The Democratic Party is fighting for its life in California.
Yes, California.
The Chairman of the California Democratic Party, Rusty Hicks, who sounds like he should be a Red State transplant or should go back to Tennessee; a labor union leader in a state overburdened by labor dominance, an establishment figure; who won a close contest against a black female who had complained about voter fraud among the California Democratic Party delegates; who irritates the progressive faction of Democratic grassroots in the state of California; who has as much personality as Mitt Romney in a deep-freeze, is facing a factional crisis like never before.
Lots of major Democratic candidates have filed to take Gavin Newsom’s place. Since dollar- store Patrick Bateman, California Psycho, and all, wants to be the next President, hand gestures and gaslighting included, He’s not helping anyone down-ticket because—God Forbid—he should piss off any one constituency or grievance group in the country.
Rusty Hicks recently pleaded with the wide array of Democratic gubernatorial candidates to consider dropping out to ensure that two Republicans didn’t snap up the Top Two spots in the jungle primary this June. If you don’t have a chance, he claimed, you should drop out so that we don’t risk two Republicans in the Top Two.
Since the epic Trump-shellacking of 2024, the Democratic Party has faced a considerable crisis of leadership. Kamala Harris is polling #1 for the 2028 nomination, but it’s a piddling 38 percent. A wide array of candidates—gay, Hispanic, Asian, femboy, East Coast, West Coast, podcast, Israel haters, etc.—think they have a better chance of capturing the nomination nod and leading the Democratic Party to purer, more progressive pastures.
That fight is playing out right now in California, the most Democratic of Democratic states in the union.
When Rusty whined for the wide array of single-digit polling candidates to drop out, how did they respond?
They didn’t care, and they jumped in with both feet. After all, some of these candidates, like former State Controller Betty Yee and CA Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond, have been running for office since 2024! Newsom was term-limited, anyway.
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Congressman Eric Swalwell, flatulence and Fang Fang and all, has filed and is currently ahead.
CA State Superintendent Tony Thurmond is all-in it to win it.
Former State Controller Betty Yee has filed.
The previous Democratic front-runner and former Congresswoman, Katie Porter, has also filed. Her poll numbers have plunged following her disastrous CBS interview (plus the revelations of her abusive, Karen-like behavior). She won’t quit, though. US Senator Elizabeth Warren just endorsed her, and she’s angling for that white female vote, so she thinks she has a chance.
Former State Assemblyman, Congressman, California Attorney General, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra won’t back down, either. He served in Congress longer than Swalwell or Porter, plus he has executive experience. There is no way he would back away from this fight.
Former Speaker of the State Assembly and Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, is launching another bid.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, playing the moderate card, jumped into the race as a middling alternative to the woke craziness of his opponents.
Even Billionaire Tom Steyer, a man with too much money and time on his hands, plus an embarrassing presidential 2020 that floundered early, wants to be the next governor.
Well, one candidate dropped out: former state assemblyman and majority leader Ian Calderon. He was a nullity, though, and his departure has not moved the needle that much away from the threat of two Republicans in the general election.
Big Money Tom Steyer will flood the campaign with millions of his own money. Mahan, painting himself as a common-sense, non-woke type, will appeal to the growing number of wealthy Californians who don’t like being robbed or harassed or their lives put in jeopardy. The Democratic grassroots are pulling at the Establishment are pulling at the moderates, who are pulling at the reformers. There is no consensus, and no commitment to letting one person have the rule over everyone else. All that money and machinations will flatten the distribution among the Democratic candidates, shoring up support for the Top Two Republicans.
Intersectionality and political posturing are driving the Democrats down. Yee wants the Asian vote. Becerra wants the Latino vote, along with Villaraigosa. Thurmond is stressing his blackness for the black vote.
Speaking of intersectionality, Thurmond charged at and called out the Democratic leadership in another X video. “The establishment wants all the candidates of color to drop out.” OUCH! The last thing the Democratic Party needs is its own members declaring what the rest of us already knew! But by this blunt appraisal, Thurmond and the rest of the Democratic also-rans have thrown down the gauntlet. They are not backing down, not just because they don’t want to step aside for the Woke White Liberals, but because they would lose face forever before their respective interest-group voting blocs.
For the last three decades, the Democrats have built their power on a coalition of ideologies and identities. Now they are tearing each other apart like a Red Wedding in Game of Thrones.
What a reversal!
What’s the other story behind the Democratic brouhaha, though?
There’s no Alpha Dog, or Awful Female Dog, calling the shots anymore. The Republican Party has Donald Trump, who’s done a credible job of holding the coalition of faith, family, and freedom together while punishing the members who won’t get along to go along.
Democrats have no one to keep people in line, to pick winners and losers, to control the donors and grassroots, and that is especially the case in California.
I already mentioned the retiring governor, who’s always thought about his next career move instead of doing his job with any tenacity or integrity. He won’t step in and solve this problem. In fact, he might secretly want a Republican governor so he can campaign with greater alarm across the rest of the country: “California has a Republican governor! If you don’t elect me, there will be Republicans everywhere!”
Who else often called the shots in California politics?
US Senator Barbara Boxer? She’s gone, retired ten years ago, now lobbying for China. No one cares about her anymore.
Nancy Pelosi! She was the Speaker of the House, after all. Recall that she retired, i.e., she was forced out by a growing progressive faction
US Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Dean of the California Delegation? She’s dead. In fact, some of the upstart Democratic Congressmen were not content to wait their turn, and they challenged the anointed heir apparent, Adam Schiff.
No one cares what Adam Schiff or Alex Padilla thinks, since they are relatively new to the US Senate scene, either. There’s no Big Momma or Big Daddy Democrat to tell everyone else to sit down and let the big poll winner win.
This gilded disarray is a golden opportunity for Golden State Republicans, who have not won a statewide office since 2006. Two GOP gubernatorial candidates mean a depressed Democratic turnout. Republicans could flip other statewide offices, and they could end the Democratic Supermajority in Sacramento.
Trump freed Iran – will he free California next?
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