{"id":495732,"date":"2026-10-14T11:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T11:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/495732\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T11:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T11:04:13","slug":"why-being-from-california-is-no-longer-a-presidential-asset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/495732\/","title":{"rendered":"Why being from California is no longer a presidential asset"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nearly 40 years have passed since a Californian was president<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Several have pursued the White House<\/a> in the decades since Ronald Reagan ambled into retirement, in January 1989<\/a>. But not a one succeeded. Kamala Harris, who was saved from political purgatory<\/a> when Joe Biden chose her as his running mate<\/a>, came closest \u2014 though not close \u2014 in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 2028 race could bring at least three more California contestants<\/a>, none of whom seem likely to end the state\u2019s presidential dry spell. <\/p>\n

Some of that speaks to the individual flaws and political frailties of those who are, at the least, eyeing a 2028 bid: Harris<\/a>, outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a> and five-term Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The problem they all face is their return address.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a cliche that dates to the \u201860s or \u201870s, or maybe before that,\u201d said Matthew Dallek<\/a>, who was born and raised in Los Angeles and now teaches political management at George Washington University. \u201c\u2018As California goes, so goes the nation.\u2019 I don\u2019t think that world exists anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Or as Jim Newton<\/a>, a former L.A. Times reporter and editor and now a biographer<\/a> and California historian, bluntly put it, the state has migrated in the minds of many beyond its golden confines \u201cfrom a kind of serious west of the West place to a kind of hippy-dippy silly place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not necessarily an accurate assessment on the part of those naysayers, but a damning perception nonetheless<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Political bookends<\/p>\n

In many ways, Reagan and Harris serve as ideal exemplars<\/a> of their home state and how it\u2019s changed \u2014 along with attitudes toward California \u2014 in the decades between Reagan\u2019s 1980 election as president<\/a> and what would be, in 2028, Harris\u2019 third try. <\/p>\n

(The former vice president hasn\u2019t ruled in or out another White House bid. Newsom has said he won\u2019t run if Harris does<\/a>. Khanna is in limbo<\/a> until after November\u2019s midterm election.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Reagan was a product of the nation\u2019s heartland and a California transplant. The state that launched him to the White House was predominantly white and Republican, an arsenal of the Cold War and the birthplace of a grass-roots anti-tax movement<\/a> that swept the nation. His conservatism was seen by many as an antidote to the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia was in some ways on the cutting edge of American politics because it was signaling the direction in which our national politics were trending,\u201d said Dallek, who wrote a book about Reagan\u2019s first electoral victory<\/a>, in the 1966 gubernatorial race. \u201cReagan was kind of the tip of the spear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although leaning to the right, especially in presidential races, California was a robust two-party state until the mid-1990s, with several Democrats holding statewide office<\/a> and long periods when Democrats controlled one or both houses of the Legislature. That competitiveness, along with California\u2019s sizable cache of electoral votes, helped boost Reagan\u2019s political standing nationally.<\/p>\n

Harris was born in Oakland<\/a>, the daughter of a father from Jamaica<\/a> and a mother from India<\/a>. By the time the Democrat left for Washington in 2017, to serve as a U.S. senator<\/a>, then vice president, California had turned as blue as a cloudless desert sky<\/a>. <\/p>\n

California had more brown than white residents<\/a>. The military was no longer the all-mighty economic engine it had been. And with Democrats in hegemonic control of Sacramento, the state had become the country\u2019s preeminent bastion of liberal values and policies<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Many see that progressivism as overly obsessed with identity politics<\/a>, personal pronouns and the like, ignoring practicalities and the day-to-day concerns of most voters.<\/p>\n

California \u201chas sort of gone off the deep end,\u201d said Ken Khachigian, a longtime conservative strategist in Orange County<\/a>, who worked for both Reagan and Richard M. Nixon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Between the two, California had a seat in the White House for more than half a roughly 40-year stretch. Nixon served two terms as vice president before winning the presidency in 1968. His second term was cut short when the Watergate scandal <\/a>drove him from office.)<\/p>\n

Khachigian noted that Republicans rule over states that are just as politically lopsided as California: Indiana, Mississippi, Idaho and Utah, for instance. \u201cBut they don\u2019t seem crazed like California,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s obviously one partisan\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

\u2018Far left … ungovernable\u2019<\/p>\n

But Dallek agreed it\u2019s no longer a political asset to come from California, which much of the country sees as \u201cpretty far to the left.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd somewhat ungovernable at this point,\u201d he added. \u201cYou have incredible, insane amounts of wealth concentrated in places like Silicon Valley and parts of Los Angeles and then you have incredible amounts of poverty and homelessness<\/a>…. There\u2019s not a sense that what\u2019s happening in California really resonates across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a case to be made that California is great and good in so many ways<\/a>, beyond just its incredible natural splendor.<\/a><\/p>\n

It has the world\u2019s fourth-largest economy, as Newsom and others never tire of pointing out<\/a>. It remains on the cutting edge<\/a> of culture, research and technology. It\u2019s still a place that offers fertile ground for the imagination, for reinvention and for second chances. <\/p>\n

Newcomers, from other states and abroad, are welcomed like in few other places. The unofficial California credo \u2014 live and let live \u2014 makes it possible to be one\u2019s authentic self without fear of shame, ostracism or constraint.<\/p>\n

Harris, Newsom<\/a>, Khanna or any Democrat hailing from California will doubtless argue those virtues are what makes the state truly shine<\/a>, convinced it\u2019s a model they can sell the rest of America.<\/p>\n

Good luck with that.<\/p>\n

What else you should be reading<\/p>\n

Get smart: Is there a doctor in the House? Backlash to Trump, RFK Jr. may boost their political ranks<\/a>
The deep dive: Republican Steve Hilton leans on cheeky ads, voter discontent in long-shot campaign for governor<\/a>
The L.A. Times Special:Take a breath. Educate yourself. Then vote.<\/a><\/p>\n

Until next time,
mzb
\u2014
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