While Democrats where more worried about getting rid of Donald Trump, and they did….
Republicans were able to get some down ballots on Biden’s no coattails….
California is STIL a Democratic stronghold to to bottom though…….
The wins have been a shot in the arm for a party stung by President Trump’s defeat, and they are a testament to the strategy of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and his campaigns chief, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.). Their team sought to recruit strong, diverse candidates — and then provide the campaign cash and infrastructure to keep pace with Democrats who raised a record amount of money this cycle.
While President-elect Joe Biden trounced Trump in California, Republicans pointed to the string of victories there as proof the Grand Old Party could still find ways to compete locally in a deep-blue state that’s growing increasingly diverse.
“It showed that we can still win in California; we took a lot of people by surprise,” said Sam Oh, a vice president at Targeted Victory consulting firm who served as the lead campaign strategist for fellow Korean Americans Kim and Steel. “We knew that history wasn’t on our side and we had to operate differently. We recruited diverse, dynamic candidates, we invested heavily in small-dollar contribution programs and digital ads and text messages.
“We played to win and that was the mindset the entire cycle, that we didn’t want to play it safe.”
For Kim and Steel, doing things differently meant reaching out to independents and Democrats, as well as voters in their conservative base. They did Korean-, Chinese- and Vietnamese-language outreach through mailers, emails and text messages. …
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Despite the losses, California Democrats aren’t in panic mode. While Trump boosted turnout among Republicans, including in Orange County, Democrats say he won’t be on the ballot in 2022. They also point out that Biden beat Trump in the state by nearly 30 percentage points, and Democrats still hold 42 of California’s 53 House seats.