When Ronald Reagan was president, the state of Ruby was Red Republican.
With a GOP gouverneur, senator and a good number of federal and local legislators – apart from Lefty San Francisco – it leaned conservatively in the 1980s.
Of course today it is a completely different picture: California is firmly under one party rule.
However, if new polling can be believed, this may not stay that way forever.
A Madison-McQueen survey that was released on Thursday shows that 48 percent of the likely voters in California say that they are probably voting for a Republican governor in 2026. That is a fairly remarkable-Bijna Unbelievable Statistics in view of the registration of the Gop voters in the state!
But as a lifelong Californier, one of Reagan's former pillars of the White House and a political employee who helped President HW George Bush to win the state in 1988 – the last Republican victory there – I see the powerful under -breaths that can stimulate a Gop -comeback.
Until the end of the 1970s, California was neither pure blue nor red.
The state had a liberal governor in Jerry Brown and Democrats checked the mayor's offices in LA and San Francisco. But certain provinces, such as Orange in Socal and the eastern parts of the state, were conservative. The San Francisco Bay Area was blue. The rest of the state was politically mixed.
When Ronald Reagan was president, California was Ruby Red Republican. (Depicted: Ronald Reagan with his wife Nancy on their Santa Barbara, California Ranch in 1980).
But two formidable forces started to shake up California in the late '70s and early 80s. It was not a seismic event, but rather a populist scream.
The rising real estate tax and crime chase people out of their homes, thanks to awkward politicians who spend money on taxpayers like drunk sailors while neglecting public safety.
The people who paid the steepest price were people from the middle class and seniors – like my parents – who had little more on their names than their 'nest -ei' houses.
So in 1978 Californians got up and voted for Proposition 13, the Jarvis-Gann Tax Relief Bill, who slaughtered real estate tax.
This new law was the game change in the politics of California and the shock waves were felt throughout the country.
Only two years later, the state voted overwhelming for Reagan as president, and two years later it chose a Republican governor.
The emerging conservative tide rose until the early nineties, when moderate Democrat Bill Clinton California took seriously and led aggressive campaign in the state, while George HW Bush naturally considered it.
Clinton wore the state and the presidency. And it opened the road for a new round of left governance.
Democrat Gouverneur Gray Davis was chosen in 2000 with disastrous results.
He blew through a $ 10 billion surplus, sold the public energy letter for Enron – cleared the road for brownouts over the entire state – and rose car tax to stratospheric heights.
Again, Californian voters rebelled and, in popular mandate, Davis recalled and replaced him by the Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The revival of De Gop was short-lived and Schwarzenegger was followed by another Jerry Brown term and the sitting Gavin Newsom. But that means nothing of the anti-establishment instinct of the West.
Democrat Gouverneur Gray Davis (photo) was chosen in 2000 with disastrous results. He blew through a surplus of $ 10 billion, sold the public energy letter to Enron and raised car -off -tax to stratospheric heights.
The revival of De Gop was short-lived and Schwarzenegger was followed by another Jerry Brown term and the sitting Gavin Newsom. But that all means that the instinct of the anti-establishment of the West is not extinguished.
After years of rising crime (thanks to the tolerant laws that essentially legalized small theft, homelessness and public drug use), Californians started throwing away progressive district lawyers and started demanding more agents on the street.
President Biden's open border policy, which changed California into a highway of illegal immigration, further rejects this anger.
Even the first generation of Spanish Americans took offense to the golf migrants who had registered in their children's schools and drove out their tight labor markets and their neighborhoods, making the rental height Sky High.
Add the 'Diversity, Equity and Inclusion' policy – so that biological men could use the bathrooms of their choice at primary schools – and it is not difficult to understand why California sharp on the right in the presidential elections of 2024.
While indigenous daughter Kamala Harris Donald Trump defeated 20 percentage points, Biden had worn the state in 2020 with almost 30 points.
Harris won 1.8 million fewer voters than Biden.
Of the 58 provinces in California, Harris lost a significant share of the voter in 57 of them, in which Trump flipped from blue to red, including some very large ones, such as Riverside, San Bernardino and Imperial.
The Spanish Californians – mostly socially conservative – led the indictment, with 43 percent voting on Trump in 2024. Biden, on the other hand, had conquered 63 percent of the Hispanics in the State in 2020.
With a Gop Gouverneur, Senator and a good number of federal and local legislators – California leaned conservatively in the 1980s. That is all gone now: California is firmly under one party rule. But if new polling can be believed, it cannot take forever
Again, Californian voters rebelled and through popular mandate, Davis remembered and replaced him in 2004 by the Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger (depicted here with George W. Bush).
While indigenous daughter Kamala Harris Donald Trump defeated with 20 percentage points, Biden had worn the state in 2020 with almost 30 points. Harris won 1.8 million fewer voters than Biden.
And it was against this background of simmering political unrest that the state was hit in January by one of the worst natural disasters in history – a wild fire catastrophe powered by the government incompetence, lethargy and arrogance.
Instead of ensuring that the state has adequately cleared flame-draining debris, or filled IT fire control reservoirs or working fire hydrants, the Californian Democrats $ 16 billion fell into an unfinished High-Speed ​​Train project that was planned by 2020 and will now cost $ 106 billion for the Project).
Instead of developing the leadership of the competent fire brigade, the mayor of Los Angeles was on a junket to Africa, despite fire warnings and no less on the taxpayer.
You really didn't need a poll to understand the frustration and anger that began to foam through South California.
Will this all lead to a different important political earthquake? Time will learn it, but I bet that a powerful shock will shake a large number of the incompetent, ineffective leadership that now stands.
And maybe history will repeat itself.
