Twelve of the 13 GOP no votes on the House tax plan came from the three states, with three from the Golden State: Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, Darrell Issa of Vista, and Tom McClintock of Elk Grove. There were fears of more defections because both the House and Senate plans would only allow tax filers to take up to a $10,000 deduction in property taxes, only a little more than half the average $18,000-plus deduction in California. The House plan would also only allow deduction of mortgage interest on up to $500,000 on a home loan, down from the present $1 million.

But a compromise was reached allowing individual filers to take a deduction of up to $10,000 on any combination of combined income, property and sales taxes. The allowable deduction of mortgage interest on a home loan rose to $750,000.

To cover the revenue lost because of the changes, the 20 percent corporate tax rate approved in both the House and Senate bills rose to 21 percent – still down sharply from the present 35 percent.

It is not clear whether the concessions would stem defections from GOPers representing high-tax stakes. The House bill passed 227-205 last month, meaning Speaker Paul Ryan doesn’t have many extra votes to spare.

Two New York Republican House members – Peter King and Dan Donovan – were rebuffed in their bid to retain the present complete deductibility of state and local taxes for families earning less than $400,000 per year and to gradually phase out the deduction for higher-income earners in coming years.

Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-New York, was one of the few on-the-fence lawmakers to offer immediate comment on the compromise.

“Many middle-income taxpayers … were promised a tax cut and won’t being seeing the tax relief that they’re expecting,” he told the Los Angeles Times.

State Democrats, housing advocates see likely tax change as devastating

Two tax proposals that drew withering fire from California Democrats and higher education leaders, including UC President Janet Napolitano, were scrapped. One would have eliminated the deduction for interest on student loans and the other would have classified graduate-school tuition waivers as taxable income.

But changes to the tax code that California Democrats and advocates for the poor say will ravage construction of affordable housing appear on track for adoption. The changes make low-income housing tax credits that businesses use to reduce their tax liability less attractive. The credits have defrayed the cost of 40 percent of some major housing projects in Northern California, according to a Bay Area News Group report last week.

“All the work that we did this year, the hard work of advocates working for years, if not decades on this, could be wiped out overnight if Donald Trump and his Republican allies are successful in passing the so-called tax reform,” Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, told a BANG reporter.

Chiu is chairman of the Assembly’s Housing & Community Development Committee.

The latest update of Roll Call’s

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, is rated as a toss-up to win a 10th term. His 49th District covers north and northwest San Diego County and south Orange County. Last election, Issa defeated lawyer and retired Marine Col. Doug Applegate by 1,621 votes – the smallest margin of victory of any House race in 2016.

Applegate is running again and is joined by at least three fellow Democrats: San Juan Capistrano environmental lawyer Mike Levin, Rancho Santa Fe businessman Paul Kerr and Del Mar native Sara Jacobs, a former official in the Obama State Department and the granddaughter of Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs. Levin has a solid lead in fundraising, according to the most recent reports.

Issa has sought to distance himself from Trump and to present himself as more of a moderate, but his Vista office has been the target of dozens of protests over the past year.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, is rated as being in a “tilt GOP” race – defined by Roll Call as an essentially even race in which Rohrabacher may have a very small edge to win his 16th term in the House. Rohrabacher’s 48th District covers most of coastal Orange County and some inland communities.

Rohrabacher won 58 percent to 42 percent in 2016 over Democrat Suzanne Savary, a retired USC professor and business owner. But he’s since had a rough year in the national media over his unusual enthusiasm for Russia and friendships with Russian officials. A Nov. 21 New York Times story noted that “the Kremlin likes him so much it gave him a code name.”

Several Democrats are expected to challenge Rohrabacher in 2018. The one who appears to have generated the most excitement among national party officials is Hans Keirstead, a Laguna Beach resident who is a stem cell pioneer and entrepreneur. But Keirstead trails Laguna Beach businessman Harley Rouda in fundraising, according to the most recent reports.

Multiple Democrats line up to challenge each incumbent

Three other California House GOP incumbents are rated as having 2018 “lean” in their direction – meaning that while a very close race is likely, they appear to have a slight advantage.

Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, is seeking a 14th term. His 39th District is centered in central northeast Orange County, with some communities in south Los Angeles County and a sliver of San Bernardino County. In 2016, he won by 14 percent over Democrat Brett Murdock, a former Brea mayor.

He’s also likely to face several Democratic challengers. The list includes former Obama administration official Sam Jammal, philanthropist Gil Cisneros, pediatrician Mai Khan and Villa Park health insurance executive Andy Thorburn, who has a huge lead in fundraising because he loaned his campaign $2 million.

Rep. Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, is seeking a third term. His 25th District covers northern Los Angeles County and a chunk of Ventura County. In 2016, he won by 6 percent over Democratic attorney Bryan Caforio, who is running again. There are several other Democrats running, but it is Caforio and anti-homelessness activist Katie Hill who have gotten the most financial support. Caforio raised more funds than Knight over a recent three-month stretch, and Hill raised nearly as much.

Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, is seeking his fifth term. In 2016, he won his seat in the 10th District in the northern San Joaquin Valley by 2.4 percent over farmer Michael Eggman. At least eight Democrats, including former House candidate TJ Cox, are running against Denham. Josh Harder, a venture capitalist, has a huge early lead in fundraising, with Cox a distant second.

Denham has already been targeted with harsh TV ads paid for by a super PAC linking him to bankers associated with the Great Recession, which hit the Central Valley particularly hard.

The Costa Mesa Republican denounced a recent announcement from UC that campus police would not be cooperating with federal officials in deportation efforts of undocumented immigrants.

“Your commitment to spending scarce resources to finance people illegally present in the United States is unacceptable and a flagrant misuse of taxpayer money,” Rohrabacher wrote. “This is an insult to Americans and legal immigrants who pay your salary.”

While sanctuary policies align with the state’s liberal lean, one of the main policy reasons supporters turn to is that by creating a space where deportation is off the table, undocumented immigrants are more likely to cooperate with police in other investigations. 

“It is in the best interest of all members of the UC community to encourage cooperation with the investigation of criminal activity,” according to the UC statement. “To encourage such cooperation, all individuals, regardless of their immigration status, must feel secure that contacting or being addressed by UC police officers will not automatically lead to an immigration inquiry and/or a risk of removal.”

The UC system gets more than half of its research funding from the federal government, which Rohrabacher claimed is jeopardized by resistance to the upcoming administration. 

“I assure you that, in the next session of Congress, those who receive and spend federal dollars in a manner that includes people illegally present in our country will find it difficult to obtain those funds,” Rohrabacher wrote. 

The issue of sanctuary campuses is a small part of a bigger showdown between California and President-elect Donald Trump. While Trump campaigned heavily on a tough stance on immigration — which included mass deportation and the construction of a wall along the country’s southern border — California Democrats have since announced their intention to fight those efforts at every turn. 

Though Rohrabacher initially supported a different candidate in the Republican primary, he eventually came around to Trump with a full-throated endorsement, even going so far as to call other Republicans “gutless” who backed away from Trump at times of turmoil. His name was even floated as a potential candidate for secretary of state, although he was not chosen.  

Top Democratic donor  Tom Steyer considered for Cabinet position

Good morning. Have a good Tuesday! We start this morning with someone else’s story — but it’s a good story.

“Tom Steyer, the billionaire climate activist and possible candidate for California governor, was under consideration to become President Barack Obama’s first energy secretary, according to a hacked email exchange released Monday by WikiLeaks.”

“John Podesta, an Obama transition adviser and now chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, included Steyer’s name for the Cabinet post in September 2008 correspondence,” but Steyer was passed over.

“Emails from 2012, also disclosed by WikiLeaks, showed Podesta discussing a planned meeting between Steyer and former President Bill Clinton. Podesta wrote in the exchange that he would try to push Steyer to support the Clinton Foundation.”

“The praise heaped on Steyer, a major Democratic donor, by one of Clinton’s top advisers is being scrutinized for its political ramifications in California. Should Clinton win next month, she may look to Steyer for a Cabinet position, giving him direct White House policy experience and a formal title as he mulls a run for governor.”

The Sacramento Bee has more. 

In other news:

• “Climate change from human activity nearly doubled the area that burned in forest fires in the American West over the past 30 years, a major new scientific study has found, and larger, more intense fires are all but guaranteed in the years ahead,” writes The San Jose Mercury News. 

• “If Prop. 55 passes, the state budget will rely even more on California’s highest earners,” reports the Los Angeles Times. (Many budget experts think this is a troubling trend.)

• The always-zigging-when-others-are-zagging Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, called “GOP leaders ‘gutless’ for bailing on Trump.” The Orange County Register has more.

• “Over the past four decades, (actor Mike Farrell), who has wielded his celebrity to bring attention to social and political issues in Central America, the Middle East and Africa, has become a leading voice against the death penalty. This year, he is the author of a ballot measure that seeks to end capital punishment in California. For Farrell, the cause has taken precedence over others because at its root, he says, is the idea that some people are dispensable.” The Los Angeles Times has more.

Legislature:

• Gone ’til December. 

Gov. Brown: 

• No public events announced.

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As election day nears, California’s likely vote on recreational pot has drawn policymakers, politicians and law enforcement into an uncertain but probably decisive debate. 

While many Democrats have generally come to view recreational marijuana as an inevitability in the Golden State, Republicans have managed to hold the line of official opposition. As the Sacramento Bee reported, GOP members recently voted at their weekend convention against supporting recreational pot. But some traditional Republican allies have begun to give way. Law enforcement officials have now split on the issue; while many remain convinced that legalizing the drug would complicate their work and create more opportunities for crime, others, as the Los Angeles Times reported, have embraced the notion that reform is needed.

Dividing police

Ventura Police Chief Ken Corney, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, has gone on record capturing cops’ fears that unexpected challenges presented by legalization in Colorado could put California in a painful situation. According to Corney, “extremely potent marijuana is being sold in Colorado that he fears will lead to high addiction rates and high incidents of psychosis,” the Times reported separately.

As the paper also noted, former LAPD deputy chief Steve Downing recently claimed that “continued criminalization benefits the cartels, street gangs — they are the ones regulating it now. When prohibition on alcohol ended it killed off the businesses of men like Al Capone. The same will happen here.”

Downing made his remarks at an event with Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has spearheaded support for the ballot initiative that would legalize recreational pot. Newsom, laboring to unite skittish Democrats behind the measure, framed the move as a mature reaction to the failure of the War on Drugs. At the big roll-out for the initiative’s campaign, as the Sacramento Bee reported, Newsom was joined by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, one of California’s leading Republican figures, who made the civil libertarian case for legal pot. “We got a criminal justice system spending billions of dollars,” he argued, “to try to take care of someone who wants to smoke weed in his backyard.” In a sign of how tenuous Republican opposition to legal pot may become, Rohrabacher went so far as to invoke Ronald Reagan’s call to destroy the Berlin Wall, asking Californians to “join in tearing down this wall” of prohibition. 

The church factor

Yet another source of potential opposition, however, has become a target for pro-legalization forces. “There’s an even bigger wall that supporters of legalization need to scale,” as the San Francisco Chronicle observed. “It’s the wall surrounding churches in many African American and Latino communities. Getting over that wall will be one of the keys to winning the legalization campaign being steered by a combination of political pros and longtime advocates.”

“Six years ago, when California NAACP Chairwoman Alice Huffman was one of the few black leaders to support the failed Proposition 19 legalization measure, she couldn’t even get inside African American churches to talk about the issue. A group of black leaders led by a Sacramento pastor called for her ouster, as they wondered why ‘would the state NAACP advocate for blacks to stay high?’ Their opposition closed many church doors to Huffman and other legalization advocates.”

Planning ahead

Betting that voters will side with the drug, Sacramento has wasted no time in getting started on legislation that would closely regulate some effects of recreational marijuana on everyday life. At least four bills on lawmakers’ desks intervene at the intersection of pot and economics. “Assembly Bill 821 will allow dispensaries to pay their sales taxes in cash,” while “AB1575 makes the foul-sounding Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA) into the more neutral Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA), and calls for other changes to facilitate pot banking, like protection from criminal liability,” according to East Bay Express. “AB2243 is a tax on medical pot growers of $9.25 per ounce for lowers, $2.75 for leaves, $1.25 per immature plant,” the paper added. “AB2385 smooths the way for Los Angeles dispensaries to get state permits.”

Donald Trump has complicated the already difficult task California Republicans face in blunting Kamala Harris’s dominant campaign for Senate. 

With an already unfavorable race to replace Sen. Barbara Boxer ramping up, analysts have cautioned the GOP that Trump’s evident lock on the nomination will likely reverberate throughout the balloting on Election Day. “Republicans are already struggling to make headway in the 34-candidate primary,” the Washington Post reported. “The leading Democrats — Attorney General Kamala Harris and Rep. Loretta Sanchez — now are even more likely to advance to November, California political operatives said following Trump’s Indiana victory [May 3].”

“Polls have consistently shown Harris leading the California race, with one out this week putting her support at 29 percent, followed by Sanchez with 18 percent. The next closest competitor is Republican Tom Del Becarro, a former chairman of the California Republican Party, who drew 10 percent support in the KABC/Survey USA poll. Close on his heels are Ron Unz, a Republican activist with 8 percent and Duf Sundheim, a former state party chairman, with 7 percent.”

Continuing a pattern of controversy and minor chaos surround the campaign, Trump’s delegate slate sent several shock waves through California and beyond. Former Republican Assemblyman Bob Pacheco wound up on the slate through no effort or intention of his own, prompting Pacheco to warn the campaign not to expect his support.

Delegate drama

And that was only the beginning. “The news comes the day after the revelation that a Los Angeles-area white nationalist had been named a member of Trump’s slate,” the Los Angeles Times reported. “A Trump aide said William Johnson’s inclusion on a list of delegates submitted Monday to the California secretary of state’s office was an error. The campaign has since said Johnson and Pacheco will be struck from the delegate rolls.” The ordeals, according to the Times, entrenched the view among Trump’s Golden State adversaries that his ground operation was a shambles:

“In California, Katie Lagomarsino is Trump’s delegate coordinator. But according to public records and a person who knows her, Lagomarsino is a 22-year-old who was in the midst of studying for college finals as the delegate selection process took place. She worked briefly as an assistant at a Sacramento-based political fundraising firm.”

No consensus has emerged as to which GOP Senate candidate stands the most to gain or lose thanks to Trump. “The problem for the party is that the leading Republicans in the Senate race — former state GOP chairmen Tom Del Beccaro and Duf Sundheim, and physicist and entrepreneur Ron Unz — are essentially unknown,” the Associated Press noted. “Del Beccaro and Sundheim have struggled with fundraising, and it’s not clear how much money Unz will commit to the race from his own checkbook.” 

Chasing attention

But as state Republicans begin to line up behind Trump, the exposure problem could disappear fast. From Rep. Dana Rohrabacher to Rep. Kevin McCarthy, leading officeholders have pitched their support as a matter of party loyalty and political honor, as the San Francisco Chronicle observed: “My fellow Republicans should grow up and admit that we have to do what the voters want to do, and we’re not in control, the voters are,” Rohrabacher said. Rep. Darrell Issa, who had earlier cautioned against nominating Trump, recently characterized anti-Trump diehards as members of “the consultant and donor classes, established opinion writers, think-tank officials and other Washington wise men.”

Given that landscape, Republican Senate candidates laboring for attention could find themselves with surprising opportunities to seize public attention. While the former chairmen could quickly rise to prominence by pitting themselves against the presumptive nominee, Unz could capitalize on the populist environment and present himself as offering all the disruptive advantages of Trump and none of the personality or policy-driven disadvantages. 

On Friday, Scott Baugh — both a former state legislator and former chairman of the Orange County Republican Party — filed paperwork to run in Rohrabacher’s congressional district, raising questions of both his intentions and Rohrabacher’s.

Baugh did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but Rohrabacher spokesman Ken Grubbs told CalWatchdog it was his understanding that Baugh was just laying the foundation for a run when Rohrabacher steps aside.

At this point in the election cycle, Baugh would have a difficult time if he were to challenge Rohrabacher. The longtime incumbent has strong name ID and in 2014 he beat Democrat Suzanne Savary 64.2 percent to 35.8.

And since California has a top-two primary system, Baugh would have to either win a primary outright or finish ahead of either Rohrabacher or Savary, who filed in October to run again.

Savary would likely draw many Democratic votes in the heavily Republican-leaning district, leaving Rohrabacher and Baugh to split the rest. However, she too faces a tough climb, having only $14,700 in her campaign account, according to FEC filings. Meanwhile, Rohrabacher finished 2015 with $205,000 cash on hand.

The largely coastal Orange County district is in the expensive greater Los Angeles media market, so Baugh would need to hurry to “raise enough money to mount a credible challenge,” according Kevin Kondick, the managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Rohrabacher was first elected to Congress in 1988. Before that, he served as a speech writer for President Ronald Reagan. Rohrabacher filed paperwork for re-election in July of 2015.

Rohrabacher told the the Orange County Register, which first broke the news of Baugh’s intentions on Friday, “Scott is just laying the foundation for a race for Congress when I am no longer a member … but I don’t know when that’s going to be.”

A confident Rohrabacher added, “(Baugh) does know that if a Republican gets elected (president), I could get a top-level appointment. … He just wants to make sure if that happens, he’s ready to have a running start.”

Already, state officials have begun their search for the right candidate to head the new Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation. In a development that will have pot advocates divided on the balance between increased freedom and increased bureaucracy, the position will combine “the drudgery of administering — say setting up IT systems for the bureau and crafting the minutiae of regulation policy” — with the kinds of perks and powers that are the envy of career policymakers, as the San Francisco Chronicle suggested:

“The chosen candidate will get a rare chance in Sacramento — the opportunity to create a brand new wing of the bureaucracy. The weed czar will hire perhaps 40 to 50 people, whose salary would be paid for with the waves of new cannabis licensing fees created by California’s recently passed medical marijuana law.”

Growing independence

The job has opened up at a time when elected officials have ratcheted up their support for decriminalization. Members of California’s Congressional delegation have kept up a testy exchange with federal prosecutors cracking down on high-profile dispensaries. Last week, Reps. Barbara Lee and Dana Rohrabacher implored Attorney General Loretta Lynch “to reconsider enforcement actions against California’s medical cannabis dispensaries following comprehensive, stringent and enforceable industry regulations recently signed into law,” as The Weed Blog noted.

“We are concerned that the Department of Justice continues to threaten individuals and businesses acting within the scope of state law on the medicinal use of marijuana despite formal guidance on exercising prosecutorial discretion and recent changes to federal law. It is counterproductive and economically prohibitive to continue a path of hostility toward dispensaries,” wrote Lee and Rohrabacher.

Coming to grips

But new regulations out of Sacramento have been put in place that would tighten the screws on the state’s longstanding laxity on prescriptions for pot. As ABC News reported, although California “has disciplined only eight doctors in 20 years for improper marijuana recommendations,” the “laid-back approach may change. The state recently enacted legislation to require the Medical Board to crack down on doctors who write recommendations without a proper patient exam or valid medical reason.”

Nationwide, California’s status quo had inspired other states grappling with marijuana regulation to take an even tougher approach. “Lawmakers in Illinois, New Jersey and other states have tried to avoid California’s drop-in, instant exams by attempting to define in legislation a legitimate doctor-patient relationship,” added the network. “Laws commonly call for a ‘bona fide’ relationship with a physical exam and review of medical records. New Jersey doctors must register in a publicly viewable database and take courses in addiction medicine and pain management.”

Changing labor

Among the wrinkles in the marijuana economy that regulators have yet to iron out, the influx of so-called “trimmigrants” has drawn increased attention. Annual migrants who flood into California pot country to cash in on the crop preparation season have crystallized California’s love-hate relationship with gray-market labor. “The migrant workers contribute to the economy, but many effectively are homeless,” the Press-Democrat reported. “Though the growers who employ them typically provide housing or a place to camp, when not working, they camp illegally in parks, alleys and along railroad tracks and rivers. Some can’t find jobs and turn to panhandling and frequenting food banks.”

On the other hand, native Californians have proven unwilling to compete for the jobs. Wheres trimmers “previously tended to be local residents and people who followed the music festival circuit, then stayed on the North Coast at the end of the festival season to process pot,” the new outside migrants “tend to be educated, hard workers who also cook and clean. Some marijuana farmers prefer them over locals, some of whom act as though they’re entitled to high pay and free meals,” the founder of one of the area’s premier festival pot contests told the paper.

An abuse of power

In the letter, obtained by the Huffington Post, Reps. Sam Farr, D-Calif., and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., requested that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz open an internal investigation into the department’s continued prosecutions of marijuana dispensaries, against what they said was the clear letter and intent of the law.

In its Appropriations Act for 2015, Congress had passed a provision introduced by Rohrabacher and Farr designed and intended to ward off federal interference with marijuana-related businesses operating legally under state law.

“We, the authors of the language, and our many colleagues — including those who opposed the amendment — laid on the record repeatedly that the intent and the language of the provision was to stop DOJ from interacting with anyone legitimately doing business in medical marijuana in accordance with state law,” wrote the Congressmen.

Signed into law by president Obama, the amendment received a second vote of approval from Representatives this summer. “As the marijuana provision is part of an annual funding bill that will expire,” noted the Huffington Post, “the lawmakers introduced an identical version again in June, which was reauthorized by the House of Representatives.”

In April, Farr and Rohrabacher had also demanded that Attorney General Eric Holder “stop prosecution of state-authorized medical marijuana dispensaries” in observance of the same provision, as the Orange County Register reported.

Federal legalese

But the Department of Justice chose to interpret the law in the most hostile manner possible, the lawmakers suggested, citing an April statement by DOJ spokesman Patrick Rodenbush. As the Los Angeles Times reported, Rodenbush said Rohrabacher-Farr, as the appropriations amendment was known, didn’t apply to prosecutions directed at persons or groups:

Rather, he said, it stops the department from “impeding the ability of states to carry out their medical marijuana laws,” contrary to some claims from people being prosecuted that the amendment blocks such prosecutions.

As the Times then observed, this “narrow interpretation of the law” had particularly strong implications in the San Francisco Bay Area, “where the Justice Department has initiated forfeiture proceedings against three medical marijuana dispensaries it considers to be in violation of federal law.”

Outgoing U.S. Attorney for Northern California Melinda Haag had become notorious among pro-pot advocates and businesspeople, joining “the three other regional U.S. attorneys in California in cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries perceived to be large-scale commercial enterprises,” as Pleasanton Weekly recounted. One dispensary facing the brunt of Haag’s crusade, Harborside Health Center, met the news of her departure with what executive director Steve DeAngelo called “great relief and great satisfaction.”

“In Ms. Haag’s parting statement she said she felt her office had ‘accomplished most of our goals’ during her tenure,” DeAngelo said in a statement. “The one goal she most assuredly has not accomplished is closing down Harborside Health Center. We hope her successor will have a more finely tuned understanding of compassion and justice than Ms. Haag has displayed, and allow Harborside to focus on serving our patients instead of battling a court case that should never have been started.”

Conflicting actions

Although the Department of Justice could opt to ignore the mismatch between its conduct and the law, the law itself would hold them to account for doing so. At stake is the applicability of the Anti-Deficiency Act, as Farr and Rohrabacher argued; as Reason indicated, that law “makes it a crime to use federal money for purposes that are not approved by Congress.”

For decades at the national level, moderate, centrist and liberal Republicans have urged the GOP to pivot leftward on social issues in order to broaden the size of the party’s base. But in California, that strategy has long been baked into the cake of the political establishment’s culture — and it hasn’t turned back the Democratic tide.

That’s why California Republicans have begun to look even more closely at social issues amid this year’s disappointing — but not crushing — elections. To begin with, the limits of liberalizing have become apparent even among Democrats.

Nationwide, Democrats were widely judged to have badly miscalculated that identity politics would suffice to drive voter enthusiasm and win close contests. Party elites and opinion-makers have begun to argue that Democrats must focus on an economic message over a culture one.

For California Republicans, two takeaways have emerged. First, a further turn to the left on social issues may not translate into more votes. Second, a tilt back to the right probably won’t do much either.

Importantly, while the substance of identity politics failed Democrats, the symbolism also foundered. Wendy Davis’s strongly gendered campaign for Texas governor was a painful flop even by the low standards of this year’s elections. She lost to Republican Greg Abbott, 59-39. That was even worse than Republican Neel Kashkari’s 59-41 loss to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown here in California.

A Washington Post post-mortem was headlined, “Wendy Davis’ campaign was even worse than you thought.” It reported on an internal campaign memo which warned way back in January of a “lurch to the left. … There is not a model where a candidate who appears this liberal and culturally out of touch gets elected statewide anywhere in the south — much less in Texas.”

Unsuccessful candidacies

In one notable instance, a California Republican whose identity implicated social issues lost — but not for that reason. After a high-profile and costly race, Carl DeMaio had to concede defeat to incumbent Rep. Scott Peters in their fight for the state’s 52 Congressional District.

As U-T San Diego reported, “DeMaio positioned himself as a ‘new generation Republican,’ potentially breaking new ground as a gay Republican in Congress. Peters ran on his bipartisan record and had substantial support from the business community.”

Two years ago, DeMaio, a former San Diego councilman who helped push pension reform, lost another close election for mayor to Democrat Bob Filner, who later was forced to resign due to personal scandals.

Although it has never been easy to unseat an incumbent in a state where the dominant party has a strong advantage, DeMaio’s experience paralleled that of a second gay Republican candidate. Richard Tisei, running for the 6th District in Massachusetts, lost out to Seth Moulton, a Marine veteran of the Iraq War who had defeated incumbent Democrat Rep. John Tierney during the district’s primary race.

In Tisei’s case as well as DeMaio’s, voters in a deep-blue state didn’t jump at the chance to vote for a credible, competent and openly gay Republican.

But in DeMaio’s case, importantly, the margin of defeat was very narrow, indicating that few Republican voters were deterred by the political implications of DeMaio’s sexual orientiation.

Although allegations of sexual misconduct by DeMaio toward staffers did cloud the campaign waters in the home stretch, Gregory Angelo, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, told the Atlantic magazine that he didn’t believe anti-gay attitudes caused DeMaio to fall short.

Pot issue

At the same time, at least one social issue — the legal status of marijuana — continued its movement toward the mainstream in a way that Republicans could capitalize on.

In recent remarks before members of the press, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said his view from the Golden State counseled a liberalized, and pro-liberty, attitude toward pot. For more than two decades representing coastal Orange County, one of America’s most conservative areas, he just won-reelection, 64-36.

“The members of the Republican Party just should become more practical if nothing else,” he said. “The American people are shifting on this issue.” He warned the change would “make a difference in the election of some very close races.”