Democrats credit grassroots efforts for California victories

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(The Center Square) — The California Democratic Party is crediting strong grassroots organizing for driving high voter turnout and defeating Republicans in the midterm election.

That's the word from the party following Tuesday's election, in which Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra defeated Republican Steve Hilton in the race to succeed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Another Democrat, Attorney General Rob Bonta, was reelected, defeating Republican Michael Gates as Democrats maintained their control of the executive and legislative branches.

Becerra, who was secretary of health and human services during the Biden administration, was elected governor with 4,992,161 votes, or 63.9%, compared to Hilton, the former Fox News commentator and political adviser who garnered 2,815,459 votes (36.1%), according to the California Secretary of State’s website. In the race for attorney general, Bonta captured 4,911,025 votes (63.8%) over Gates, who finished with 2,791,689 (36.2%).

To achieve those victories and others, the state Democratic Party deployed nearly 1,000 volunteers. They provided poll monitoring, multilingual support and other aid that the party said was designed to safeguard voter rights. Of those volunteers, 800 served as poll observers, 134 as attorneys and 54 as hotline operators.

The party credited those efforts for its victories.

The gubernatorial election largely unfolded as an "invisible campaign" due to California’s deep-seated partisan lean, said Tim Anaya, vice president of marketing and communications at the Pasadena-based Pacific Research Institute.

"I think probably all Californians weren't very well served by the campaign that we saw," Anaya told The Center Square Wednesday. "A major candidate like Mr. Becerra, our governor-elect, seemed to kind of do just the bare minimum that he had to do, given California's blue hue."

Hilton rolled out a robust portfolio of policy ideas on the trail, Anaya said, but added, "When you have a blue state and a blue tsunami crashing into a blue state,” it didn't really matter.

“All the campaigning in the world wouldn't have made a big dent there,” said Anaya.

Down the ballot, other major statewide offices largely mirrored the top-of-ticket trends. Democrat Eleni Kounalakis, the current lieutenant governor, defeated Republican Jennifer Hawks for state treasurer 64% to 36%. In the controller's race, incumbent Democrat Malia Cohen maintained her seat with 63.8% support over Republican Herb Morgan’s 36.2%.

Secretary of State Shirley Weber secured 64.7% of the vote compared to Republican Donald Wagner’s 35.3%, while Democrat Jane Kim led fellow Democrat Ben Allen 52% to 48% for insurance commissioner.

Anaya emphasized that while down-ballot offices like treasurer and secretary of state wield critical influence over taxpayer funds and investment policies, they frequently struggle to break out of the shadow of top-tier races.

Anaya also pointed to the state's protracted vote-counting timeline as an ongoing concern for transparency and open government. California officials estimate it could take up to a month to finalize the remaining 40% of ballots.