Republican leaders were hoping a candidate named Cox might create some buzz in the November election. He did. Unfortunately for the GOP, it was the wrong Cox.

Democrats had already achieved a blowout in California congressional races by the time T. J. Cox secured a come-from-behind victory last week in the Central Valley 21st district, defeating Republican incumbent David Valadao.

But Cox provided an exclamation point for just how stunning the election was. Democrats won in seven Republican districts in California and picked up 40 seats nationwide — the party’s biggest gain since the Watergate era in the mid-1970s and more than enough to win the House majority.

Republicans will now hold just seven of California’s 53 House seats. That sounds bad on its face, but historical context shows just how bleak things are for the state GOP delegation.


That’s the fewest number of Republicans since 1947 when California had just 23 seats, according to Mark Barabak of the Los Angeles Times.

“And the smallest share of the state U.S. House delegation since....1883. Even in Depression & immediately after Watergate, GOP held more,” Ronald Brownstein, senior editor at The Atlantic, said on Twitter.

After the June primary, the GOP had hopes that having Rancho Santa Fe businessman John Cox running for governor in November might be one of a few dynamics that could help energize the party’s base enough to avoid a rout in California and help preserve the Republican majority in Congress.

Nobody thought Cox could win, but there was a real possibility that Republicans could be shut out of the November gubernatorial election because two strong Democrats were running in the state primary that sends the top two vote-getters to the general election regardless of party affiliation: eventual winner Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.


GOP leaders breathed a sigh of relief when Cox finished second. But while they avoided the embarrassment of being on the sidelines in the governor election, Cox didn’t bring much to the game. Not only did he lose in a landslide, as of Friday he was slightly behind Newsom in Orange County, where Republican candidates for governor tend to win comfortably even when they lose statewide.

But by now we’re used to the phrase “once a Republican bastion” to describe Orange County because Democrats won all the congressional seats there.

So, no, John Cox didn’t help the GOP cause. But then, nothing did.

Proposition 6, the Cox-funded initiative to repeal a state gas tax increase, was supposed to rally anti-tax voters who also would shore up GOP congressional candidates. Yet, the measure to reduce taxes was defeated overwhelmingly by nearly 14 points.


Proposition proponents claimed that the ballot title devised by the state was dishonest because it did not simply state it was a tax repeal. But it’s hard to fathom that was the sole reason for the huge loss.

A coalition of business, labor and the Democratic Sacramento establishment spent a lot of money — way more than Proposition 6 backers — to make the case that the measure would scuttle plans to improve the state’s sorry transportation network. Better roads are a big deal to Californians.

Besides, while nobody likes paying more at the pump, California motorists have become accustomed to wide swings in gas prices in the blink of an eye because of market conditions and oil company desires. So maybe the outrage wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

Some GOP leaders then thought the fight over Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court in early October might blunt Democratic momentum heading into the election. Some Democrats fretted that they might be right.


Republicans were angry about how Kavanaugh was treated at the time, but that dissipated following his confirmation and didn’t translate into additional motivation come November. If anything, polls showed the confirmation of Kavanaugh further energized Democrats, who, despite a highly public hearing, thought he was given a pass on accusations that he sexually assaulted women years ago.

There’s little question California Republicans were hurt by President Donald Trump, who tanks in Golden State polls. Yet some Republican candidates in contested races seemingly made matters worse by embracing the president’s positions on immigration, health care and tax cuts.

So, trying to fire up the base didn’t work, either.

Some GOP candidates for state and local offices became collateral damage to the Trump effect, with the president becoming a feature of Democratic attacks.


Democrats will hold two-thirds majorities in the Assembly and state Senate, meaning they can pass tax increases without Republican votes. Putting the GOP collapse into local perspective, Tasha Boerner Horvath defeated fellow Democrat Elizabeth Warren in the Oceanside-based 76th Assembly District currently held by Republican Rocky Chavez, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress.

It’s bad enough the Republicans couldn’t get a candidate into the fall general election, but this will be the first time a Democrat will represent that part of the San Diego County coast since Ronald Cordova during the 1977-78 legislative session, according to Kevin Liao, press secretary for Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Los Angeles.

Democrats have been celebrating mightily, though the edge was taken off that party last week when the Los Angeles Times reported numerous allegations of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior against the chairman of the California Democratic Party, Eric Bauman, who quickly announced his resignation.

But that doesn’t change the electoral reality for California Republicans.


Naturally, there has been plenty of Monday morning quarterbacking about strategy, from whether a Trump appearance might have actually helped in specific areas to being out-hustled and out-raised by Democrats.

Ron Nehring, former chairman of the San Diego and California Republican parties, has said for some time that Republicans must retool their approach to appeal to the changing demographic of the electorate.

“There is a serious lack of courage out there to confront the challenge of a party brand that has lost relevance in urban, coastal and Latino communities,” he said on Twitter. “This isn’t just about tactics, as some have argued.”

One tactic some Republican strategists were particularly excited about during the campaign was running against a favorite target: Rep. Nancy Pelosi.


Enough said.

Tweet of the Week

Goes to Candice Eley‏ (@CandiceSD), San Diego public relations and marketing maven, for this on the day after the tear-gassing clash at the border.

“I’m headed to DC next week to talk with fellow tourism PRs about issues affecting our industry. How’s that for timing.”