California Republican leaders are offering varied reactions after President Donald Trump’s address to the nation about the 2020 election, with several emphasizing election security while stopping short of broadly embracing his claims.<\/p>\n
Trump said foreign interference and vulnerabilities in the election process had been hidden from the public.<\/p>\n
A day after the president’s address, Craig DeLuz, first vice chair of the Sacramento County Republican Party, said he did not believe a national address was necessarily needed to discuss the issue.<\/p>\n
Still, DeLuz said Trump highlighted legitimate concerns about election security.<\/p>\n
“These vulnerabilities exist, and the fact that there are entities that are seeking to take advantage of those vulnerabilities, I think he wanted to underscore how important it was that we address those,” DeLuz said.<\/p>\n
Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio is backing Proposition 39, which will appear on the November ballot and would require voters to present identification at the polls and require officials to perform citizenship reviews of voter lists.<\/p>\n
Following Trump’s address, DeMaio said he is frustrated by partisan fighting in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
“Let’s end the Democrats and Republican politicians, politicians fighting about election integrity, and let’s just get on with it. Let’s get it done. And the easiest way to do that is the Prop 39 initiative contains ideas that both Democratic voters and Republican voters and independents in between support,” DeMaio said.<\/p>\n
Rep. Kevin Kiley, a former Republican who is now an independent, said Congress should focus on current legislative priorities instead of continuing to discuss the 2020 election.<\/p>\n
“We have a major highway bill that still needs to get through the House and Senate and signed into law. So, these are kind of the nuts and bolts of governing that we really should be focused on,” Kiley said.<\/p>\n
California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin declined an interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a statement, she said, “President Trump is right that every American must have full confidence that our elections are secure, honest, and counted accurately. In California, that starts with passing Prop. 39, the voter ID initiative, and Congress must pass the SAVE America Act, so every legal vote is protected, voter rolls are clean, and trust in our elections is restored.”<\/p>\n
ABC10 asked whether the California Republican Party agrees with Trump’s claims about the 2020 election and whether the party believes California has secure, honest elections that are counted accurately. A party spokesperson declined to clarify and referred back to Rankin’s statement.<\/p>\n
Republican lawmakers Tom McClintock and James Gallagher also declined interview requests and did not provide statements.<\/p>\n
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