If you don’t like Carl DeMaio, you have plenty of reasons to do so.
The first-term San Diego assembly member is bringing Donald Trump’s divisive politics and personal style to Sacramento, and he is MAGA to his core. The mere mention of his name is as effective to Democrats as putting nails on a chalkboard.
DeMaio’s fellow Republicans also don’t like him.
Despite their best efforts, party leaders were unable to prevent DeMaio from winning the election last November. They charged him with criminal offenses. Millions of dollars were spent by allies to support his Republican opponent.
CalMatters said in a critical January article that Republican opponents use his constant self-promotion, his criticism of his party, and his propensity to claim credit for achievements in which he had little to no involvement to help him collect money and improve his political reputation.
However, none of that justifies the foolish and immature actions of the majority Democrats in the Assembly last week when the chamber considered a resolution honoring Pride month.
DeMaio, the first out homosexual Republican member of the Assembly, stood up to protest. Lawmakers typically have five uninterrupted minutes to make their remarks.
Not now.
Baseball’s reigning champions have been forced to navigate uneasy waters as a result of immigration raids that have terrified a sizable portion of the team’s fan base. Many have not been satisfied with the apathetic response.
DeMaio bemoaned the resolution’s almost three dozen whereas-es, which veered far from a simple commendation by supporting some extremely divisive and radical viewpoints that even members of the LGBQT+ community condemned.
According to DeMaio, this is not about embracing the LGBT community. It’s about dividing us with them as a political tool.
DeMaio is a person you can agree or disagree with. You may or may not fully support the resolution and all of its sections. That isn’t important.
The Assembly member overseeing the debate, Long Beach Democrat Josh Lowenthal, interrupted DeMaio around 90 seconds into his speech, stating that he had a crucial statement to make.
What was the urgent issue that couldn’t possible wait another second? Happy birthday to another Assembly Democrat.
The room was filled with clapping and cheers.
DeMaio started up again, but was cut off shortly after. Lowenthal deadpanned that he had forgotten: A few days prior, it had been the birthday of another Democratic senator. More applause and cheers.
To allow Lowenthal to wish a third member of the Democratic Assembly a very, very happy birthday, who was celebrating the event the next day, DeMaio resumed before being cut off a third time.
The chamber’s reaction, which included more whoops and shouts along with laughter, indicated that Lowenthal and his fellow Democrats’ hazing was extremely creative and enjoyable.
It wasn’t.
It was trivial. It was foolish.
Additionally, it reflected the conceit of a supermajority party that was too accustomed to imposing its will on the vastly outnumbered Republicans in Sacramento.
Given that California is intended to be governed by a representative democracy, a few points are worth mentioning here.
The newbie lawmaker may not be very popular with DeMaio’s political counterparts. However, he was the overwhelming choice of San Diego voters, who sent him to the Assembly by a landslide 57% to 43%. They should have their opinions and voices heard.
Democrats have a significant registration edge and may be the majority party in California. They control 30 of 40 seats in the state Senate and 60 of 80 seats in the Assembly. However, there are around 6 million Republican voters in the state. In California, there are probably a lot more people who support the party—or at least its general ideology and policies—but do not legally identify as Republicans.
They should also be given a voice.
Due to Democrats’ hegemonic control over Sacramento, a sizable portion of Californians feel disregarded, unrepresented, and overlooked. The frustration fueled the long-standing dream of a breakaway rural state called Jefferson and contributed to the unsuccessful and costly 2021 recall campaign of Governor Gavin Newsom, which cost taxpayers over $200 million.
To put it more broadly, California does not benefit from one-party control.
The governor of California has reacted forcefully to Trump’s provocations and repeated attacks on the state. However, it would be foolish to discuss him as a potential front-runner for the White House in 2028.
According to Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at UC San Diego who has studied the distinctions between governments with two active political parties and those governed by one or the other, you have to be somewhat alert when you’re competing.
Kousser continued, “You don’t feel like you need to prove it to voters when you’re firmly in control.” Some parts of the state are write-offable. Since you don’t believe that the other party’s lawmakers will ever be in your position, you can disregard them.
Kousser came to the conclusion that none of that was beneficial to democracy.
More than ten years had passed since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped down, and Republicans still held significant influence in Sacramento. During Bill Clinton’s presidency, the GOP last held control of the Assembly. The last time Republicans held a majority in the state Senate was under President Gerald Ford.
That is unlikely to change in the near future.
Democrats do not need to adore their fellow legislators in the interim. It is not even necessary for them to like them. Republicans elected to Sacramento, however, ought to be respected at the very least.
That’s what their constituents deserve.
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