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In an interview with a magazine in 2012, actress Michelle Pfeiffer explained that "being in Orange County looks a lot like Midwestern in many ways." She was born in Santa Ana in 1958 and, strange as it may seem, she makes sense. The attitudes, culture and politics of the place, where Richard Nixon is the birthplace of the Ronald Reagan revolution, have actually had a Midwestern atmosphere, at least for many years.
So many people from the Midwest emigrated to Orange County that when I arrived in 1998 from a small town in Ohio, I heard about meetings between people from different Midwestern burgs. I could not imagine why anyone in the land of palms and beaches even wanted to think about, for example, Cedar Rapids or Dayton. But I remember asking my wife, who was petrified to drive in Southern California, to pretend for awhile that nothing existed outside of our new hometown, Fullerton. This charming city feels comfortably in the Midwest, although it has quickly traveled highways and explored all that the county has to offer.
It was even obvious, 20 years ago, that Orange County, known throughout the country and from which I had heard, was becoming a thing of the past. The policy was changing as CO, which was previously a predominantly white county, had become a vibrant and ethnically diverse urban region with a population of more than 22 states. In 1996, I heard Bob Dornan, a prominent member of the Orange County Congressional Congress, Bob Dornan, giving a talk to GOP activists in Des Moines, while he was running for president. . It was perhaps the height of the conservative style OC hybris.
Dornan apparently spent too much time in Iowa and not enough in Garden Grove because he lost his re-election bid to Loretta Sanchez by 1,000 votes. Sanchez herself became a star of Orange County. She remained in Congress until she lost the run to the US Senator against Kamala Harris in 2016, but lately she would not have to pretend to be a "blue dog", group of Democrats who, unlike those who would do anything. the desired party, even voting for a "yellow dog" -will be willing to outsmart the leadership and sometimes tidy up with the Republicans. This year, no matter what kind of democrat would do the business.
It is clear that the modest blue wave of Democrats has turned into "double overload" by the time it crashed onto the OC beaches. The poll clerk still compiles the final totals, but it is possible that none of the Orange County congressional districts are held by Republicans. The Democrats went to the polls by already controlling three districts in the region, including the 46, organized by representative Lou Correa. It was quite a thing when he ousted a Republican from his seat in the State Assembly in 1998 and was now organizing a re-election of Congress with an overwhelming margin.
Then Democrat Harley Rouda beat Dana Rohrabacher, Trump's ally, in the 48th district of the Huntington Beach area, which was the heartland of OC Republicanism. The 49th district of Darrell Issa, which includes parts of San Diego County and southern Orange County, is turning to Democrat Mike Levin rather than Republican Diane Harkey. Democrat Katie Porter beat Republican Mimi Walters in the 45th district in the southern interior of Orange County. At the time of writing these lines, Republican Young Kim holds 122 votes on Democrat Gil Cisneros in the 39th district of downtown Fullerton. Late ballots, however, are democratic and thousands of others are needed.
Republicans have lost other Congressional races outside the county, have been excluded from state-wide races and have allowed Democrats to grab supermajorities at the same time. 39, Legislative Assembly. The Republicans of the OC have kept their promises in the legislative race, but the Republican assembly Matt Harper is about to lose his seat. This has raised some praise. Columnist Gustavo Arellano wrote "an obituary for Old Orange County", knowing that the Republican County, once ribbed, is now "more purple than Barney the Dinosaur".
And former Republican House leader Kristen Olsen of Modesto has declared the death of the entire California GOP after Tuesday's defeat. She accused the party "in part because it failed to separate from the current toxic and current national brand of republican politics". I largely agree with Olsen 's feelings, although Trump accelerated only the trends that were evident since my move to the county.
In 2009, after the Republicans held mediocre national elections starring Sarah Palin as a vice presidential candidate, I finally gave up the GOP and predicted that his populist move would cost him an election. Trumpism triumphed in 2016, but by directly appealing to the concerns of working-class voters in the central cities of the country, the party entrusted the Democrats with modern, expanding, diversified and prosperous suburbs such as the 39; ;Orange. This is no longer the same Ronald Reagan OC, which means that the GOP still has a long way to go if it hopes to recover from its losses.
This column was first published in the Orange County Register.
Steven Greenhut is Director of the Western Region for the R Street Institute. He was an editorial writer of the 1998-2009 register. Write to him at [email protected].
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