Is Mike Garcia’s election an omen?

Mike-Garcia-Headshot-683x1024

"Republican veteran Mike Garcia held onto his lead in California's special election for the 25th Congressional District, and will become the first Republican to flip a seat held by a Democrat in the state since 1998, winning former Representative Katie Hill's seat. Garcia stopped short of a full-fledged victory speech on a call with supporters late Tuesday night, as results showed him ahead of Democratic State Assemblywoman Christy Smith by double-digits. 

But by Wednesday morning, Garcia was declaring victory. 

"After seeing more results last night, it is clear that our message of lower taxes and ensuring we don't take liberal Sacramento dysfunction to Washington prevailed," he said in a statement. "For too long, the people of our district have not had representation, and it's time their voice is heard in Washington.""  CBSnews

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His opponent has conceded the election.  

Garcia is a businessman who is the son of a Mexican immigrant and who was himself a fighter pilot officer in the US Navy.

The district is 35% Hispanic.

This is the first time for a long time that a Republican has taken back a congressional seat lost to the Democrats.

All across the country people are rising up in protest against the politically useful shutdown of the economy.  IMO the Democrats are hoping that government enforced unemployment will cause people in places like Philadelphia to vote for them.

Is Garcia's election a portent of outcomes that may prove the Democrats' hopes to be false.  pl 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/republican-mike-garcia-wins-california-house-special-election-25th-district/

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33 Responses to Is Mike Garcia’s election an omen?

  1. TV says:

    It has become increasingly apparent that the Democrat-media party is using this “crisis” to shut down the economy hoping that will unseat Trump.
    AND, there’s a bonus, they really enjoy destroying all those small business owners/Trump voters, not realizing that not all small business owners are Trump voters.
    OTOH, SOMEBODY in those blue states elected these power hungry little tyrants.
    People get the government they deserve.

  2. blue peacock says:

    If it is an omen it would be a good one.
    The Democrats have been in power in California for far too long. It should also be a reminder to Republicans that as they veered to the religious right they kept losing.
    Mike Garcia’s message should be instructive to other Republican candidates if they want to be competitive in the state.

  3. BillWade says:

    The Democrats are insane, not only will they lose votes but they will lose populations as well, I think large numbers will leave Illinois, NY, Pa, Ma, NJ – all coming here to Florida, oh well.

  4. That district is considered safe for Republicans since its creation in 1992. The 2018 election was a fluke. That was the first time a Democrat won in that district ever. Mike Garcia seems to be an excellent choice with an excellent background and excellent record of service in his community. I expect him to hold that seat in the November election.

  5. Deap says:

    Locally, in a California state assembly district, we had a Republican become the very top vote getter, primarily because the Democrat side of the ticket split votes five different ways.
    Main takeaway – local GOP woke up to the message there are more of us than one would think living in a very blue city and very blue state, where one can display no badges, nor utter no words of GOP party registration or conservative issue support.
    But we are here. “Stronger together”, while Democrats engaged in an internecine food fight. However, they too will be “stronger together” come the November general election. And have the full force and power of the public sector employee unions covering their back. They got the message of this recent election loud and clear.
    One major factor though is how many are finally becoming aware the only group of workers unaffected by the Covid-19 meltdown are the government employees, the heart and soul of the Democrat Party. And they are the very people who have been inflicting these draconian responses on the rest of us.
    Democrats now gleefully micromanaging every aspect of our lives in California was finally a bridge too far. November will be interesting. You can buy pot in this state because it is ‘essential”, but you cannot buy books is often used as a rallying cry.

  6. scott s. says:

    Interesting. The district does include Simi Valley, home of Reagan Library but also Santa Clarita which i would consider a more mixed area (somewhat suburban but not entirely) and then Palmdale aerospace region (skunk works). Simi Valley has a lot of tech (was the Rocketdyne test site in the Santa Susanna Mts).

  7. Bill H says:

    I think Governor Newsome is afraid it is an omen, which is why he is doubling down on and extending the lockdown.

  8. JMH says:

    By November 3, it could be a binary choice between living in East or West Germany. Go westies!

  9. Fred says:

    TTG,
    “The 2018 election was a fluke.” Yes, two relentless years of “Russia Collusion” media coverage made Pelosi speaker. Two months of corrupt unconstitutional lockdowns has caused a decade’s worth of economic damage. I’m sure nobody on the left can determine the logical outcome of that without a rigged election.

  10. JerseyJeffersonian says:

    JMH,
    Well, I don’t know about that. The Ossies emerged from living under authoritarian communism, and looking for something better. But what do they subsequently see from the Westies but an avidity to serve GloboHomo neoliberalism, and to yoke themselves to perpetual, unexpungeable guilt for their great grandparents’ role in WWII, thereby making themselves willing accomplices in their own national and cultural extinction via mass immigration. They have, of course, been led to believe that way they won’t be seen as rayciss, reputedly Germany’s besetting sin. Oh dear, anything but that!
    Many of those residents of the former DDR have distinguished themselves through their resistance to that pernicious agenda, although they have been vilified for their clear-eyed rejection of the planned neoliberal, societal genocide.
    They have observed what the sedulous adherence to that plan has done for other European nations such as France and Belgium; it has put their backs against the wall, and threatened their native peoples’ economic survival, political systems, and cultural continuity.
    Such a deal, eh?

  11. Laura Wilson says:

    As a Southern Californian, I don’t think it is an omen of much…it was always going to be dicey for the Dems because the district is pretty solidly GOP and pretty conservative. Santa Clarita is quite conservative and Simi Valley also….although both are becoming slightly more diverse. Didn’t help that the Democrat who swung the district last election just couldn’t concentrate on her job without getting sexually involved with an aide! That didn’t help the Dem cause much at all.

  12. Deap says:

    Article explains how “vote harvesting” worked in California for the 2018 elections and unseating of multiple GOP seats, weeks after the GOP had “won” on election night.
    Be sure to click the video of “lulu” the Democrat door bell ringing “vote harvester” claiming she was offering a special service just for Democrats. Ironically, “lulu” was working the same district in 2018 where GOP Mike Garcia just won in 2020. https://www.redstate.com/mirandamorales/2018/10/16/ca-dem-party-sinking-new-lows-harvest-absentee-ballots/
    2018 was the first big roll out for vote-harvesting in California. Democrat using their public sector union members (police, fire and teachers) have always had a very strong GOTV effort few in the GOP have matched.
    Plus Nancy Pelosi bragged they won 2018 on “health care issues”, when in fact they conducted a stealth campaign claiming Trump was going to take away your Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.
    That is how Democrats run the issues in this state, including Kamala Harris when she was AG. Ask for reform of any public entitlement and they scream the GOP is going to take it away. There are now so many people either working for the government or dependent on government services and benefits, any GOP breakthrough will be hard to obtain.
    Just breaking up the Democrat super-majority in this state would offer some relief as now they just grant themselves more powers and benefits without having to “face the people” since they know they have the votes to do anything.
    BTW: we got into this mess after we passed term limits, and the public sector unions moved into the vacuum installing their own waves of new legislators who simply had to to what they unions told them to do. Biggest public sector union is the California Teachers Association – the teachers union- and that is why we continue to have only a #45 ranked school system out of 50 states.
    A warning, term limits is not the cure for anything. Voting the bums out is the only way, because while in office the bums can pass a lot of highly self-protective legislation preserving their majority, even if the faces change, the people pulling the strings behind the scenes do not.

  13. Fred says:

    JMH,
    “Go westies!” Angela Merkel to the rescue of Western civilization! Sultan Erdogan will be glad to help out. How many million more voters does she need?

  14. TV says:

    BillWade
    The problem with all this migration out of the failing blue states is that the emigres tend to bring the same left wing politics that they are ostensible fleeing.
    40 or so years ago, people fled “Taxachusetts” for New Hampshire – no sales tax, no income tax, minimal public services.
    They promptly began making noise for the same big government that they had left.
    Now, southern New Hampshire is really North Massachusetts.
    Everyone wants a free lunch and the majority are dumb enough to think that it exists.

  15. jerseycityjoan says:

    I think there could be some surprising Republican victories this year.
    But with each passing year that’s going to get harder and harder. Long term mass migration is an electoral influence that cannot be denied. Many Republican issues do not resonate with minority voters.
    Is the Republican party willing to do what is necessary to appeal to enough minority voters to remain one of our two major parties? I do not know. Certainly the Democratic party is not perfect. I think many younger voters feel vulnerable in today’s America and are looking for answers. I think the Republicans are going to have to convince minority and younger people — many of whom are financially strapped and are unregistered or registered Independents — that they are on their side.

  16. Morongobill says:

    If this is actually the beginning of the Great Depression Redux, we may find out that there may finally be a will to do something real to stop illegal immigration. Especially if human migrations begin and the numbers, say from Africa, turn out to be as high as some have forecast. As rich as Europe and the U.S. are, we couldn’t handle the millions that are surely coming our way.

  17. Fred says:

    jerseycityjoan,
    What do native born Americans deserve in America, besides unbounded immigration? Why is it essential to change the racial makeup of America through immigration and when did American voters agree to do that?

  18. Deap says:

    Teachers unions in California are the ones pushing for open borders, sanctuary cities and illegal “family” mass border crossings. Voters letting the teachers unions dominate state politics allowed this to happen – by informal majority decree – and in California the teachers unions now own a super-majority.
    Since over 60% of our K-12 is now filled with “english learners”, the teachers unions need to keep more coming just to keep their classrooms filled and the $1000 plus a year teacher union dues flowing into Democrat campaign coffers.
    Every year a cohort of “english learners” leaves the K-12 system, they must be replaced with new “english learner” students any way they can – hence open borders and sanctuary cities. Illegals have very high birth rates – 5-6 kids each. This is a K-12 teacher union gold mine and that is how we got into the current “immigration” mess we now face, losing $23 billion dollars net a year providing illegals goods and services, including SCOTUS mandated free K-12.
    California Teachers Association was called by Gov Brown, the unelected fourth branch of government and he regularly consulted with them before taking any action.
    No one else benefits from illegal immigration more than the teachers unions in this state. Therein hangs the tale. Voters in general still feel unfounded sympathy for “education” which leaves the door wide open for the teacher union agendas in this state.

  19. Deao says:

    RedState Kira Davis offers more insights about shifting political change in California that may prove his recent election is a good omen against the current Democrat stranglehold in this state.
    Both GOP and Democrat free lancers are protesting the recent law that destroyed free lance jobs in this state. Now a state senator just dismissively called those out of work protestors mad, because their “lollipops” were taken away. https://www.redstate.com/kiradavis/2020/05/15/ca-senator-freelancers-begging-work-lollipops/
    BTW: This senator has always been known as “Taxin Jackson” -gotta pay off her government employee union bosses.

  20. jerseycityjoan says:

    Fred,
    I agree 100% with you. But the reality of the situation is that 40+ years of mass migration and the automatic giving of citizenship at birth to all babies born in America means that soon America will be a minority-majority nation.
    I do not see a future for a small government, very conservative and mostly white Republican party as one of our two major parties when we are a majority-minority nation.
    The change in voter demographics is inevitable. All we can do now is reduce future immigration to try to rein in runaway population growth.
    Do you see a different future?

  21. Tyler says:

    Amazing how yet again the Republican wins an “election that is a national bellwether on Trump in 2020” and the narrative suddenly becomes “this was a race about local issues”.

  22. Deap says:

    GOP elects another superstar in California – state senate. The farm club is growing along with a new fan club for a diverse group of GOP candidates:
    ….”California State GOP Chairman Jim Brulte told Newsmax Melendez “was and is a superstar public servant,” adding, “She will serve her constituents well.”
    As noted by the news site, the mother of five is a small business owner and was “elected to the Lake Elsinore City Council and eventually became mayor. Before her election to the senate Tuesday, Melendez served four terms in the state Assembly.” The Republican also “flew on covert missions in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm and became fluent in Russian.”……..”

  23. Fred says:

    jerseycityjoan,
    Stop judging people by the color of their skin, that is the very definition of racism. Perhaps not promoting the abortion of 40,000,000 unborn children would have negated the incentive to bring in citizens of other countries and they, by remaining in their nations of birth, could have created the economic conditions they wished to see by coming her by demanding their own governments adopt similar legal structures to Americas.
    “try to rein in runaway population growth.”
    There is no “runaway population growth” in the US. Ending all imigration would be a good idea. In 18 years we’ll have a whole new generation of Americans born here to do all those things we are told it is essential to bring immigrants in to do.

  24. Deap says:

    jerseycityjoan, take a good look at the two conservative “hispanics” (by last name) who just won solid victories over the California Democrat establishment candidates.
    Democrat party registration is no longer a safe bet for second generation and more Latinos in this state. Bravo and brava, newly elected GOP “hispanic” candidates: Garcia and Melendez. There is little mobility inside the Democrat party this state party as we are are also seeing at the aging crop of Democrat wannabes at the national level.
    But the GOP in California is a wide open field and we are finding some very attractive candidates that are striking out away from the Democrat plantation or rather the ag fields, in this state. When one starts seeing more POC conservatives, one realizes it was never about skin color. It was always about sharing ideology.

  25. AK says:

    jerseycityjoan,
    Your take seems to rest on the premise that these minority voters are a monolithic block that will vote in perpetuity for leftists offering free handouts from the gubmint. I’m asking because it seems to be the going assumption of everyone who claims the inevitability of the triumph of leftism via changing racial demographics. Do you mean to say that there is something intrinsically Democrat about these groups, perhaps a genetic predisposition towards dependency on the state? I’m being facetious there, of course, but I hope you get my point. Even if that were the case, what happens when not only the coffers run dry but so does the credit? When government at all levels is finally and truly bankrupt, sovereign credit is no longer worth anything, and the handouts cease, then what?
    I think it’s a stretch to say that there is no chance whatsoever that maybe enough black Americans will wake up and realize that their cities, neighborhoods, and economic and family structures have been run into the toilet by Democrat policy and Democrat corruption over the past three generations. It’s quite impossible to pin Detroit’s or Chicago’s or LA’s problems on Republicans. And if/when the U.S. does become a minority-majority country, how long can they blame the problems that will inevitably still plague the “new majority coalition” on the white minority and the canard of “institutional racism”? Especially if they actually succeed in destroying the country’s existing institutions and replacing them with ones more to their ideological liking? How long will that arrangement hold up?
    There’s also the cultural question of religion. Perhaps Hispanic Americans will just give a pass to the increasingly open hostility towards their faith that the Democrat party espouses? When the last Catholic church in California is closed by a hard leftist government (for whatever reason – refusing to marry gays, refusing to refer to God in gender neutral terms – take your pick), will they all just shrug and accept it? I’ve spent a fair amount of time around immigrant families in southern California, and rest assured religion is still very important to them. Same goes for a great many black Americans.
    My point of all this is that it’s a pretty sad short-sell of these minority populations to say they are incapable of one day seeing the modern Democrat party as the cabal of race-hustling grievance mongers that they are. Their scam on America’s minorities can’t last forever. Reality always snaps back. It just snaps back harder the longer it’s resisted. Maybe I’m overly optimistic, or maybe I just don’t put too much stock in supposed “inevitabilities” that rest on sweeping generalizations that are supposed to hold true forever.

  26. AK says:

    jerseycityjoan,
    An addendum to my first comment. Re: your take on the Republican party and its current challenges, it’s accurate and I agree with you. Currently the party has an issue resonating with younger voters, but that’s always been the case. I think it has something to do with being young and dumb. One thing remains certain, young people don’t stay young. And while the birth-rates of minority populations are currently higher than white populations, who’s to say that will remain the case forever? I have a hard time imagining a reversal of the overall birthrate trend in the U.S. thanks only to minority populations. As they become settled in the U.S. over the generations, they will also feel the societal pressures that currently contribute to decreasing participation in the institution of marriage and family life, and the corresponding decreasing birthrates. My point is there will be less and less “young people” in the body politic, and we all know they don’t vote at high rates anyway. They let Bernie down in 2016 (and HRC), and left him high and dry again this year. Youthful sloth and apathy remain a strong trend in American politics. You can’t depend on the young, loud and vociferous as they may be.
    I think what the Republican party can do is focus on promoting the substance of the American creed of the sanctity of individual rights as laid out in the Declaration and the Constitution. This creed espouses no religious or racial criteria, and even though its spirit has not always been applied equally to all Americans in practice, that doesn’t mean we haven’t made strides in that direction as a society over the last half century. It also doesn’t mean that the American creed can’t eventually be embraced by the immigrants who move here. Indeed, most immigrants who have come here over the years have done so precisely because they desire to live under that creed. The Republicans played the demographic game in the 90s and early 2000s when they went all in on courting the religious Right. That hurt them among young people for sure, for at least a generation. But lately they seem to have moved away from this strategy and seem to be rediscovering the appeal of the founding philosophy of the country as it applies to ALL Americans (at least some Republicans anyway, Dan Crenshaw for example). After all, the greatest sales pitch we as a society have is that creed. I still believe in its emotive power to inspire a broad swath of the American population and overcome the hollowness of the Leftist ideology.

  27. J says:

    Colonel,
    What is also an ‘omen’ if you will, are the latest words coming from King Abdullah of Jordan.
    King Abdullah threatened the U.S.-backed Netanyahu plan will “will lead to a massive conflict with Jordan”…also warned that “chaos and extremism in the region” would be unleashed if the Palestinian Authority collapsed… “Leaders who advocate a one-state solution do not understand what that would mean. What would happen if the Palestinian National Authority collapsed? There would be more chaos and extremism in the region,” he said.
    https://rhc.jo/en/media/news/king-der-spiegel-recovery-covid-19-impact-depends-how-smart-we-are-opening-sectors
    The PA will resist this land-grab by Netanyahu literally ‘at all costs’, as they have nothing to loose.
    And one of the things if you will, when Netanyahu and his government decide to tear down Al-Aqsa Mosque and build Solomon’s Temple in its place, then the shit will really hit the fan.

  28. Deap says:

    More follow-up on the changing political mood in California – pushback against one more super-majority Democrat micro-managing over reach – taking away free lance jobs by sweeping legislation – AB-5 –
    One of the progressive leaders in the state is now telling these displaced freelance workers those were not really jobs that they lost, they were just lollipops, so stop crying. : https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-lawmaker-on-struggling-independent-contractors-frustrated-labor-law-took-their-lollipop:
    Those free lance jobs, taken away with a stroke of the Democrat super-majority pen were replaced with unemployment as the AB-5 legislation made “real jobs” too expensive for companies to continue offering them. And willing free lance workers lost all their freedom, flexibility, initiative and ability to choose their own consequences as adults because the massive California Democrat nanny state claimed they knew better.

  29. blue peacock says:

    J
    Seriously. What is Jordan gonna do when they’re so dependent on the zionist USA?
    The Palestinians have no sympathizers or real backers anywhere in the world. Even the Arabs only pay lip service. Who will do anything if they’re exiled or exterminated?

  30. jerseycityjoan says:

    Deap and AK,
    You are right that the Democratic party doesn’t have all the answers and does not have a lock on minority voters. It is also true that people just don’t vote based on economic issues. But it is also true that when you’re economic survival is at stake, that inevitably becomes your #1 concern.
    I just read last night at MarketWatch that 44% of workers 18-65 are low wage earners with a median wage of $10.22 an hour. Today’s Republican party doesn’t want to increase minimum wage and hates the use of government benefits. So how can it expect to win the votes of the tens of millions of Americans who are not doing well? These people — and a large number of people making mid-level wages who are one or two missed paychecks away from disaster — assume Republicans don’t care about them because they don’t care about their economic survival.
    This is an even larger problem for Republicans than their problem with minorities. Americans are in far bigger trouble than even I realized. That’s what all those endless food bank lines have shown me.

  31. Barbara Ann says:

    blue peacock
    King Abdullah II speaking up on this matter is something to celebrate in its own right. Yes, Jordan may not be able to do much if the Zionists do go for annexation, but taking this moral, honorable stand is an act which stands on its own merits. Our host once sad something along the lines of “is there no hopeless cause you would fight for?”

  32. Fred says:

    jerseycityjoan,
    “44% of workers 18-65 are low wage earners with a median wage of $10.22 an hour. Today’s Republican party ….
    Wants them to go back to work, to end illegal immigration, and to curtail multiple visa programs that suppress wages.
    “These people — and a large number of people making mid-level wages who are one or two missed paychecks away from disaster….”
    You seem to have missed the multiple states that issued “stay at home orders” and declared some businesses and individuals “non-essential”, thus forbidding them to work, or forbidding their employers to remain open and allow them to work. “That’s what all those endless food bank lines have shown me.”

  33. Deap says:

    jerseycityjoan,
    Simple, stop telling them the GOP does not care about them. Until Nancy Pelosi ripped up Trump’s SOTU and embarked on her pandemic hysteria and blame game, the “Trump” economy was roaring proving GOP does care and people were doing well.
    Not sure why you are distorting a clear GOP Trump advantage for everyone – playing no favorites in a healthy economy. Unless you are wedded to keeping the doom and gloom message and OrangeManBad alive and well for another election year.
    If there is any looming divide it is the people now forced into a lockdown and economic meltdown making the connection that those with government jobs are still getting their paychecks while at the same time telling private sector persons that they don’t get theirs.
    What are your media resources because your version of events does not sound in fact. GOP wants people back to work and back to enjoying the Trump economy, with all appropriate safety precautions .
    As well as some fiscal hard knocks – everyone needs to save and keep a 6 month emergency fund and yes, anyone can cut back and make this happen. “One paycheck away from homelessness” is a choice; not a fact of life. Some things in life you just can’t change; but over-dependency on a government nanny state is one of them.
    Local community colleges are in the business of upgrading working skills and making lives productive. Take advantage of them. The best education bargain we still have. The door is open – no one is left behind and you will find plenty of GOP support for this public hand-up.

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