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LAS VEGAS – Adam Laxalt, Republican candidate for Nevada's governorship, knows how to thrill the crowd in this election period: just point the state to the west.
"Are we going to keep Nevada as we all want, this independent western state, or are we going to transform ourselves into California?" Asked Laxalt at a rally in Elko with President Trump on Saturday.
Trump jumped in a moment later, attacking Californian women as "sanctuary towns", where local authorities limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities. "By the way, a lot of people in California do not want them either," he said of the cities. "They are in riot now." (In fact, they are not).
It's not only in Nevada. California appears to be on the ballot in a number of states where Republicans are facing tough re-election battles this fall. In Nevada, Texas, Colorado, and Florida, California is a symbol of high taxes, liberal social policy, lax immigration enforcement, and interventionist government. The state figures in the laughter and attack lines of candidates in the House and Senate, the governor and seats in the legislature.
California is a favorite object for political mockery since the Free Speech Movement era in Berkeley and Flower Power in Haight-Ashbury. But the attacks have reached a new level this year, California having become the blue face of opposition to Mr Trump and his policy.
In addition, some Republicans, with their variations on the line "Do not let Nevada / Texas / Florida / Colorado turn into California," seem to attract older Californians who have fled to their states in search of lower taxes. high and less government, and would likely be receptive to a call "I-hate-California".
There was a time when the states on the east coast fulfilled that role. But since the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (or "taxachusetts" in Republican circles) no longer invites a target as it was before. Republicans also find it harder to make New York a symbol of liberal excess when its most prominent resident now occupies the White House.
With immigration being at the center of this electoral cycle, California, where Latinos make up 40% of the population, would seem to be the right state for that time.
As a result, the state appears to be joining Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democratic Party in the House (originally from San Francisco) as a key motivator for Republican candidates seeking inducement appeals to torch their supporters .
"All that is crazy about public policy in California is anathema to middle-class entrepreneurs and voters," said David M. Carney, a political consultant advising Governor Greg Abbott of Texas, Republican vying for his re-election. "There is something in the aggressiveness of the California madness that regulates every aspect of everyone's life, which makes it a good example of what we do not want to be."
Mr. Abbott regularly begins his political speeches by pledging to build a wall – between Texas and New Mexico, "so we can keep all Californians out."
Another Texan, Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican candidate for re-election this year, recently declared at a rally in Katy that the Liberals wanted the state to be "just like California, up to tofu, silicone and hair dyed. "
The Republican Governors Association issued a press release containing this warning about the Florida governor's race: "Democrat Andrew Gillum wants the Floridians to pay California-level taxes." His Republican opponent, Ron DeSantis, took up the theme while campaigning in Sarasota.
"California is absolutely not the model for Florida," he said. "It would be a historic mistake to be a high-tax, high-spending state."
Senator Dean Heller, a Republican from Nevada, faces the toughest challenge of his election career this fall, with Democrat representative Jacky Rosen. But you might not know that tweet Mr. Heller was launched early in the fall campaign: "We can not let the Californian liberals seize our great state."
Californians mock these attacks, reflecting the jealousy of the vertiginous coastlines and the bright blue sky of their state, where Americans have been flowing for almost 200 years.
"This is another unfortunate example of the current state of Republican solipsism," said Jerry Brown, Democratic governor. "The irony is that when they attack California, they attack the very engine of America's prosperity and leadership."
Tom Steyer, a billionaire environmentalist from San Francisco, whose organization has funded campaigns against Republicans in 11 states, including Florida and Nevada, said these attacks were a cynical political tactic to divert the United States. Beware of voters issues that Republicans do not want to address, such as health care.
"Do I think California is perfect?" Said Steyer. "Certainly not, but do I think we have a functioning democracy that is trying to solve these problems, I think we are doing."
In a certain way, California is an easy target, with laws regulating plastic bags and, this year, plastic straws – the kind of restrictions that would seem to be anathema to the voters of states like Nevada, Colorado and Texas, with deep skepticism on the part of Westerners. But it's not just the small issues: California has become an expansive and expensive government vision – it's not so well received in transitional states like Nevada.
"Californians come here and want to change things," said Patrick Casale, 57, a health insurance and republican insurance broker living in Las Vegas. "They want us to pay more taxes. They want to make Nevada a sanctuary state. They want to impose their way of life. "
Analysts on both sides say that one must be wary of California, but also of the ethnic diversity that California has come to represent. "There is some coded language about" the other, "said David Damore, a professor of political science at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.
"They do not have much to campaign on the merits," Damore said of Republican candidates in general. "They do not campaign on tax cuts. The Affordable Care Act exploded in their faces. So they try to rely on the idea that our way of life is attacked. "
In the run for the Colorado governor's candidacy, the Republican Governors Association weighed in early with an announcement called "RadiCalifornia". It was aimed at the Democratic representative in the race, the representative Jared Polis, who runs against Walker Stapleton, the state treasurer.
"Jared Polis wants to turn Colorado into RadiCalifornia," said the announcer. "Polis wants higher taxes. Polis wants to jeopardize tens of thousands of jobs in the energy sector. And you can forget to solve our traffic problems. "
But David Flaherty, a Republican pollster from Colorado, said he believed the ad was flat.
"Are Californians moving here and changing our state, which is probably what happened in Nevada?" Asked Mr. Flaherty. "I do not think it is a dominant thought in the minds of voters, we are not here yet."
William McCurdy II, the Democratic leader of Nevada, said that he had been accustomed to invocations from California by MM. Heller and Laxalt, Attorney General of the State, and that he doubted that would make a big difference.
"What they do, is look at another state and fight fear," he said. "This does not resonate with the majority of Nevadians, who care about problems such as health care and the economy."
Nevertheless, candidates and strategists say that Republicans exploit a real concern facing this line of attack.
Jeff Hays, the Republican leader of Colorado, said that he had noticed a rise in resentment among some Coloradians because of the influx of Californians.
"We do not want housing costs," he said. "We do not want traffic problems. We do not want taxes. There is fear of urbanization because that is where there are many problems – crime, congestion, excessive regulation. "
"And the ban on plastic straw," he says. "Are you serious?"
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