By Michael Hotten KABC News
California republicans are at a crossroads with strong support in Washington D.C. yet a weak position in their home state. A political analyst at Cal State Los Angeles told KABC the state GOP needs to pick a path for the future of the party.
While democrats have been holding support, republicans have seen declines with 27 percent of registered voters in California aligning with the GOP. There has been a growth of Independent voters in California but they tend to vote democratic.
“The situation is pretty traumatic,” Dr Raphael Sonenshein, Executive Director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs, told McIntyre in the Morning. “The Democrats have two-thirds of both houses of the state legislature. I think you are going to start to see in the runoffs in the state primaries will be between two democrats.”
Sonenshein says despite the big gains in Washington, state republicans may need to distance themselves from the party’s national agenda.
“I think the path back is not as horribly impossible as people think. They have to be more socially liberal. Issues like immigration, at least, can’t be in the camp that the national party is in and have a chance in California.”
Sonenshein says California republicans may also need to lighten up on issues like abortion and gay rights to make their party more appealing to California’s left leaning majority.
“A pro business, socially liberal republican party, believe or not, could be popular in California a lot more quicker than you think.”
Sonenshein was a guest on 790 KABC’s McIntyre in the Morning.