California GOP loses big on top issues, costly races

LOS ANGELES – The Republican tide that candidates Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina promised would wash over California instead crashed against the peaks of the Sierra Nevada, turning Election Day 2010 into a GOP trouncing in the nation’s most populous state.

Republicans had promised that a multimillion-dollar voter registration effort and get-out-the vote drive would lead to major victories in the state that has been turning ever more to the left, where Democrats hold a 13 percentage point voter registration edge.

Instead, Whitman lost to Democrat Jerry Brown by a whopping 12 percentage points after pouring $142 million of her own money into her campaign for governor in the most expensive state race in American history. Fiorina lost to incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer by 9 percentage points, more than expected.

The GOP also lost every other statewide office except attorney general, which remained too close to call.

Moreover, Republican lawmakers will lose leverage in the state Capitol after voters approved a Democratic Party-backed measure to lower the legislative vote threshold for passing the state budget from two-thirds to a simple majority.

Voters also rejected a ballot initiative attempting to suspend a greenhouse gas emissions law that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed in 2006. Most Republicans supported Tuesday’s ballot measure while Democrats opposed it.

The GOP’s focus on issues such as immigration also has alienated many Latino and Asian voters in California.

“It’s probably fair to say that most Californians differ with the Republican Party on a variety of key issues,” said Ethan Rarick, director of the Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service at the University of California, Berkeley. “They are more likely to be liberal on a variety of social issues, such as abortion and gay marriage.”

This year, the Republican Party fielded a more diverse ticket, including two female former CEOs in the top races, and still fell short. Even incumbent Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, a Latino Republican who is the son of migrant farm workers, lost his bid for a full term to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat.

The Election Day outcome left Democrats beaming over their success, which also included fending off strong challengers in a handful of close state legislative races.

GOP ranks in California have eroded steadily during the past decade, falling from 35 percent of registered voters to 31 percent, as the number of independents has grown by about the same amount.