A Red-Meat Rallying Cry for National Republicans: California

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Adam Laxalt, left, a Republican candidate for governor of Nevada, shook hands with President Trump at a campaign rally in Elko, Nev., on Saturday.CreditCreditAlex Goodlett/Associated Press

By Adam Nagourney

Oct. 22, 2018

LAS VEGAS — Adam Laxalt, the Republican candidate for governor of Nevada, knows how to rile up a crowd this election season: Just point to the state to the west.

“Are we going to keep Nevada the Nevada we all love, this independent Western state, or are we going to turn into California?” Mr. Laxalt asked at a rally in Elko with President Trump on Saturday.

Mr. Trump jumped in a moment later, assailing California’s embrace of so-called sanctuary cities, where local authorities limit their cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. “By the way, a lot of people in California don’t want them, either,” he said of such cities. “They’re rioting now.” (Actually, they are not).

It’s not only in Nevada. California would seem to be on the ballot in a number of states where Republicans are facing tough re-election battles this fall. In Nevada, Texas, Colorado and Florida, California is being hoisted as a symbol of high taxes, liberal social policy, lax immigration enforcement and an interventionist government run amok. The state figures in laugh lines and attack lines wielded by candidates for the House and Senate, for governor and for state legislative seats.

California has been a favorite object for political mockery since the days of the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley and Flower Power in Haight-Ashbury. But the attacks have escalated to a new level this year, as California has emerged as the blue face of opposition to Mr. Trump and his policies.

On top of that, some Republicans, with their variations on the “Don’t let Nevada/Texas/Florida/Colorado turn into California” line, appear to be appealing to former Californians who have fled to their states in search of lower taxes and less government, and presumably would be receptive to an I-hate-California appeal.

There was a time when East Coast states filled this role. But since the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (or as it was called in Republican circles, “Taxachusetts”) is no longer as inviting a target as it once was. Republicans also have a harder time pointing to New York as a symbol of liberal excess when its most prominent resident now occupies the White House.

With immigration looming as a key issue in this election cycle, California, where Latinos make up 40 percent of the population, would seem the right state for these times.

As a result, the state seems to be joining Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader (who is from San Francisco) as a go-to motivator for Republican candidates looking for red-meat appeals to fire up supporters.

“Every crazy thing, public policy-wise, that comes out of California is just anathema to entrepreneurs and average voters,” said David M. Carney, a political consultant advising Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican running for re-election. “There’s something about the aggressiveness of the craziness of California regulating every aspect of everyone’s life that makes it a good example of what we don’t want to be.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott before a gubernatorial debate against his Democratic challenger, Lupe Valdez, in Austin last month.CreditPool photo by Nick Wagner

Mr. Abbott routinely begins his political speeches by pledging to build a wall — between Texas and New Mexico, “so we can keep all the Californians out.”

Another Texan, Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican up for re-election this year, talked at a recent rally in Katy about liberals wanting the state to be “just like California, right down to tofu and silicone and dyed hair.”

The Republican Governors Association issued a news release with this warning about the governor’s race in Florida: “Democrat Andrew Gillum Wants Floridians To Pay California-Level Taxes.” His Republican opponent, Ron DeSantis, picked up the theme as he campaigned in Sarasota.

“California is absolutely not the model for Florida,” he said. “It would be a historic mistake to go down the road of being a high-tax, high-spending state.”

Senator Dean Heller, a Nevada Republican, faces what is probably the toughest challenge of his electoral career this fall, from Representative Jacky Rosen, a Democrat. But you might not know that from the tweet Mr. Heller fired off as the fall campaign got underway: “We can’t let California liberals take over our great state.”

Californians scoff at the attacks as reflecting jealousy of their state’s soaring coastlines and bright-blue skies, where Americans have been streaming for almost 200 years.

“This is another sorry example of the current state of Republican solipsism,” said Jerry Brown, the Democratic governor. “The irony is that when they attack California, they attack the very engine of America’s prosperity and leadership.”

Tom Steyer, a billionaire environmentalist from San Francisco, whose organization has financed campaigns against Republicans in 11 states, including Florida and Nevada, said the attacks were a cynical political tactic aimed at diverting voters’ attention from issues Republicans do not want to talk about, like health care.

“Do I think California is perfect?” Mr. Steyer said. “Hell, no. But do I think we have a functioning democracy that is trying to deal with these issues? I think we do.”

In some ways, California makes itself an easy target, with laws regulating plastic bags and, this year, plastic straws — the kind of restrictions that would seem particular anathema to voters in states like Nevada, Colorado and Texas with deep Western skepticism about big government. But it’s not only the smaller issues: California has come to represent a vision of government — expansive and expensive — than is not nearly as welcome in swing states like Nevada.

“The Californians come here, and they want to change things around,” said Patrick Casale, 57, a health insurance broker and Republican who lives in Las Vegas. “They want us to pay more taxes. They want to make Nevada a sanctuary state. They want to impose their way of life on us.”

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Senator Dean Heller, left, a Nevada Republican, before a debate with Representative Jacky Rosen, a Democrat, in Las Vegas on Friday.CreditPool photo by John Locher

There is wariness not only of California, analysts from both parties say, but also of the ethnic diversity that California has come to represent. “There is a little bit of coded language there — about ‘the other,’” said David Damore, a professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

“They don’t have much to campaign on substantively,” Mr. Damore said of Republican candidates generally. “They are not campaigning on the tax cuts. The Affordable Care Act blew up in their face. So they are trying to draw support from the idea that our way of life is under attack.”

In the Colorado race for governor, the Republican Governors Association weighed in early with an advertisement titled “RadiCalifornia.” It was directed at the Democrat in the race, Representative Jared Polis, who is running against Walker Stapleton, the Republican state treasurer.

“Jared Polis wants to turn Colorado into RadiCalifornia,” the announcer said. “Polis wants higher taxes. Polis wants to put tens of thousands of energy jobs at risk. And you can forget fixing our traffic problems.”

But David Flaherty, a Republican pollster in Colorado, said he believed that advertisement had fallen flat.

“Are Californians moving here and changing our state, which is arguably what happened in Nevada?” Mr. Flaherty asked. “I don’t feel that is a prevailing thought in voters’ minds. We are not there yet.”

William McCurdy II, the Democratic leader in Nevada, said he had become inured to the invocations of California by Mr. Heller and Mr. Laxalt, who is the state attorney general, and doubted they would make much difference.

“What they are doing is looking at another state and fear-mongering,” he said. “It doesn’t resonate with a majority of Nevadans, who care about issues like health care and economy.”

Still, candidates and strategists say Republicans are tapping into a genuine concern with this line of attack.

Jeff Hays, the Republican leader in Colorado, said he has seen rising resentment among some Coloradans over an influx of Californians.

“We don’t want the housing costs,” he said. “We don’t want the traffic problems. We don’t want the taxes. There’s a fear of urbanization, because that’s where you get a lot of the problems — the crime, the congestion, the overregulation.”

“And the plastic straw ban,” he said. “Are you serious?”