Condemning racism, xenophobia, nationalism, and white supremacy would seem non-controversial.

But a resolution proposed by Assemblyman Chad Mayes to formally state the California Republican Party’s opposition to intolerance might face opposition from those who see his effort as a publicity stunt or a veiled swipe at President Donald Trump.

“Chad’s resolution is as popular as a stink bomb in an elevator,” said John Berry of the Redlands Tea Party Patriots. “It won’t pass because delegates (to the state GOP convention in Indian Wells Sept. 6 through 8) will see it for what it is: a desperate attempt to get media attention.”

Mayes, R-Yucca Valley, is loathed in conservative circles for his past work with Democrats and his vision for the California GOP’s future. With former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mayes co-founded New Way California, which seeks to steer the state party along a more moderate path.

An assemblyman since 2014 who represents desert cities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties along with the San Gorgonio Pass, Hemet, and San Jacinto, Mayes lost his post as assembly GOP leader in 2017 after he brokered a deal with Democratic leaders in Sacramento to extend an anti-climate change program known as cap-and-trade, which conservatives say raises gas prices and stifles economic growth.

“Ever since the cap-and-trade bill, he has been labeled by critics as a ‘Never Trump’ Republican,” said Marcia Godwin, a professor of public administration at the University of La Verne.

“Once he was no longer minority leader in the Assembly, he has been very active in advocating for a California Republican Party that is more moderate, locally based, and appealing to the diverse California electorate.”

Mayes, 42, has said his work on cap-and-trade saved jobs. After years of losing voters and elections to point where the GOP is politically marginalized in California, the only way for the party to regain power is by mending fences with people who think Republicans hate them, Mayes argues.

California’s GOP embraces Trump “because its rapidly shrinking voter base wants it to,” said Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. “From a long-range strategic standpoint, siding with Trump is foolish. Trump is utterly repugnant to the demographic groups that will make up an increasing share of the electorate.”

‘Beyond unacceptable’

While most Republicans support Trump, Mayes has openly criticized the president.

He was the only GOP state lawmaker in California to publicly condemn Trump’s July tweets telling Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib – four progressive House Democrats who are women of color – to “go back” to their supposed countries of origin, even though three of the four were born in America and Omar is a U.S. citizen.

“This is beyond unacceptable, it is wrong and abhorrent,” Mayes, who is white, tweeted. He also tweeted that “Send her back!” chants at a Trump rally directed at Omar “speak to a deeper, darker shift in America. I am disturbed and disgusted.”

This is beyond unacceptable, it is wrong and abhorrent. Dear Fellow Republicans, we must speak out and return ourselves to decency. This cannot be who we are! https://t.co/iAQM9A0wFp — Chad Mayes (@ChadMayes) July 14, 2019

The chants heard last night, “send her back,” speak to a deeper, darker shift in America. I am disturbed and disgusted. It is no longer the messenger I worry about. This is an attack on fundamental American values. We must fight back! — Chad Mayes (@ChadMayes) July 18, 2019

In a telephone interview, Mayes said if leaders use language “that starts to move in this place that there is one group superior to another – then we’ve violated American values. I don’t care about the party … you’ve got to speak against it.”

“I didn’t think (my tweets responding to Trump were) that big of a deal,” Mayes added. “It just seemed very clear to me that was the right thing to say and do at the time.”

Asked if he thought Trump is racist, Mayes said: “I don’t know his heart. I don’t think anyone can say that. He’s the only one that can say that … what I’m very concerned about is making sure that Americans and the world know that we believe that all men are created equal. We can’t be using divisive language to say that one group of people is superior to another group of people.”

On Aug. 5, Mayes tweeted: “Republicans must reject racism, xenophobia, nationalism, and white supremacy. The belief that one group of people is superior to another is fundamentally un-American. I’ll be introducing a resolution at the next @CAGOP convention to put the party on record.”

The state party did not respond to a request for comment on Mayes’ resolution.

‘Isn’t my master’

Since being ousted as Assembly GOP leader, Mayes has been “taking cheap shots at Trump as part of a desperate attempt to get attention,” said Berry, the tea party activist. “The irony involving his resolution is that the Republican Party fought to end slavery.”

Last election cycle, Mayes faced intraparty challenges from two conservatives, neither of whom advanced beyond the primary. He got 55 percent of the vote last November in defeating Democrat DeniAntionette Mazingo in California’s 42nd Assembly District, where the GOP held a 1 percentage point edge in voter registration as of February.

Mayes “should at least be honest with voters and just switch to the Democrat Party,” Berry said. “He’s dead meat among way too many Republicans to ever win office once he’s termed out of the Legislature.”

Mayes, who endorsed former Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s 2016 bid for the Republican presidential nomination, said he doesn’t plan to leave the party.

“All political parties are failing us,” he said. “My job as an elected official is to represent people and not represent parties … For me, I cannot be a Democrat because philosophically, I’m not there … for me, it’s about advancing ideas. The party’s a vehicle. It isn’t my master.”