While former President Donald Trump solidifies his hold over the party, some Republicans in California aren’t so eager to embrace him.
Only one California Republican representative, Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), definitively said he would not endorse Trump, but several more have been evasive, Politico found. The reasons vary from district to district and reflect the unique situation of California’s Republican Party.
The main category that these representatives fall into is centrists occupying purple districts, who are careful not to offend their constituents. Their main hope in holding their office appears to be to distance themselves from the polarizing former president.
On the other hand, they must also be wary of being too critical of Trump, which would risk alienating his supporters in their district.
“The Republicans were very disaffected and don’t like the party under Trump. But they’re not Democrats,” an anti-Trump consultant, Mike Madrid, told the outlet, referring to Republicans within the state, adding that some Republican representatives there are “calculating, probably quite accurately, that their voters are going to vote against Donald Trump as opposed to for Biden.”
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Another reason for Trump skepticism among California Republicans is a high presence of Asians and Pacific islanders in several Republican districts, who have taken offense to some of Trump’s remarks about Asians in the past.
Other cases are harder to identify, such as Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), who occupies a deep-red district southeast of Sacramento but has avoided endorsing Trump. He endorsed Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) early in the presidential GOP primary before he dropped out.
