With Assemblyman Brian Maienschein’s defection, Republicans hold just 19 out of 80 seats in the California Assembly. | AP Photo | Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo California GOP lawmaker defects to Democrats in latest blow, blames Trump

SACRAMENTO — One of the few Republican lawmakers left in Sacramento announced he would become a Democrat, dealing another blow to the party’s California fortunes and diminishing the role of Republican moderates.

With Assemblyman Brian Maienschein’s defection, Republicans hold just 19 out of 80 seats in the California Assembly. The entire state legislative delegation from San Diego — long a stronghold of conservative politics in California — will be represented in Sacramento by Democrats.


Donald Trump's enduring unpopularity in California dragged down candidates across the ballot in 2018, Republican operatives say, and Maienschein explicitly condemned the "offensive" president in explaining his decision.

“Donald Trump has led the party to the extreme,” he told reporters, adding that Trump "has appealed to divisions and has conducted himself in a way that is inconsistent with where I stand.”

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) made a similar point after lauding Maienschein's commitment to fighting homelessness. As Donald Trump continues to debilitate the Republican Party, Assembly Democrats will continue our work to make things better for Californians," Rendon said in a statement.

For weeks after election day, it was unclear if Maienschein would survive a spirited challenge from a Democrat. While he prevailed, his slender 607-vote margin of victory underscored the headwinds facing Republicans in California.

While Democratic lawmakers celebrated on social media and posted pictures with their newest caucus member, new Assembly Republican Leader Marie Waldron blasted Maienschein, openly challenging his integrity.

“It’s unfortunate that Brian’s takeaway from his extremely close reelection was that his political future depended on becoming a turncoat," Waldron said in a statement. "Unfortunately some people run for office simply because they want a job, regardless of political philosophy. It appears that Brian falls into this category."

The move also scrambled the outcome of an election that had impelled powerful interests to open their wallets. Political action committees funded by real estate, labor and oil interests spent more than $300,000 to fortify Maienschein and defeat his Democratic opponent, Sunday Gover; the California Democratic Party channeled more than $400,000 towards Gover.

Gover herself offered a skeptical response, saying “it’s good news that Mr. Maienschein has finally left the Republican Party” but arguing he had ignored core Democratic issues like gun safety and health care.

“Those of us who were determined to elect a Democrat in the 77th Assembly District, will be watching closely to see whether Mr. Maienschein fully embraces our community’s values & rejects the Republican agenda, or whether his party switch is simply an attempt to hold onto power,” Gover said on Twitter.

By altering his affiliation so soon after voters returned him to office, Maienschein drew criticism for potentially misleading his supporters.

“It just seems to me that the appropriate time to do it is when you stand in front of voters,” said Matt Rexroad, a Sacramento-based Republican consultant. “His district voted for him probably knowing he would be in the minority party in Sacramento and said ‘that’s what we want.’”

Still, Maienschein was seen as one of the most moderate voices in the California Republican caucus, sometimes crossing the aisle to vote with Democrats. He received a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood for his legislative record last year and was endorsed by the LGBTQ advocacy organization Equality California, though the group subsequently pivoted to support his Democratic foe.

His departure — combined with the loss of another prominent moderate, former Bay Area Assemblywoman Catharine Baker — could both consolidate Democratic power and cement a more conservative orientation for the remaining Republican caucus.

The upper house has already moved in that direction, naming social conservative Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) as Republican leader last week.

Some Democrats have warned of the consequences. After Baker’s loss, fellow Bay Area lawmaker Marc Levine — a Democrat representing Marin — tweeted that “We will suffer for hunting reasonable Republicans too extinction. There is little incentive for Rs to do anything but hide in their trenches.”

But Maienschein’s switch parallels the party's eroding numbers in California: voters registered without a party preference now outnumber registered Republicans here. In 2014, registered Republicans had a nearly seven-point edge over Democrats in Maienschein’s district; during the 2018 cycle, Democrats outnumbered Republicans there, and no-party-preference voters represented the largest single bloc.

It also fits into a larger trend of disaffected California Republicans abandoning the party. Among the prominent Republicans to make the switch in recent months was California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who told CALmatters she reached the conclusion of “you didn’t leave the party. The party left you.”

Echoing those words was Assemblyman Chad Mayes, a former Republican leader who was pushed out for voting with Democrats to extend the state’s cap-and-trade program and has since become a vocal critic of the party’s state under Donald Trump.

“He didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Party left him,” Mayes said on Twitter.

Underlying the shifting allegiances is a broader period of soul-searching as California Republicans try to navigate a way back to relevancy in the Trump era. After a devastating 2018 election that saw all seven targeted Republican House seats flip to Democrats, many California Republicans faulted a refusal to renounce Trump, who is deeply unpopular in much of California.

Those divisions are playing out in the upcoming race for the next chair of the California Republican Party, which features multiple candidates who have unabashedly embraced the president and said their fellow conservatives must do the same.