A California Republican Unafraid to Utter the 'T-word'
While numerous California Republicans have attempted to distance themselves from Donald Trump, this individual is eager to maintain close contact with him.
TroibNews 
SACRAMENTO, California — Labor unions and establishment Republicans made a concerted effort to prevent firebrand conservative activist Carl DeMaio from entering the California Assembly, but ultimately, their attempts were unsuccessful.
The talk-radio host and former San Diego city councilmember is set to arrive in Sacramento next month after decisively defeating fellow Republican Andrew Hayes to fill the seat of outgoing GOP state Rep. Marie Waldron in northern San Diego County.
DeMaio is bringing a bold approach for California Republicans: embracing President-elect Donald Trump.
“I'm going to be pushing the Republican Party in a whole different direction when it comes to environmental issues, housing issues, social issues,” DeMaio stated in an interview with PMG's California Playbook. “If we want to be a majority in California, which is absolutely possible, we have to transform.”
For some time, state Republican leaders have sought to distance themselves from the president-elect, hoping that adopting a more moderate stance would win them swing voters in the predominantly Democratic California. A prime example is Steve Garvey. The former baseball star attempted to separate himself from Trump during his unsuccessful Senate campaign against Sen.-elect Adam Schiff this year, to the extent that he even suggested he wouldn’t rule out voting for President Joe Biden’s reelection.
However, there are indications that this strategy may be changing now that Trump has secured another term. Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher recently reached out to Trump, urging him to “tackle issues that have plagued California for too long.”
This shift in sentiment is timely for DeMaio, a long-time supporter of Trump who has built his political reputation on advocating controversial anti-tax and anti-labor views despite opposition from both sides. His Assembly campaign prominently featured Trump’s hardline immigration policies and even aired advertisements supporting former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson’s backing of a contentious 1994 ballot measure aimed at denying public services to undocumented immigrants.
Last month, DeMaio remarked to former Fox News host and British government policy adviser Steve Hilton that California’s GOP leaders exhibit “Stockholm syndrome” after being under Democratic control for two decades.
“He's exactly the kind of fighting spirit that I think you need in Sacramento,” Hilton commented to California Playbook.
However, DeMaio’s confrontational style has also earned him considerable opposition, particularly from firefighters and police unions who are upset with his proposals to cut public pensions and salaries during his tenure on the San Diego City Council. This year, a committee funded by California’s largest firefighters’ union invested nearly $1.5 million to defeat DeMaio's campaign.
This animosity is partly why the state Republican Party and prominent GOP figures, including Rep. Darrell Issa, supported DeMaio’s opponent, Hayes, leading up to the election. The influential California Labor Federation, which typically focuses on electing allies in competitive or safe Democratic districts, also endorsed Hayes.
“We just really disliked [DeMaio] and wanted to give him a pound of flesh rather than give him a free ride,” said federation President Lorena Gonzalez, who has clashed with DeMaio on labor matters for years. “His harebrained ideas and his approach cost the city of San Diego millions and millions of dollars.”
Nonetheless, DeMaio's Trump-themed agenda is set to make its way to Sacramento in December. He intends to hire an “intergovernmental affairs” staffer whose main responsibility will be liaising with the Trump-led federal government, and he hopes that the Department of Housing and Urban Development will “come down like a load of bricks on California's dysfunctional and failure-ridden homeless policies.”
Furthermore, DeMaio plans to visit Washington early next year to advocate for a more active role from federal agencies like the Interior, State, and Homeland Security departments in countering California’s liberal majority. While he has yet to finalize details, discussions about border policy and the pollution of the Tijuana River are on his agenda.
“The Trump administration needs to hold California accountable for the billions of dollars that they're wasting,” DeMaio asserted. “Stay tuned — we are working with our lawyers and coming up with policy proposals that we want to present.”
He also envisions creating a California adaptation of the House Freedom Caucus called the “Reform Caucus,” which subtly references his conservative policy group, Reform California.
So far, he has at least one possible ally: Republican Assemblymember Bill Essayli, known for his confrontational stance towards Sacramento Democrats, who expressed to California Playbook that he is “seriously considering” joining DeMaio’s initiative.
“A lot of new members come up to Sacramento thinking they're going to be the ones to change it, and very quickly they get eaten up by the machine,” Essayli explained. “I’m confident that he's going to be able to withstand that pressure.”
If you find this content valuable, consider subscribing to PMG’s California Playbook newsletter.
Navid Kalantari for TROIB News
The talk-radio host and former San Diego city councilmember is set to arrive in Sacramento next month after decisively defeating fellow Republican Andrew Hayes to fill the seat of outgoing GOP state Rep. Marie Waldron in northern San Diego County.
DeMaio is bringing a bold approach for California Republicans: embracing President-elect Donald Trump.
“I'm going to be pushing the Republican Party in a whole different direction when it comes to environmental issues, housing issues, social issues,” DeMaio stated in an interview with PMG's California Playbook. “If we want to be a majority in California, which is absolutely possible, we have to transform.”
For some time, state Republican leaders have sought to distance themselves from the president-elect, hoping that adopting a more moderate stance would win them swing voters in the predominantly Democratic California. A prime example is Steve Garvey. The former baseball star attempted to separate himself from Trump during his unsuccessful Senate campaign against Sen.-elect Adam Schiff this year, to the extent that he even suggested he wouldn’t rule out voting for President Joe Biden’s reelection.
However, there are indications that this strategy may be changing now that Trump has secured another term. Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher recently reached out to Trump, urging him to “tackle issues that have plagued California for too long.”
This shift in sentiment is timely for DeMaio, a long-time supporter of Trump who has built his political reputation on advocating controversial anti-tax and anti-labor views despite opposition from both sides. His Assembly campaign prominently featured Trump’s hardline immigration policies and even aired advertisements supporting former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson’s backing of a contentious 1994 ballot measure aimed at denying public services to undocumented immigrants.
Last month, DeMaio remarked to former Fox News host and British government policy adviser Steve Hilton that California’s GOP leaders exhibit “Stockholm syndrome” after being under Democratic control for two decades.
“He's exactly the kind of fighting spirit that I think you need in Sacramento,” Hilton commented to California Playbook.
However, DeMaio’s confrontational style has also earned him considerable opposition, particularly from firefighters and police unions who are upset with his proposals to cut public pensions and salaries during his tenure on the San Diego City Council. This year, a committee funded by California’s largest firefighters’ union invested nearly $1.5 million to defeat DeMaio's campaign.
This animosity is partly why the state Republican Party and prominent GOP figures, including Rep. Darrell Issa, supported DeMaio’s opponent, Hayes, leading up to the election. The influential California Labor Federation, which typically focuses on electing allies in competitive or safe Democratic districts, also endorsed Hayes.
“We just really disliked [DeMaio] and wanted to give him a pound of flesh rather than give him a free ride,” said federation President Lorena Gonzalez, who has clashed with DeMaio on labor matters for years. “His harebrained ideas and his approach cost the city of San Diego millions and millions of dollars.”
Nonetheless, DeMaio's Trump-themed agenda is set to make its way to Sacramento in December. He intends to hire an “intergovernmental affairs” staffer whose main responsibility will be liaising with the Trump-led federal government, and he hopes that the Department of Housing and Urban Development will “come down like a load of bricks on California's dysfunctional and failure-ridden homeless policies.”
Furthermore, DeMaio plans to visit Washington early next year to advocate for a more active role from federal agencies like the Interior, State, and Homeland Security departments in countering California’s liberal majority. While he has yet to finalize details, discussions about border policy and the pollution of the Tijuana River are on his agenda.
“The Trump administration needs to hold California accountable for the billions of dollars that they're wasting,” DeMaio asserted. “Stay tuned — we are working with our lawyers and coming up with policy proposals that we want to present.”
He also envisions creating a California adaptation of the House Freedom Caucus called the “Reform Caucus,” which subtly references his conservative policy group, Reform California.
So far, he has at least one possible ally: Republican Assemblymember Bill Essayli, known for his confrontational stance towards Sacramento Democrats, who expressed to California Playbook that he is “seriously considering” joining DeMaio’s initiative.
“A lot of new members come up to Sacramento thinking they're going to be the ones to change it, and very quickly they get eaten up by the machine,” Essayli explained. “I’m confident that he's going to be able to withstand that pressure.”
If you find this content valuable, consider subscribing to PMG’s California Playbook newsletter.
Navid Kalantari for TROIB News
