Jonathan Weber, the editor in chief of The Bay Citizen, writes a weekly column.

For Tom Campbell, the moderate Republican who was thrashed in the California Senate primary last week, it must be tough seeing Carly Fiorina, his victorious opponent, and Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor, anointed as the new political vanguard of Silicon Valley.

This is a prize that by all rights should belong to Mr. Campbell. For more than three decades, the one-time law professor and member of Congress has positioned himself as just the kind of smart, socially liberal and fiscally conservative politician whom high-tech business leaders could love.

When Silicon Valley computer chip makers needed someone in Washington who “got it” in the late 1980s, as they fought for their survival against Japanese imports, Mr. Campbell stood up. More recently, when green-energy entrepreneurs needed credibly pro-business advocates for environmental protection, Mr. Campbell was there.

At a time when the Republican Party is riding anti-immigration, anti-abortion and anti-gay-rights platforms to victory around the country, Mr. Campbell mostly rejected those themes, which are anathema to the creative class that drives Silicon Valley.