In any normal election cycle, the state’s race for governor would be in the spotlight for California’s voters and media. But, this is not a traditional political era we are living through, and the dramatic, emotional hearings over confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court has made California’s senators the center of the political world.
The different styles of California’s U.S. Senators were on display at the confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. Before the compromise that delayed the nomination vote for a week, California senator Kamala Harris walked out of the proceedings. Senior senator and ranking minority member Dianne Feinstein remained in her chair.
Harris’s walk out had as much to do with her presidential aspiration as it did with her objections to the committee’s direction. As the San Francisco Chronicle’s Matier & Ross reported, Harris has been busy using the Kavanaugh hearing as a tool to build lists of potential supporters around the country.
Feinstein on the other hand was the center of the Kavanaugh confirmation storm charged by Republican colleagues with engineering a strategic political hit against the nominee by holding Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s accusatory letter of sexual assault until right before a final vote on Kavanaugh. Feinstein denied any skullduggery and advocated for the ultimate compromise to bring in the FBI investigators.
Watching from across the country, California voters have the opportunity to endorse the Feinstein approach or kick her out of office with someone more in the Harris mold.
Feinstein’s opponent in the senate contest, State Senator Kevin de Leon, assuredly would have walked out of the meeting with Harris. In fact, if you listen to his rhetoric, he would not have been in the meeting at all but would have been out in the hallway with anti-Kavanaugh protestors.
De Leon’s campaign highlighted the recent PPIC poll that has him now 11 percent behind Feinstein, half of what he trailed her by in the previous poll.
One interesting aspect of the poll is that about a quarter of Republican voters queried said they did not intend to vote in this Democrat vs. Democrat contest. However, of those Republicans who did name a preference, the state senator who has put out an agenda far to the left of Feinstein actually had a small lead among Republicans.
Much of de Leon’s standing with Republicans reflects their lack of knowledge for his policies and familiarity with the long-servicing Democratic U.S. Senator.
Oddly, the turn of events in Washington could continue to help de Leon if some Republican and conservative voters who plan to sit on their hands instead of voting decide that Feinstein is culpable in the attack on Kavanaugh—especially if, in the end, he is rejected as a court nominee. Retribution could come in the form of a vote for de Leon.
On the other hand, Feinstein’s actions, if given credit by liberal voters for sinking Kavanaugh, could strengthen her hand with a segment of the Democratic Party voters.
Regardless, how this comes down, already political expectations have been turned upside down when the state’s governor’s race now playing second fiddle to the U.S. Senate contest.
Joel Fox is editor and co-publisher of Fox and Hounds Daily.
This article was originally published by Fox and Hounds Daily.
This comes under the heading of be careful of you wish for. The Democrats have set such a low and debased standard even many of their voters are turned off. The spot light is being focused on the unethical conduct in the Senate because of what they want and don’t care about honesty…
How about it Republicans … let’s vote in a block for the Republican that was frozen out by the top two! Make it close enough and the Democrats will be shown for what they are.
It’s a hopeless cause. Who was the republican that was frozen out of the jungle primary? Are we allowed to write in?
No you can’t write in – in the general election
I just got the word from Colleen Britton on Election Integrity that it is a bad idea to ‘write-in’ a candidate. Here is what she wrote so PLEASE DO NOT WRITE IN ANYTHING ON YOUR BALLOT.
Per Colleen: “On an Election Integrity Call the other night, it was mentioned, that write in names are not accepted on the General Election which Nov is. If you write in a name, someone in the ROV’s office will re-make your ballot and leave that selection blank before the ballot is processed. There are no guarantees that the rest of your ballot will be re-made accurately.”
If there was a statewide push for one Republican “write in” candidate, that is supported by President Trump, I would participate!!! Otherwise, I will vote for Feinstein, hoping that she does not complete her 6 years and hoping that Cox is elected as Governor, so we could possibly get a Republican senator again after many years!!!
exactly, make her part of John & Ken’s Ghoul Pool, vote for her
Harris can keep on walking . She isn’t presidential material either.
Really???, What Republican are you talking about?I had planned on a “no” vote between those two liberal fools. And Jose Pancho de Leon is the liberal scum on the bottom of the pool.
The choice between these two is like someone asking you which eye do you want gouged out?
Everyone has to SEE what De Leon is like–what he says, what he does, what he supports.
I’ve posted this video twice before but it won’t hurt to post it again. Send it to others if you are so inclined.
Bonus Points for noticing how DeLeon imitates Obama’s body language.
Apparently he is trying to imitate Obama’s political path, too, with a stop at the U.S. Senate.
Do not participate in helping this man advance his political career — gulp hard and vote for Feinstein.
“Kevin DeLeon caught participating in [radical] ‘brown power’ event”
Wow! DeLeon just brushes off illegal aliens stealing social security numbers and bank account numbers. Just wow!
Hold your nose and vote for FEINSTEIN – hopefully Cox will win and either he or Trump will launch an investigation into her Kavanaugh misdeeds and they’ll be able to recall her, or let’s face it, her shelf life is running out…
You vote for De Leon as a “protest vote” and I PROMISE you it’ll bite you back and hurt you MUCH more than it would to hold your nose and vote for Feinstein…
Vote for Feinstein! Cos is going to be the next governor and Feinstein will either retire or croak. Either way, Cox will appoint a republican to replace her.
Let’s see now – should I vote for Vladimir Lenin or Trotsky? Decisions, decisions.