he benefitted from the fallout of the Gray Davis recall election. Arnie was the only way at this point that a Republican could win in California.

Also, as I mentioned before, Prop 187 in 1994 doomed the Republicans chances in California of ever being competitive with Latinos, not to mention amongst African Americans the Republicans were blamed in that they allowed urban decay and fostering an environment of police brutality to dominate in Los Angeles and which ultimately led to the Rodney King riots.

 

[connorCD]

Have Dianne Feinstein win the governor's mansion in 1990 and be the one to sign Proposition 187 into law. Having a Democrat approve such a controversial law would probably lessen Latino hostility towards the GOP and keep them a more viable party within the state. I doubt this would keep California a red state or even a swing state, but if nothing else it'd be more competitive at the local level.

 

[AlexanderDragon]

going after the black vote is unnecessary, I mean look at Reagan.

The two biggest reasons for the decline were 1, Ailenating the Hispanic community and 2, the gradual loss of affluent white suburban women. Women and Men's votes did not begin diverging until the 80's, but California was one of the first places where that occurred. Tackling the first issue is easy(less immigration) but the second is not.

 

[Hugh Third of Five]

It's not about winning a majority of blacks, it is about changing optics. Swing the black and hispanic vote by 15 percent and California is red today. They had a Red governor even in the 2000s.

There are red states with Democratic governors and blue states with Republican ones. I think the challenge is to get it to keep voting Republican in presidential elections.

 

[psteinx]

California turned blue not so much because of specific political details of California, but rather, changes in party alignment (i.e. the subgroups that compose each party, the parties' positions, etc.) Neither party can hide, forever, at the state level, from changes in the parties' positioning at the national level. West Virginia still has Manchin, as a Blue relic, but after his departure, it would be very hard for any Dem to win a major office in WV, just as it is for a Republican in California.

That said, individual offices sometimes swing against a state's overall lean, especially if one party's candidate is unusually charismatic and the other's isn't. Thus Arnold in California, well after the time the state had gone Blue, as also some Republican wins in Massachusetts, etc. But those are the exceptions...