Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes, R-Yucca Valley, survived

Nevertheless, anger over Mayes’ decision to work with Gov. Jerry Brown last month and lobby fellow Republicans to help secure an extension of the cap-and-trade program established by AB32 – the state’s landmark 2006 anti-climate change law – remains intense among some lawmakers and many conservative activists. Another challenge to Mayes’ leadership is expected at an Aug. 29 caucus at which an election will be held to determine who leads the Assembly GOP.

Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, perhaps Mayes’ most critical colleague over his decision to help Brown round up seven Republican votes for AB398, is running. Assemblyman Jay Obernolte, R-Big Bear Lake, is considered likely to run as well. There’s also been speculation about Assemblyman Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield.

Mayes’ decision to vote for the cap-and-trade renewal, and to work to bring several GOP lawmakers with him, came after weeks of negotiations with the governor. He believed he had won a major concession from Brown and Democratic legislative leaders that could eventually throttle the state’s costly, problem-plagued bullet-train project. Here’s a description from CalWatchdog coverage last month:

The concession ….  places a constitutional amendment drafted by Mayes before state voters in June 2018. If passed, it would lead to a one-time up-and-down vote in the Legislature in 2024 on whether to continue allowing the use of cap-and-trade revenue to fund the project. But the threshold wouldn’t be a simple majority. A two-thirds vote would be required to allow continued use of the funds – presumably giving GOP lawmakers a prime chance to pull the plug.

But the complexity of the concession and its distant possible payoff didn’t enthrall many Republican lawmakers, whose opposition to AB32 is a core element of their political platform. There was also fury that Mayes rounded up so many Republicans that Democrats didn’t have to pressure two of their Assembly members in swing districts to vote for a cap-and-trade extension that is unpopular with their constituents. AB398 passed 55-25, with one vote more than necessary to meet the two-thirds threshold for adoption.

Meanwhile, an argument that Mayes has increasingly made in recent weeks – that AB398 provided state GOPers with a chance to rebrand themselves and broaden their appeal – has faced ridicule from those who say the party’s core values are opposition to higher taxes and overregulation.

State GOP board issues harsh rebuke

Mayes’ rough month continued last Friday, when the board of the state Republican Party voted to urge Mayes to step down. The vote was 13-7, with one abstention. State GOP chair Jim Brulte was among the yes votes.

More than 20 local Republican organizations have also issued formal denunciations of Mayes.

Mayes, 40, has worked as a financial planner. He entered politics on the Yucca Valley Town Council and also worked as a top aide to a San Bernardino County supervisor. He was first elected to the Assembly in 2014.

The California Republican Party wrapped up its annual spring convention by re-electing former state Sen. Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga, to his third term as state chairman – but while also moving away from policies Brulte has touted to stands more attuned with President Donald Trump.

The leader of California Republicans since 2013, Brulte had gone along with conventional GOP wisdom – pre-Trump – about the need for his party to moderate its views on social issues and immigration. This led to the formal acceptance in Republican ranks in 2015 of a gay GOP group  – Log Cabin California – and to the adoption in 2016 of an immigration platform far removed from past conservative rhetoric.

But Sunday, resolutions touting key parts of Trump’s populist platform were embraced without debate by GOP delegates gathered at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento. Delegates supported a repeal of the Affordable Care Act by April 30, which marks 100 days in the White House for Trump; crackdowns on “sanctuary cities” that resist cooperation with federal immigration enforcement; and for citizens from seven mostly Muslim nations to be thoroughly investigated before being allowed to stay in the United States.

The resolutions were prepared with the help of Steve Frank, a past president of the California Republican Assembly and the state GOP’s parliamentarian for four terms, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Brulte upbeat, sees ‘long-term slog’ ahead

Brulte didn’t take the change of Republican focus as a rebuke and downplayed the idea that the state party was at low ebb, based on continuing Democratic dominance of state government and on Trump getting just 32 percent of California’s vote – the weakest showing by a major-party candidate in the Golden State since 1920.

The former GOP Assembly and Senate leader was upbeat in interviews.

“I’m actually excited about our prospects. We’ve spent a lot of money trying to figure out if there is a path forward. We believe there is. We believe we can elect a Republican governor in 2018,” Brulte told KQED. “I’ve always said one, two, three election cycles isn’t going to repair [the state party’s woes]. It is a long-term slog.”

Only two Republicans have won statewide office in California this century: Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 2003 gubernatorial recall of Gray Davis and in his 2006 re-election, and tech entrepreneur Steve Poizner as insurance commissioner in 2006, when he beat then-Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who was widely disliked in Democratic circles for joining Schwarzenegger in challenging fellow Democrat Davis in the 2003 recall free-for-all.

The last Republican to come close to winning statewide office was in the 2010 race for attorney general. Then-Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley led then-San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris in early counts before Harris came on to win 46.1 percent to 45.3 percent – a 74,000-vote margin out of 9.6 million votes. Cooley didn’t concede until three weeks after election day, after Harris’ margin topped 50,000 votes.

Voter fraud in CA?

Good morning! Legislators are back in Sacramento today for the swearing in of their new colleagues. But at the same time, top Republicans are questioning the integrity of some of the state’s election results, forcing the state’s top election official to dismiss the allegations.

Leaders in the state party are concerned about local elections, particularly in one important Orange County state Senate race.

But President-elect Donald Trump fanned the flames by tweeting California was one of three states with “serious” voter fraud. His Sunday tweet followed another sent hours earlier claiming that he’d “won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” 

So far, Trump has offered no proof to his claims, which were dismissed in great detail by PolitiFact California. Secretary of State Alex Padilla immediately sent a press release disavowing the claim: “It appears that Mr. Trump is troubled by the fact that a growing majority of Americans did not vote for him. His unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in California and elsewhere are absurd.”

California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte told party officials in an internal email obtained by CalWatchdog that the state has a history of “anomalies” that “deserve further scrutiny.” Brulte added that he believed “most of the government officials charged with ensuring voter and ballot integrity are good people who want to do the right thing.”

CalWatchdog has more. 

In other news:

• “A day after halting plans for a strike, state government’s largest employee union announced that it had reached a tentative agreement for a new contract. Neither SEIU Local 1000 nor the state’s Human Resources Department would disclose the deal’s highlights Saturday morning.” The Sacramento Bee has more. 

• “Bay Area elected officials are calling on Rep. Xavier Becerra, named by Gov. Jerry Brown to be the state’s attorney general, to prioritize a criminal investigation into the California Public Utilities Commission,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle. 

• “With President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric on illegal immigration still fresh on their minds, legislative Democrats have readied a pair of proposals they believe will offer some immigrants additional legal help. The bills, set to be introduced on the first day of the new legislative session Monday, primarily aim to bolster the legal representation of immigrants who are in the country illegally and threatened with deportation.” The Los Angeles Times has more. 

• “Ahead of next month’s inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, more than two dozen returning and new Democratic members of the California Senate on Friday asked President Obama to enact a ban on new oil drilling off the state’s coast.” The Los Angeles Times has more. 

Legislature:

• New legislators will be sworn in today at the Capitol at noon. 

Gov. Brown:

• Hosting the 85th Annual Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony today at 4:30 p.m. on the west steps of the Capitol.
• Press conference with Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, at 11:15 a.m. in the governor’s office in Sacramento. 

Tips: matt@calwatchdog.com

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Leaders in the state party are concerned about local elections, particularly in one important Orange County state Senate race.

But President-elect Donald Trump fanned the flames by tweeting California was one of three states with “serious” voter fraud. His Sunday tweet followed another sent hours earlier claiming that he’d “won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” 

Serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California – so why isn't the media reporting on this? Serious bias – big problem!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2016

So far, Trump has offered no proof to his claims, which were dismissed in great detail by PolitiFact California. Secretary of State Alex Padilla immediately sent a press release disavowing the claim: “It appears that Mr. Trump is troubled by the fact that a growing majority of Americans did not vote for him. His unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in California and elsewhere are absurd.”

SD29

California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte told party officials in an internal email obtained by CalWatchdog that the state has a history of “anomalies” that “deserve further scrutiny.” Brulte added that he believed “most of the government officials charged with ensuring voter and ballot integrity are good people who want to do the right thing.”

Brulte cited several incidents throughout the years, but came back to a recent election in Orange County — which ultimately gave Democrats a legislative supermajority — where voter turnout “increased in some cases up to 30 percent over the 2012 election.”

The Orange County Registrar of Voters attributed the spike in turnout percentage to a cleanup of the voter roll. 

Orange County’s history

California Republicans point back to a 1996 congressional race in Orange County, were 624 non-citizens voted after having registered illegally, according to a congressional investigation. In that race, the Democratic challenger, Loretta Sanchez, defeated the Republican incumbent, Bob Dornan, by less than 1,000 votes.

“That was before online registration, late registration, a boom in illegal residency, driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, and other trends,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, a member of the Republican National Committee from California. “Logically, the numbers are much higher today and the state seems deliberately to make it difficult to verify eligibility to vote and also takes little to no interest in preventing fraudulent voting.”

Ways to improve?

Dhillon said Republicans are concerned that the current online voter registration system doesn’t track the computer’s ISP address, which helps detect fraud, and that users can self-verify citizenship with a driver license number, which are issued to non-citizens.

Dhillon said Republicans believe new voters should verify citizenship, not just check off a box. 

Nothing to see here

But the Secretary of State’s office holds that there’s no problem. A spokesman told CalWatchdog that the SOS “already conducts routine security assessments of our systems,” but declined to give specifics.

Many election law experts say there is no evidence of widespread problem voter fraud. Jessica Levinson, a law professor at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, said Trump’s claims did not happen and “lack any evidence or grounding in reality.” 

An investigation into what happened in Orange County may be worthwhile, Levinson said, but added that increased turnout itself isn’t enough to allege voter fraud.

“There are plenty of reasons this election cycle as to why people in Orange County would be motivated to go to the polls.” 

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Ashley Swearengin, the termed-out mayor of Fresno, placed just behind Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom in a poll of registered voters taken prior to last week’s presidential election, conducted by The Field Poll and the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley. 

Newsom drew 23 percent to Faulconer’s 16 percent and Swearengin’s 11 percent, with six prominent Democrats trailing in the single digits. Although anything can change in politics, Faulconer said early this year that he won’t run for governor, and Tim Clark, a political consultant to Swearengin, told CalWatchdog on Tuesday he didn’t “expect her to run.”

Why it matters

Having been shut out of the U.S. Senate race after the June primary, thanks in part to the state’s relatively new system where the top two candidates advance regardless of party, Republicans will need to field a strong candidate at the top of the ticket in 2018 to help with fundraising and turnout for down ballot races and to show they can still compete in statewide elections. 

In addition to legislative races, where Republicans will either be fighting off a Democratic supermajority by the narrowest of margins or trying to add a little bit of a buffer — the few races from last week that the Democratic supermajority hinges on have not yet been decided as the votes are still being counted — the 2018 gubernatorial election will elect statewide officers.

CA GOP Chairman Jim Brulte told CalWatchdog on Tuesday that the party was still focused on the outcome of last week’s election, but added the party was beginning to turn to 2018. 

“I believe we will have strong candidates for a number of statewide offices,” Brulte said. 

Challenges for Republicans

Both parties have struggled with a decline in voter registration for years, although the trend has been much more severe for Republicans, dropping from 36.4 percent of the electorate in 1996 to 26 percent late last month. Democrats in that time declined from 47.9 percent to 44.9 percent, but enjoyed a surge in registration over this campaign cycle that led to a slight uptick.

Whichever Republican candidates decide to jump into the race, they will be starting way behind Newsom and state Treasurer John Chiang, who have both been running and fundraising for awhile. As of September, Newsom had $6.3 million in his campaign account, while Chiang had $2.2 million as of August.

Both Faulconer and Swearengin benefited heavily in the poll from party identification — both dropped to single digits when polled on just name ID alone. But it’s still very early in the race, said John J. Pitney, Jr., a Roy P. Crocker professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. 

“These results reflect name recognition and partisan identification more than serious evaluation of the candidates,” Pitney said. “The good news for Republicans is that, although Faulconer and Swearengin are not running ahead, they have a chance of making the top two. The bad news is that the Democrats will be able to run well-funded campaigns.”

Money plays the odds 

Pitney pointed to the 2014 Republican gubernatorial candidate, Neel Kashkari, who struggled with fundraising despite having contacts throughout the business and financial community from his time as an investment banker and top Treasury Department official.

In 2014, Kashkari raised only slightly more than Newsom has now two years out, largely due to being seen as not having a strong shot of winning (although he was running against a popular incumbent, Gov. Jerry Brown).

“Look at Kashkari,” Pitney said. “He had extensive contacts in the business/financial community, but could not fill his warchest because nobody thought he could win.”

Other candidates

Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, and Delaine Eastin, the former state superintendent of public instruction, have both announced their intentions to run. Eastin was not included in Tuesday’s poll, while Villaraigosa drew 6 percent. Chiang was near the bottom at 2 percent.  

After weeks of fearing the worst, relief washed over vulnerable Republicans hoping to remain part of California’s congressional delegation. Despite a dogged effort by Democrats hoping to capitalize on Donald Trump’s unpopularity in the Golden State, their challengers fell short, leaving most — if not all — of the GOP’s few seats in incumbent hands. 

“Trump’s paltry 33 percent of the state’s popular vote didn’t seem to drag down homegrown candidates,” noted Matthew Artz at the San Jose Mercury News. “Although the GOP lost two seats in the state Assembly, they staved off challenges to several sitting congressmen and appear to have prevented the Democrats from winning back a supermajority in the state Senate.”

Amid nationwide elections that shocked California’s dominant party, the news blunted enthusiasm around its other victories up and down the coast. “Democrats weren’t able to win any of the […] districts they targeted,” the Los Angeles Times reported. “Democrats had hoped to make inroads with the Central Valley’s growing Latino population, but Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) and Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) each won re-election in their largely agricultural districts. Rep. Steve Knight (R-Palmdale) also slid into another term in the 25th District, a seat Democrats had aimed to flip. Knight is the last Republican representing L.A. County in Congress.”

Down to the wire

The highest-profile House race in Southern California, however, remained in doubt. “Rep. Darrell Issa’s lead over Democratic challenger Doug Applegate continued to shrink after tens of thousands of mail-in votes were counted through Monday,” according to U-T San Diego. 

“The Vista Republican was ahead of Applegate 50.7 percent to 49.3, according to the latest tally. Another vote update is expected to be released late Tuesday by election officials. Issa led Applegate by 2,871 votes, the thinnest margin since early returns were released after polls closed last Tuesday night. It’s one of the three closest House races in California, according to the Secretary of State. Hundreds of thousands of ballots remain to be counted, though it’s unknown how many are from the 49th Congressional District.”

Win or lose, Issa’s photo finish will have underscored the shifting political sands troubling California Republicans, even in areas that once reliably delivered for party. “The longtime Republican Party bastion of Orange County voted for a Democratic candidate for the first time since 1936, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected for his second term,” the Times observed. “The historic loss represents a growing uphill climb for Republicans in California; the party saw registered Republicans in California drop to 26 percent from 29.8 percent, ultimately losing Orange County by almost 5 percent.”

“While traditionally Republican strongholds ultimately delivered Orange County to Mitt Romney in 2012, Democratic inroads expanded in 2016, allowing Hillary Clinton to win.”

A new tone

Nevertheless, Republicans’ success in weathering this election cycle amounted to a vote of confidence in the state party leadership, including party chairman Jim Brulte. Seeking to square its president-elect with its would-be constituents, Brulte offered an election post-mortem that nodded to populism and comity while placing blame for California’s continued struggles on established Democrats.

“The California dream fails when people must choose between a roof and basic necessities, when schools can’t hire the best staff to help launch their kids to greatness, when people feel compelled to abandon the life they have built here for what they hope will be a better future outside the Golden State,” he wrote at the Sacramento Bee. “Democrats have controlled both houses of the Legislature for two decades. This total control of policy making has left many of them out of touch and unwilling to truly lead in a time when we are in desperate need of modification.” A growing number of influential Democrats have raised questions about what the party needs to do to speak more convincingly to lingering economic concerns among the sorts of voters who flipped from Barack Obama in 2012 to Trump this year.

Thanks to Donald Trump, California’s role at the Republican national convention in Cleveland has been dramatically expanded — out of proportion, some critics have suggested. The changes belied a calculated effort to shift the center of GOP gravity away from its more traditional areas of regional support, where many anti-Trump conservatives and moderates continue to hold influence.

To begin with, Californians have been given prominent speaking slots during the Trump-dominated event. “Sabine Durden, of Moreno Valley, is slated to speak in Cleveland. She’s been a well-known critic of illegal immigration since her son was killed by an undocumented immigrant in 2012, and she’s testified on the issue before Congress,” as the Los Angeles Daily News reported. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., a Trump delegate and nearly Speaker of the House, will also address the convention. “McCarthy’s speech is expected to focus on the House GOP’s ‘Better Way’ agenda and on building party unity,” the Washington post explained.

Topping off the speaking schedule, Silicon Valley titan Peter Thiel will deliver one of the event’s most anticipated and prominent speeches. “Peter Thiel is speaking because he knows Donald Trump, and he’ll be speaking about the Donald Trump, the man he knows,” said campaign chief Paul Manafort. “And as a successful entrepreneur, he can speak from a standard that we think is important for the American people to hear.”

Symbolism vs. substance

Underscoring the Trump campaign’s favor for the west coast, Golden Staters will be up front and personal for the climactic moment receiving the biggest — and likely most enduring — media coverage. “Californians will be in the front row when Donald Trump accepts the nomination at the Republican National Convention this week, according to seating charts released by the party,” the Los Angeles Times reported. 

“California is one of a handful of states where all of the delegates support the presumptive nominee. Because the state’s primary took place after the race was decided and per the state GOP’s rules, all 172 California delegates support Trump and were chosen by his campaign. Placing them in the front of the convention helps Republicans avoid images of disunity.”

But the Trump campaign, notoriously light on staff and improvisational in its strategy, has not given California Republicans much more than uncharacteristically prominent exposure. The state GOP, facing a daunting election year, has been left to forge a path ahead largely on its own. “California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte is leading his party’s fight for down-ticket races,” the Daily News noted, but “Brulte said the national GOP’s slow, seemingly reluctant response to demographic change hurts his party in California.” 

“Brulte said Southern California candidates like Young Kim, the first Korean-American elected in Orange County for an Assembly seat, and Ling Ling Chang — who is running for the state senate seat that used to be occupied by Bob Huff and spans portions of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties — are critical to reversing the top-of-the-ticket misfortune that has befallen his party.”

Down but not out

While Trump’s campaign and its supporters have refused to dispel the impression, first created by the candidate himself, that they could put California in play, polls have not given much substance to the outsized ambition. According to a recent Field Poll reported by the Washington Examiner, Trump “currently trails his Democratic presidential opponent by 30 percentage points in the Golden State,” 58 to 28 percent, with 14 percent undecided. “Clinton loses 8 percentage points to Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson when he is added to the mix, while Trump loses 2,” the paper added. 

Hoping perhaps to take whatever advantage they can of their newfound status, California’s delegates have nonetheless described themselves as Trump’s firewall in the event that a long-brewing convention-floor insurrection actually bursts out into the open. “We are the backstop,” Brulte told the San Francisco Chronicle. “If you want to mess, bring it on,” said Trump state director Tim Clark. “This delegation was built for a fight. If the Never Trumpers want to start something, they have to go through us.”

With a little luck at the ballot box, Republicans in the Legislature are set to expand on their increasingly diverse delegation, a far cry from the “Party of Old White Men” it’s been thought of by some for years.

And while Republicans have the primary goal of holding the relatively few seats in the Legislature they already have, increased diversity would show a modernizing party that could expand is electoral appeal. 

“Our party does not engage in the identity politics of the left, but we have placed an emphasis on recruiting and supporting the best candidates for every district,” said CAGOP Vice Chairwoman Harmeet Dhillon. “In our culturally rich state, that candidate is often someone with a minority background.”

Diverse candidates

In a district that includes much of Bakersfield, termed-out Republican Shannon Grove appears set to be replaced by Vince Fong, of Chinese descent. Fong won the primary with 60.8 percent of the vote in the largely Republican district.

Dante Acosta is poised to replace termed-out Republican Scott Wilk in a Republican-leaning district that includes Simi Valley and much of north Los Angeles County.

Acosta, of Mexican descent, came in second in the primary behind Democrat Christy Smith, who won 44.8 percent to 35.9 percent. However, Acosta split a majority of votes among two other Republican candidates.

In a largely Republican Orange County district, termed-out Don Wagner may be replaced by Harry Sidhu, who came to the United States in 1974 from India. Sidhu split a 67 percent majority of the vote among six Republicans and came in second behind the lone Democrat.

Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang, who was born in Taiwan, is running to replace Bob Huff, the only termed-out Senate Republican, in a competitive district that straddles Orange and Los Angeles counties. Chang faces longer odds than the others, as she advanced to the general with two Democratic candidates splitting a 55 percent majority of the vote.

If Chang does win, she’d increase diversity in the Senate Republican caucus. And filling her seat in the Assembly could be Philip Chen, of Chinese descent. Chen, like Acosta and Sidhu, was the second-place finisher in the primary behind a Democrat, splitting the vote with four Republicans in the Republican-leaning district.

“As an immigrant myself, I am proud to see more and more Republican candidates that other Californians with diverse backgrounds can identify with when they visit the polls,” said Dhillon, who was born in India. “This trend increases voter turnout and enthusiasm.”

Does it even matter?

California is a huge state, filled with diverse pockets. It’s often said that as the demographics of the state changed, the Republican Party failed to keep up.

Since becoming CAGOP chairman in 2013, Jim Brulte (along with Dhillon and other party leaders) has tried to change that trend in candidate recruitment. As he said in 2015: “In a neighborhood election, the candidate who most looks like, sounds like, has the shared values and shared experiences of the majority of the people in the neighborhood tends to win.”

In 2014, California Republicans sent a relatively large delegation of women to the Legislature, with a large Asian bloc that included Chang. In 2016, they’ll aim to expand on that with Acosta, Chen, Sidhu, Fong and Chang. 

“Under the leadership of Jim Brulte, California Republicans have done yeoman work in recruiting candidates who look like their constituents,” said John J. Pitney, Jr., a Roy P. Crocker professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. “It’s a smart move: monochrome does not fit California, and in the long run, this strategy could help the party rebuild its strength.”

But, Pitney cautioned, the effect Trump — the presumptive nominee who has a tendency to say things sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly viewed as racist — will have at the top of the GOP ticket is unclear.

“The problem is that people tend to see political parties through the prism of presidential candidates,” Pitney said. “Trump could ruin much of California GOP’s progress.”

Mike Osborn, the chairman of the Ventura County Republican Party, asked delegates to remember where the party was in 2012, when it was more than $1 million in debt, about to slip into a super minority in the legislature and sinking in voter registration (a problem that persists).

“Is there anybody in this room that thinks we’re done,” Osborn asked before recommending Brulte be allowed to run for at least another term.

Brulte previously served as the Republican leader in both chambers of the legislature.

The party on Sunday only allowed for the possibility of two more terms. Brulte will still face reelection. 

Would it be the same insult-slinging, filterless personality Americans have grown accustomed to seeing on T.V., who protesters waited for hours just to throw eggs at and block his limo from entering the hotel complex thereby forcing him to enter through a back way?

Or would the business tycoon and GOP presidential frontrunner be more subdued to look more presidential — as media reports have recently suggested — while speaking to a politically experienced and partisan audience?

Wastes no time

His introductory video took shots at right-leaning media personalities, like Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, Washington Post columnist George Will and Republican strategist and talking head Karl Rove, who have at times doubted, challenged or decried a Trump candidacy. The video ended with a freeze frame of his hand (which has surprisingly been a storyline during the campaign) looming large above a crowd. 

The beginning of his speech chronicled his efforts to get inside, which was “not the easiest entrance” he’d ever made, having to go “under a fence and through a fence.” (A later account added mud and dirt.)

Here’s the hole in the fence Trump used to evade protestors adjacent to the 101.

“Oh boy, I felt like I was crossing the border,” Trump said. 

And with that, he launched into an extemporaneous, 20 or so minute speech that was short on policy — he mentioned building a wall across the U.S./Mexico border (“We want people to come in our country, but they have to come in legally,” Trump said) and bashed multiple trade deals — but was long on bravado and digs at other candidates.

Content

Trump spoke largely about how he’s “winning” the race for the nomination, how he’ll soon “win” the nomination and how he’ll make America “win.”

“America doesn’t win anymore,” Trump said, noting that as of today his campaign has 1,001 delegates locked down of the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination.

“I’m killing it, everybody,” Trump said. 

Trump spoke of a need for party unification. He spoke highly of the “incredible” Ben Carson, a former candidate who has since endorsed Trump.

Trump often complimented CAGOP Chairman Jim Brulte, who “did such a great job.”

He bragged about how he would compete and campaign in states that he said other Republican candidates write off, like New York (his home state) and Michigan. 

“No Republican would campaign in Michigan,” Trump said, overlooking the 2012 GOP nominee, Mitt Romney — the son of a former Republican governor of the Michigan — who vowed last cycle to campaign in the Great Lake State until the end.  

He spoke favorably of another former candidate, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, who this week was announced as Sen. Ted Cruz’s running mate (assuming he gets the nomination). 

“I like Carly,” Trump said, before adding that Carly brings no delegates with her to the Texan’s ticket (she technically won one delegate in Iowa).

On Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the other two remaining GOP candidates, Trump said they were acting like “spoiled children” for continuing to stay in the race. Cruz has only 565 delegates and Kasich has only 153. 

Trump also doubled down on his favorite critique of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, also a former candidate.

“Low energy,” Trump said. “Very low energy.”

Trump referred to Kasich eating as “disgusting.” Kasich eating at campaign stops has been another surprising side theme of the primary.  

“Did you ever see him do a news conference without eating,” Trump asked.

Trump decried the trend of candidates savaging each other in the primary, only to ultimately fall in line and support the other when one drops.

“Ted Cruz, he’s a wonderful guy,” Trump said. “But I don’t want his endorsement.”

Highlights of Twitter’s coverage of Trump’s entrance and the protests

https://twitter.com/hunterschwarz/status/726140981658193921 https://twitter.com/ccadelago/status/726136663554957312 https://twitter.com/ccadelago/status/726149867010056192 https://twitter.com/LATSeema/status/726122131860262912 https://twitter.com/LATSeema/status/726122723806601217 https://twitter.com/LATSeema/status/726128380215590913 https://twitter.com/eastbaycitizen/status/726096358612963328