California Republican Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairperson | Corrin Rankin |
| Senate Leader | Brian Jones |
| Assembly Leader | Heath Flora |
| Founders | John C. Frémont Pío Pico |
| Founded | 1854; 171 years ago (1854) |
| Headquarters | Sacramento, California |
| Student wing | California College Republicans |
| Membership(October 2025) |  5,824,749[1] |
| Ideology | |
| National affiliation | Republican Party |
| Colors |
|
| US Senate Seats | 0 / 2 |
| US House Seats | 9 / 52 |
| Statewide Executive Offices | 0 / 8 |
| California State Senate | 10 / 40 |
| California State Assembly | 20 / 80 |
| Election symbol | |
.svg) | |
| Website | |
| cagop | |
TheCalifornia Republican Party (CAGOP) is the affiliate of theUnited States Republican Party in theU.S. state ofCalifornia. The party is based inSacramento, California and is led by chair Corrin Rankin.
As of October 2023, Republicans represent approximately 23.9% of the state's registered voters, placing the party far behind theCalifornia Democratic Party which has 46.8% of registered voters.[2] The party is a super minority in theCalifornia State Legislature, holding less than 1/3 (33.3%) of the seats in both chambers of the legislature: 20 seats out of 80 in theCalifornia State Assembly (23.75%), and 9 seats out of 40 in theCalifornia State Senate (23%). The party holds none of the eight statewide executive branch offices, 9 of the state's 52 seats in theU.S. House of Representatives delegation (17%), and neither of California's seats in theU.S. Senate.
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TheRepublican Party was born in 1854 as a primary vehicle to oppose the expansion of slavery in the United States. In 1856, Republicans nominatedJohn C. Frémont, one of California's inaugural senators, for the1856 presidential election,[4] but he lost the state by a wide margin to Democrat and eventual winnerJames Buchanan, though he did win the state ofNew York. Later in 1860,Abraham Lincoln was elected to the presidency as the first Republican president. The Republican Party would emerge as primary opposition to the Democratic Party until the present day.
California Republicans and Democrats were competitive throughout the late 19th century. In 1878, Republican California SenatorAaron A. Sargent introduced the language that would become the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which would allow women the right to vote.[4]
Republicans dominated state politics for most of the 20th century (they controlled the state senate from 1891 to 1958) until the 1960s when the Democrats once again became competitive with the rightward shift of the Republican Party, exemplified by their nomination ofBarry Goldwater in1964 (Goldwater lost California in a landslide).[5] Republicans still saw ample success up until the 1990s.George H. W. Bush carried the state in1988 afterRonald Reagan twice carried the state in1984 and1980.Pete Wilson was elected Senator in1988, andJohn Seymour was the last Republican Senator from California after being appointed to the seat in 1991.
California's Latino and Asian populations grew significantly in the 1990s and the growing segment of voters were turned off by the Republican Party's hard-line stance on immigration (the Party closely tied itself toProposition 187). Democrats have won most elections at the state, local, and federal levels since the 2000s by comfortable margins. For example, despite failing to win the presidency, Hillary Clinton won a higher percentage of votes than any candidate since Franklin D. Roosevelt.[5]
Still, California electedArnold Schwarzenegger twice for governor. Schwarzenegger andSteve Poizner, who later became an independent, are the last Republicans to win statewide elections in California.
California has two Republican presidents in U.S. history:Richard Nixon, who was a U.S. representative and senator from California, andRonald Reagan, who was a governor of California (1967–1975).Herbert Hoover also studied in California and lived there for a number of years. Other notable California Republicans include former Governor and Chief JusticeEarl Warren, former Governor and SenatorHiram Johnson, and former Senator and founder ofStanford UniversityLeland Stanford.[4]
In 2018, the California Republican Party had fewer registered voters than voters registered with ano party preference option, but that trend reversed in 2020.[6][7]
The California Republican Party is known for itsculture-war style politics; the state party platform advocates for anear-total ban on abortion access, banningsame-sex marriage, andprivatizing education.[8]
The following is a list of Republican statewide, federal, and legislative officeholders:
Both of California'sU.S. Senate seats have been held byDemocrats since1992.John F. Seymour is the last Republican to have represented California in the U.S. Senate. Appointed in 1991 byPete Wilson who resigned his Class I Senate seat because he was elected governor in1990, Seymour lost the1992 special election to Democratic challengerDianne Feinstein for the remainder of the term expiring in 1995. Feinstein held the seat until her death in 2023. Pete Wilson is the last Republican to have won an election to represent California in the U.S. Senate, when he won in1988. He is also the last Republican to represent California for afull term in the U.S. Senate from 1983 to 1989.
The last Republican to hold the other senatorial seat (theClass 3 seat) wasThomas Kuchel who held the seat for three terms, from 1953 to 1969. Kuchel ran for a fourth term, but lost the Republican primary.
With the passage ofProp 14 in 2010 setting up ajungle primary system in California, there was a period of 10 years (2012–2022) in which no Republican made the general election for the US Senate, as Republicans were locked out from the general elections in both the2016 election and the2018 election.
Out of the 52 seats California is apportioned in theU.S. House of Representatives, 9 are held by Republicans:
California has not had a Republican in a state-wide elected office since January 2011. Republicans were last elected to a statewide office in 2006, whenArnold Schwarzenegger wasre-elected as governor andSteve Poizner waselected as insurance commissioner. In 2010,term limits prevented Schwarzenegger from seeking a third term while Poizner chose not to seek re-election as California's Insurance Commissioner, instead makingan unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for governor.In 2018, Poizner attempted to run again for his old seat of insurance commissioner, but did so without the affiliation to the Republican Party.
The last Republican to serve aslieutenant governor isAbel Maldonado, who was appointed in 2010 by Schwarzenegger to fill the vacancy whenJohn Garamendi resigned to take a seat in Congress. Maldonado lostthe election in 2010 for a full term, and left office in January 2011. The last Republican elected to the position isMike Curb, who was elected in 1978 and served until January 1983.
The last Republican to serve asAttorney general isDan Lungren who was elected in 1990, reelected in 1994, and served until January 1999.
The last Republican to serve asSecretary of State isBruce McPherson, who was appointed to the position in 2005 when the previous Secretary of State,Kevin Shelley, resigned. McPherson lostthe election for a full term in 2006 and left office in January 2007. The last Republican elected to the position isBill Jones who was elected in 1994, reelected in 1998 and served until January 2003.
The last Republican to serve asState treasurer isMatt Fong, who was elected in 1994 and served until January 1999. Fong chose not to run for re-election to a second term in office in 1998, choosing instead torun unsuccessfully for the US Senate seat.
The last Republican to serve asState controller isHouston I. Flournoy, who was elected in 1966, reelected in 1970, and served until January 1975.
The last Republican to serve as theSuperintendent of Public Instruction (which is officially a non-partisan position) isMax Rafferty, who was elected in 1962, reelected in 1966, and served until January 1971.
Republicans hold one of the four non-ex-officio seats on theState Board of Equalization:[9]
Republicans are in the minority, holding ten of the 40 seats in theState Senate. Republicans have been the minority party in the Senate since1970.
Republicans hold 20 of the 80 seats in theState Assembly.[11] The last time the Republicans were the majority party in the Assembly was during the 1994–1996 session.
Of California's ten largest cities, two have Republican mayors as of July 2022:
Other notable mayors include:
As of the2024 Republican National Convention, the California Republican Party gets to send 169 delegates to the quadannualPresidential nominating convention, the most of any state party. From the2004 presidential primary until the2020 presidential primary, the California Republican Party awarded three delegates to the winner of the primary within each one of thestate's congressional districts, with the balance (about a dozen delegates) awarded proportionally based on the statewide result.[15]
Ahead of the2024 National Convention, the state party changed its rules for awarding delegates in order to comply with the rules of thenational party (failure to do so would have resulted in a cut of 50% to the number of delegates the state party gets to send to the national convention). Under the new system, delegates are awarded based on the statewide results, rather than results within the individual districts. At the urging of theDonald Trump presidential campaign, the rules were also changed that if a candidate receives more than 50% of the primary votes, the candidate gets 100% of the state's 169 allotted delegates. If no candidate gets 50% of the primary vote, then delegates are awarded proportionally.[16]
Since January 2001, California has had a "modified" closed primary system in which political parties can determine whether or not to allow voters who arenot affiliated with any party (i.e. "independent") to participate in the party's primary. The passage ofProposition 14 limited this "modified" closed primary system to primaries forPresident of the United States, starting with the2012 primaries. Since the adoption of the "modified" closed primary system, the California Republican Party has allowed "independent" voters to vote in Republican primaries only in 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010 (for 2008, the allowance applied to all primaries except for thepresidential primary).[17]
The California Republican Party is a "political party that has detailed statutory provisions applicable to its operation", which are in division 7, part 3 of theCalifornia Elections Code.[18][19] The Republican State Central Committee (RSCC), the governing body of the California Republican Party, functions pursuant to its standing rules and bylaws.[20][21][22] The RSCC works together with the Republican county central committees and district central committees,[22] with county central committees appointing delegates to the RSCC.[23] The regular officers of the RSCC are the chairman, state vice chairman, eight regional vice chairmen, secretary, and treasurer.[24]
There are semi-autonomous county central committees for each ofCalifornia's 58 counties.[18][22] At every direct primary election (presidential primary) or when district boundaries are redrawn,[25] their members are either elected by supervisor district or Assembly district depending on the county.[26]
| County party | Elected members |
|---|---|
| Republican Party of Los Angeles County | Assembly district committee members elected at the direct primary elections.[27] |
| Republican Party of San Diego County | Six regular members elected from each Assembly district in the county.[28] |
| Republican Party of Orange County | Six members elected from each Assembly district.[29][30] |
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The California Republican Party typically holds its convention on abiannual basis.[31][c]
Recent conventions are listed below:
| Election | Gubernatorial candidate | Votes | Vote % | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1857 | Edward Stanly | 21,040 | 22.46% | Lost N |
| 1859 | Leland Stanford | 10,110 | 9.84% | LostN |
| 1861 | Leland Stanford | 56,036 | 46.41% | Won Y |
| 1863 | Frederick Low | 64,283 | 59.03% | WonY |
| 1867 | George Congdon Gorham | 40,359 | 43.71% | LostN |
| 1871 | Newton Booth | 62,561 | 52.11% | WonY |
| 1875 | Timothy Guy Phelps | 31,322 | 25.48% | LostN |
| 1879 | George Clement Perkins | 67,965 | 42.42% | WonY |
| 1882 | Morris M. Estee | 67,175 | 40.79% | LostN |
| 1886 | John Franklin Swift | 84,316 | 43.10% | LostN |
| 1890 | Henry Markham | 125,129 | 49.56% | WonY |
| 1894 | Morris M. Estee | 110,738 | 38.92% | LostN |
| 1898 | Henry Gage | 148,354 | 51.68% | WonY |
| 1902 | George Pardee | 146,332 | 48.06% | WonY |
| 1906 | James Gillett | 125,887 | 40.4% | WonY |
| 1910 | Hiram Johnson | 177,191 | 45.94% | WonY |
| 1914 | John D. Fredericks | 271,990 | 29.35% | LostN |
| 1918 | William Stephens | 387,547 | 56.28% | WonY |
| 1922 | Friend Richardson | 576,445 | 59.69% | WonY |
| 1926 | C. C. Young | 814,815 | 71.22% | WonY |
| 1930 | James Rolph Jr. | 999,393 | 72.22% | WonY |
| 1934 | Frank Merriam | 1,138,629 | 48.87% | WonY |
| 1938 | Frank Merriam | 1,171,019 | 44.17% | LostN |
| 1942 | Earl Warren | 1,275,237 | 57.07% | WonY |
| 1946 | Earl Warren | 2,344,542 | 91.64% | WonY |
| 1950 | Earl Warren | 2,461,754 | 64.86% | WonY |
| 1954 | Goodwin Knight | 2,290,519 | 56.83% | WonY |
| 1958 | William Knowland | 2,110,911 | 40.16% | LostN |
| 1962 | Richard Nixon | 2,740,351 | 46.87% | LostN |
| 1966 | Ronald Reagan | 3,742,913 | 57.55% | WonY |
| 1970 | Ronald Reagan | 3,439,174 | 52.83% | WonY |
| 1974 | Houston Flournoy | 2,952,954 | 47.25% | LostN |
| 1978 | Evelle Younger | 2,526,534 | 36.50% | LostN |
| 1982 | George Deukmejian | 3,881,014 | 49.28% | WonY |
| 1986 | George Deukmejian | 4,505,601 | 60.54% | WonY |
| 1990 | Pete Wilson | 3,791,904 | 49.25% | WonY |
| 1994 | Pete Wilson | 4,781,766 | 55.18% | WonY |
| 1998 | Dan Lungren | 3,218,030 | 38.38% | LostN |
| 2002 | Bill Simon | 3,169,801 | 42.40% | LostN |
| 2003 (recall) | Arnold Schwarzenegger (best-performing) | 4,206,284 | 48.6% | WonY |
| 2006 | Arnold Schwarzenegger | 4,850,157 | 55.88% | WonY |
| 2010 | Meg Whitman | 4,127,391 | 40.9% | LostN |
| 2014 | Neel Kashkari | 2,929,213 | 40.03% | LostN |
| 2018 | John H. Cox | 4,742,825 | 38.05% | LostN |
| 2021 (recall) | Larry Elder (best-performing) | 3,563,867 | 48.41% | Recall failed |
| 2022 | Brian Dahle | 4,462,914 | 40.82% | LostN |
California political parties | ||
|---|---|---|
| Major parties (ballot-qualified) |  | |
| Minor parties (ballot-qualified) | ||
| Minor parties (not ballot-qualified) | ||
| Inactive | ||
