Rather, it\u2019s their home base: Orange County.<\/p>\n
Despite the county accounting for nearly 10% of California\u2019s population, very few of its residents have been able to win statewide elections.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s certainly not due to a lack of political talent in Orange County, said Fred Smoller, an expert in media and politics who teaches at Chapman University.<\/p>\n
Really, it\u2019s a structural curse, he said.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco produce more statewide candidates because those cities have a centralized television news market and mayoralities that help boost candidates with name ID. Orange County doesn\u2019t have that one mayoral position and shares TV media markets with Los Angeles and, to a lesser extent, San Diego.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s plenty of talented people from Orange County on both sides of the aisle,\u201d said Smoller. \u201cBut there\u2019s no centralized media and we suffer from the fact that we have no career ladder (like a mayor\u2019s office) that would provide a platform for them to receive greater recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a structural constraint,\u201d Smoller added, \u201cand that inhibits talent from both sides of the aisle from moving to a statewide office.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s not to say it\u2019s impossible for an Orange County resident to be elected statewide.<\/p>\n
![\"File](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/OCR-L-OCSTATEWIDE-0115-20.jpg\")
File photo from December, 1983 of Controller Ken Cory testifying at a special Assembly committee hearing on investment practices. Ken is discussing his part in investing money from the State Teacher\u2019s Retirement System fund in 1982 when they bought Texaco oil stock. (Photo by Walt Zeboski\/Ap)<\/p>\n
Case in point: Ken Cory, who lived in Westminster and Garden Grove, was elected to serve as the state\u2019s controller<\/a> in 1974. Cory, who served in the statehouse prior to the executive branch, was reelected in 1978 and 1982, leaving office after not seeking another term in 1986.<\/p>\n Cory, his obituary noted<\/a>, was a Democrat who was respected by those on both sides of the aisle. He was dubbed \u201cthe man oil companies fear most.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s also Thomas Kuchel, who hailed from Anaheim<\/a> and, like Cory, served as the state\u2019s controller. Kuchel, though, was also elected to the U.S. Senate, albeit some time ago: He was appointed to the Senate<\/a> in 1953, winning subsequent reelections to the seat where he served for 16 years, including as the Republican whip. He served as controller from 1946 to 1953.<\/p>\n Kuchel was an infamous progressive in the Republican Party at the time, playing roles in the Senate\u2019s work<\/a> to pass Medicare, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as well as conservation efforts and a nuclear test ban treaty.<\/p>\n And there are others, too, with ties to Orange County. Probably chief among them: former President Richard Nixon, who, while he lived in Whittier and represented a Los Angeles County congressional seat, was born in Yorba Linda. His presidential library<\/a> is in Yorba Linda, but when Nixon was president, the western White House was in San Clemente<\/a>.<\/p>\n The presidency wasn\u2019t Nixon\u2019s only attempt to woo California voters all around the state. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1950, but a little more than a decade later, he\u2019d lose a bid for governor, telling reporters after the loss<\/a>, \u201cJust think how much you\u2019re going to be missing. You don\u2019t have Nixon to kick around anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n John Seymour, a former Anaheim mayor and longtime Orange County politician, served in the U.S. Senate<\/a>. But he was appointed to fill a vacancy and lost the election to the seat to the late Dianne Feinstein.<\/p>\n More recently, Loretta Sanchez, then an Orange County Congress member, made a run for what was an open U.S. Senate seat in 2016. But she finished second to Kamala Harris<\/a>, then the state attorney general from San Francisco.<\/p>\n So what would it take for an Orange County politician to win elected office?<\/p>\n It\u2019s more of an uphill battle, but not completely outside the realm of possibility, for a Republican to win, said Scott Spitzer, who teaches political science at Cal State Fullerton.<\/p>\n It depends on identity, he said, and whether candidates choose to focus on issues that would appeal to independent voters \u2014 taxes and cost of living, for example \u2014 rather than more polarizing issues, like gay marriage or climate change denial.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think there\u2019s room for Republicans to win statewide office in California, but that\u2019s not where the state Republican Party in California has been,\u201d said Spitzer. \u201cThey\u2019ve been pursuing a line of politics that\u2019s nationally conservative and Trump-aligned, which doesn\u2019t appeal to the moderate conservative voters in California. It definitely appeals to Republicans in pockets of the state, but it\u2019s not going to win a statewide majority.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/OCR-L-OCSTATEWIDE-0115-22.jpg\")
President John Kennedy has pen in hand as he sign the $4,672,000,000 foreign aid authorization bill in his White House office in Washington August 1, 1962. A large bipartisan congressional delegation was on hand for the ceremony. In the background, from left, are; Sen. Thomas Kuchel, R-Calif., Rep. Francis E. Walter, D-Pa., Rep. Thomas E. Morgan, D-Pa., Rep. Peter Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., Rep. Cornelius E. Gallagher, D.-N.J., and Sen. George D. Aiken, R-Vt. (AP Photo\/John Rous)<\/p>\n![\"Sen.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/OCR-L-OCSTATEWIDE-0115-21.jpg\")
Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.), center gestures while talking to President George Bush on Capitol Hill in Washington to discuss the situation in Los Angeles, May 5, 1992. The president told reporters he was doing \u201ca lot of listening, talking, and explaining where we stand on the federal side on L.A.\u201d Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas looks on at left. (AP Photo\/John Duricka)<\/p>\n