Roger Niello in his office. Photo by Scott Duncan, Capitol WeeklyWhen Roger Niello left the California Assembly in 2010, he figured his time in elected office had run its course. After all, the year before he had committed the most unforgivable of sins for a Republican of the day: He was among six of his fellow GOP colleagues who voted for a budget that included tax hikes, drawing the wrath of his party’s most vocal anti-tax contingent.
An illustration of a California voter casting a ballot. (Photo: Niyazz, via Shutterstock)Berkeley IGS Poll: The election will be decided not by the overall electorate, but by only those who choose to take part in the recall. And, when the voting preferences of those considered most likely to participate are examined, the outcome becomes much closer, with 47% favoring Newsom’s recall and 50% favoring his retention.
Caitlyn Jenner, a candidate in the attempted recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom, at a Hollywood event honoring actor Alec Baldwin. (Photo: Tinseltown, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Republican recall candidate John Cox, who Gavin Newsom demolished in the 2018 governor’s race, is so desperate he’s started campaigning with a 1,000-lb bear. But there’s a different animal stalking the campaign of Caitlyn Jenner. The elephant in the room — quite literally — with the Jenner candidacy is how willing Republican voters are to vote for a transgender person, famous or not.
An illustration of voters preparing their ballots for mailing. (Image: Lightspring, via Shutterstock)A recent dustup with the California Republican Party using unofficial dropboxes as a version of so-called “ballot harvesting” has brought the state’s ballot delivery process under a national spotlight. Much of this controversy can be attributed to the misleading way in which the law has been interpreted, most commonly by people who are trying to conjure up scandal and supposed misdeeds by campaigns that organize such efforts and win.
The race for CA25 was being called just as we taped this podcast — Rob weighs in on what Mike Garcia’s victory in a district that Hillary Clinton carried by six points in 2016 means for November and for the Republican Party in general.
Mike Madrid, longtime GOP consultant, former Political Director for the state Republican Party and board member of the Lincoln Project, joins us to talk about two of his recent skirmishes: a public battle with a squirrel family that occupied an eave of his house, and his even more public battle with the family that occupies the White House.
Assembly candidates Elizabeth Betancourt, left, and Megan Dahle. (Photo illustration by Tim Foster, Capitol Weekly)A husband and wife team in the Legislature — again? On Nov. 5, voters in California’s sprawling 1st Assembly District will choose between Republican Megan Dahle and Democrat Elizabeth Betancourt in a special election.
Donald Trump at a 2016 political rally in Costa Mesa, Orange County. (Photo: mikeledray, via Shutterstock)With the coming 2020 Presidential primary, all eyes are on the plethora of Democratic candidates joining the fray, and the big possibility that an early California contest could catapult one or more contenders past Super Tuesday.
With all this activity on the left, few are looking at what could be going on with the Republican side of the ticket. Could there be something in California for a Republican challenger to President Donald Trump?
Travis Allen addresses delegates at the GOP state convention in Sacramento on Feb. 23. (Photo: Steve Yeater/Associated Press)If the Republican Party wants to make a comeback in California, it’s going to have to stand up against voter fraud and stick to its principles, according to an unscientific sampling of party stalwarts, many of them angry, at the weekend’s GOP state convention in Sacramento.
Close-up of a vintage California Republican Party buttonIn the wake of declining registration numbers and a devastating election in November, California Republicans are searching for a path back to relevance. Many Latino Republicans have voiced strong opposition to the GOP’s current direction, decrying the nationalist-leaning “Trump Wing” of the Party that has embraced loaded racial rhetoric and calls for a wall between California and Mexico.