• Facebook
  • Google Plus
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter

Menu

Skip to content
  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Advertise
  • FAQ
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
Header image

Times of San DiegoLogo

Local News and Opinion for San Diego

Menu

Skip to content
  • All
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Education
  • Arts
  • Military
  • Tech
  • Life
  • Opinion
Search Thousands of San Diego Jobs
  • San Diego County Reports 2,695 COVID-19 Cases, 32 Deaths
  • FCC to Expand Broadband Connectivity, Telehealth for Underserved Communities
  • San Diego Leaders Plan for Quiet Inauguration Day, Remote Meetings
  • Fox Canyon 7-Eleven Robbed by Pair of Thieves, Possibly Armed
  • El Cajon Resident Reportedly Suffering Medical Emergency Dies After 1-8 Crash

Home » Politics » This Article

Mayor Faulconer: California GOP Cannot Be: ‘Carbon Copy’ of National Party

Posted by Editor on March 6, 2019 in Politics | 263 Views
| Comments | Leave a Comment
Share This Article:
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
Kevin Faulconer State of the City
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer at the 2019 State of the City Address. Photo courtesy of the mayor’s office

This is a headingBy Ben Christopher | CALmatters

New Way California has a message for all California Republicans: You don’t have to be like President Trump. You don’t even have to like him.

Support Times of San Diego's growth
with a small monthly contribution

Become a supporter

“The California Republican Party must not be a carbon copy of the national GOP,” Kevin Faulconer, the Republican mayor of San Diego, said to the modest crowd of political centrists who had flocked to the Crest Theatre in downtown Sacramento Tuesday for the group’s second annual summit.

“California Republicans need to create a party tailored to the people of California,” he continued, pointing to his own example as a center-right politician who has authored a local climate change action plan and recently announced a five-year campaign to make the city more welcoming to immigrants.

“Let’s take him out of the equation,” former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said of President Trump. “It’s a mistake for a state party to mold themselves after the national party.”

CALmatters logoNew Way is the product of Republican Assemblyman Chad Mayes. As an organization it is eager to show after the 2016 election that California Republicans need not doubt the science of climate change, cater only to business or consistently stand by the president. Schwarzenegger sits on the board.

Tuesday’s event offered a notable contrast with the California Republican Party’s convention, held two weeks ago just a few blocks away, where headliners included Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and President Trump’s former press secretary Sean Spicer.

Tuesday’s event, there wasn’t a single “Make America Great Again” hat. It was also considerably smaller—some 80 to 100 attendees sat spaced out across the theater auditorium.

But crafting a more centrist GOP brand separate from the national party is likely a hard sell to both sides of the political spectrum. According to a recent poll, 77 percent of self-identified Republicans said they support President Trump’s job performance. Mayes, the former Republican leader in the Assembly, was tossed from that top job by the caucus for supporting a renewal of the state cap-and-trade program. Meanwhile, many Democratic and independent voters may be unable or unwilling to distinguish state and local Republicans from the policies and persona of Trump.

The day’s program offered a series of panels and guest speakers who touched on such indisputable but nebulous themes as inclusivity, economic mobility, and “bridging the partisan divide.”

As telling as what was said was who said it.

The workforce development panel was composed entirely of people of color. That was followed by a short speech from Samuel Rodriguez, a Latino evangelical pastor from Sacramento who argued that “the future of the California Republican Party lies embedded in names like Sanchez, Miranda, Rivera and Rodriguez.”

Two moderate Republicans—former Assemblywomen Kristin Olsen and Catharine Baker—then spoke of bipartisanship with Sen. Steve Glazer, a centrist Democrat from Orinda.

The event also included a speech by Bill Kristol, the neoconservative political commentator and fierce Trump critic, and a short discussion between Olsen and Schwarzenegger about political reform.

“It’s important for the country to have healthy political parties if possible,” said Kristol. “Maybe we’ll have to go beyond the two-party system. I’m open to that.”

None of the other Republicans at Tuesday’s event went quite so far as to entertain abandoning the GOP altogether. But expectations about the future of successes of the party were tempered.

“A vibrant, competitive two-party system is essential for our state,” said Faulconer.

CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Mayor Faulconer: California GOP Cannot Be: ‘Carbon Copy’ of National Party was last modified: March 7th, 2019 by Editor

>> Subscribe to Times of San Diego’s free daily email newsletter! Click here

Follow Us:
Facebooktwitterrss
Posted in Politics | Tagged Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, California Republican Party, Chad Mayes, climate change, Donald Trump, elections, New Way California, Sacramento
Search Thousands of San Diego Jobs

Get Times of San Diego by Email

Our free newsletter is delivered at 8 a.m. daily.


Most Popular Today

  • Opinion: Santee's Dustin Trotter Should Resign as Backer of D.C. Insurrectionists Opinion: Santee’s Dustin Trotter Should Resign as Backer of D.C. Insurrectionists 720 views
  • San Diego Home Cooking Restaurant Chain Manager Faces 5 Years for Tax Fraud San Diego Home Cooking Restaurant Chain Manager Faces 5 Years for Tax Fraud 540 views
  • MarketInk: Prolific Announcer Hangs Up Microphone After 2,000 Games Over 35 Years MarketInk: Prolific Announcer Hangs Up Microphone After 2,000 Games Over 35 Years 520 views
  • 50-Acre Brush Fire Near Palomar College Mostly Under Control 50-Acre Brush Fire Near Palomar College Mostly Under Control 350 views
  • San Diego Researchers Find COVID Survivors Have Long-Lasting Immunity to Re-Infection San Diego Researchers Find COVID Survivors Have Long-Lasting Immunity to Re-Infection 320 views

©®2021 Times of San Diego LLC

Menu

  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Advertise
  • FAQ
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service