{"id":469955,"date":"2026-09-20T11:46:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T11:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/469955\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T11:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T11:46:17","slug":"california-republicans-walk-tightrope-as-trump-jumps-into-campaigning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/469955\/","title":{"rendered":"California Republicans walk tightrope as Trump jumps into campaigning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0As President Trump tells supporters to vote in November as if he were on the ballot, California Republicans in tight congressional races are sending a different message to voters.<\/p>\n

The four California Republicans running in the state\u2019s most competitive U.S. House races, plus a fifth opposing a fellow Republican in a close contest, are appearing to keep some distance from Trump as they campaign ahead of the Nov. 3 election. <\/p>\n

They all skipped the president\u2019s midterm convention in Dallas this month. Two candidates in tough races removed references to Trump on their campaign websites. And most are favoring a heavy focus on local and state issues in their campaigns \u2014 a contrast to Trump\u2019s approach, driven home in Dallas, of casting the election as a loyalty exercise.<\/p>\n

\"President <\/p>\n

President Trump watches as balloons fall at the Republican convention.<\/p>\n

(Alex Brandon \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to do me the biggest favor you\u2019ve ever done me. You\u2019ve got to do this for me: You have to pretend I am on the ticket,\u201d Trump told a crowd at the GOP midterm convention. \u201cPretend I am on the ticket because this is going to turn out to be one of the most important elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dynamic within the GOP reflects several competing factors: the need to attract new voters in districts made more purple by California\u2019s redistricting, the hope that Trump can rally the base while candidates focus on swing voters, and the fear among Republicans that the president\u2019s flagging approval ratings could cost them crucial seats in the midterms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a bit of jujitsu to it,\u201d said Rob Stutzman, a longtime California Republican consultant. \u201cThese candidates are hoping that Trump motivates these voters to vote … [while they] focus on gaining votes, particularly from independents who don\u2019t like the president right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s redistricting under Proposition 50, which redrew the congressional map to be more favorable to Democrats, also handed Republican candidates the necessity of persuading more unaffiliated voters and moderate Democrats \u2014 likely a major factor in their stances toward the White House, said Pete Peterson, dean of the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the degree that Republican candidates are distancing themselves, they\u2019re understanding that they\u2019re actually appealing to newer electorates,\u201d Peterson said. \u201c[The districts] have been made more moderate, more purple, and candidates may be responding accordingly as a way of trying to attract those voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facing headwinds<\/p>\n

The party in power typically faces an uphill battle in midterm elections, and vulnerable candidates often distance themselves from the sitting president. As Republicans fight to keep control of the House and Senate in November, however, they are dealing with particularly serious challenges stemming from Trump\u2019s low favorability rating and public frustration with the economy, the war in Iran and the escalating trade war with Canada.<\/p>\n

Trump largely has dismissed concerns about the economy and the war, even as polling shows<\/a> both are weighing heavily on voters. He also has exacerbated challenges for his party amid the growing public backlash to data centers and artificial intelligence, doubling down on his support<\/a> for AI advancement in recent days even as GOP candidates in tight races look to respond to constituents\u2019 concerns. <\/p>\n

He also drew criticism from some within his party after promising to give a $5,000 payment to every adult citizen if Republicans win the House and Senate in November, a legally murky<\/a> idea. <\/p>\n

Still, Trump has urged Republican lawmakers in tough reelection campaigns to run on his record and earlier this month vowed to spend the last month before the election stumping for candidates in 35 battleground races, including in Alaska and Texas. He has not yet mentioned plans for California.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll you have to do is talk about it, and you\u2019re going to win and you\u2019re going to win big,\u201d Trump said of his record.<\/p>\n

Candidates nationwide seem unconvinced. A Washington Post analysis<\/a> found that Republican politicians have stopped mentioning Trump on social media, doing so about half as often as they did in January. Many in competitive races skipped his convention, and in recent weeks some have broken with him on data centers and the payout pitch.<\/p>\n

In California, the headwinds for the GOP were captured in a survey released last week: A greater share of independents said they would vote for the Democratic candidate over the Republican in their House districts, the Public Policy Institute of California<\/a> found, and a majority of likely voters polled Sept. 4-10 said they would choose the Democratic candidate if the election were held now.<\/p>\n

\"Robert <\/p>\n

Robert Rivera, left, of San Jos\u00e9 and Corky Galey of Modesto listen to gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton during a town hall in Modesto on Aug. 26.<\/p>\n

(Sara Nevis\/For The Times)<\/p>\n

Last week, Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton\u2019s campaign blasted a fundraising text to voters that began: \u201cWe get it. Maybe you don\u2019t like Trump. Maybe you can\u2019t stand MAGA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats have seized on the dynamic. <\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia Republicans know their loyalty to a toxic MAGA brand is a losing strategy,\u201d said Anna Elsasser, spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. \u201cUnlucky for them, no desperate rebrand can save them from their clear record of broken promises \u2014 from raising costs, to ripping away health care, to supporting another forever war everyone hates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaning on the local \"Rep. <\/p>\n

Rep. Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills) stripped her campaign website of the \u201cAmerica first\u201d branding and references to Trump that defined it before the primary.<\/p>\n

(Bill Clark \/ CQ Roll Call via Associated Press)<\/p>\n

In Orange County, Rep. Young Kim \u2014 in a close contest with fellow Republican Ken Calvert \u2014 has stripped her campaign website of the \u201cAmerica first\u201d branding and references to Trump that defined it before the primary. And in Northern California, Rep. James Gallagher has scrubbed Trump\u2019s endorsement from his campaign website, which months ago prominently featured his close ties to the president.<\/p>\n

Other candidates in tight races \u2014 Rep. David Valadao, running for reelection in the Central Valley; Kevin Lincoln, challenging Democratic Rep. Adam Gray; and Jim Desmond, running to fill the seat of retiring Republican Rep. Darrell Issa \u2014 have leaned on campaign optics centered around their regions rather than on sharply partisan politics. <\/p>\n

None of the three attended Trump\u2019s convention. Valadao rarely mentions Trump on social media and is the last House Republican still running who voted for Trump\u2019s second impeachment. Desmond does not mention his support from Trump on his endorsements web page; Lincoln does. <\/p>\n

Rep. Kevin Kiley, who left the Republican Party this year after his district was redrawn<\/a> and after he clashed with Trump over tariffs, also is making an appeal to middle-of-the-road voters, promoting legislation around AI safeguards while taking aim at Sacramento policies. Kiley still caucuses with congressional Republicans but says he won\u2019t if reelected.<\/p>\n

Representatives for Gallagher, Lincoln, Desmond and Valadao did not respond to requests for comment. <\/p>\n

Chris Pack, a spokesperson for Kim, said she was \u201cproud of her work with President Trump to deliver results for Southern California.\u201d But he framed her race as a choice between Kim and her opponent, saying the campaign\u2019s messaging is focused on Calvert\u2019s record. Pack didn\u2019t answer a question about the removal of Trump\u2019s name from Kim\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Moves like Kim\u2019s and Gallagher\u2019s are angled at conveying to moderate voters that \u201cthey\u2019re not going to be beholden to the party line, they\u2019re simply going to run on common sense,\u201d and may give centrist Democratic voters \u201cpermission\u201d to consider the candidates, said one GOP operative who works in the state, granted anonymity in order to speak candidly.<\/p>\n

In competitive districts like the ones California Republicans are trying to hold on to, Trump\u2019s ask for voters to pretend he\u2019s on the ballot is \u201cprobably not as helpful,\u201d the operative said.<\/p>\n

Instead, strategists see the local focus as the most effective strategy for California Republicans, along with a focus on statewide issues that allow them to counter policies of Gov. Gavin Newsom that they perceive as unpopular with voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia Republicans know what\u2019s best for their districts,\u201d the operative said. \u201cThey all have their own independent records and are pretty well-known by their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans are making the case that California\u2019s long-term affordability issues, which far predate the current national economic landscape, have been exacerbated and mishandled by Democrats. The party also is leaning on an argument that Democrats are overly focused on Trump and have few substantive policy solutions.<\/p>\n

\"Texas <\/p>\n

Texas attendees hold up flags and cowboys hats at the Republican convention.<\/p>\n

(Smiley N. Pool \/ Dallas Morning News via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Mike Madrid, a veteran California Republican political consultant, argued that a last-minute rebrand is unlikely to stick for candidates whose party has built a political identity around loyalty to the president and his policies. He said Republicans\u2019 retreat is a sign of how Trump\u2019s popularity is dwindling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t call that subtle in politics,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re distancing yourself from the president of your own party, a man that everybody\u2019s been championing as a political and cultural hero in those parts, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s subtle at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked to make his case to midterm voters in an interview last week, Vice President JD Vance argued that Americans should give his party more time to deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive us another chance,\u201d Vance said on the All-In Podcast<\/a>. \u201cGive us another couple of years to continue to work on the amazing things that we have been doing for the past two years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0As President Trump tells supporters to vote in November as if he were on the ballot, California Republicans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,6198,38109,13540,1751,4579,117159,25794,3906,24696,3020,5681,106351,1519,1522,2664],"class_list":["post-469955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-republicans","tag-campaign-website","tag-candidate","tag-democrats","tag-district","tag-jim-desmond","tag-kim","tag-month","tag-party","tag-president-trump","tag-record","tag-republican-candidate","tag-trump","tag-voter","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}