Recall election points out the obvious: the GOP has become so narrow it can't field candidates
It wasn't that long ago a socially liberal-fiscal conservative could run and win a state election in California. More to the point it wasn't that long ago there were liberal leaning Republican candidates that could run in a place like California. The take over of the GOP run by shock jocks (on the radio, Internet, and TV) instead of having a national party that runs strategic campaigns is the reason California is unwinnable for the GOP. Once purity tests became the norm, moderate and liberal Republicans were driven from office and none dare even try to run. The most liberal Republican on the recall got zero air time and finished hopelessly behind the pack. Most Republicans don't even know he was running because of all the free air time Elders and Jenner got.
The lesson for the GOP last night was this, if you want to win in California run a candidate that's pro-choice, non-Transphobic, doesn't refer to African Americans as former property, and generally seems to give a shit that there's a pandemic going on and people are dying because of it. Sadly, this will not be the lesson learned. Instead the GOP will try to ram another Trump clone idiot in 2022 because that's all they got. It's a party run by TV pundits that don't really care about politics, they care about ratings and the wealth those rating bring.
The complete bluing of California didn't have to happen, and it was mostly caused by the GOP driving sane people toward the Democratic party and away from them. This is something never fucking mentioned by the pundits. This bluing didn't just happen in California but every Urban center in the US. It is now spreading to the "purple" suburbs. Party purity and politics by pundit are toxic to the GOP. It will prevent them from ever winning most Urban centers in this country because it prevents any candidate with any possible appeal from even running. Once again, people like Nixon, Reagan, Goldwater, and Eisenhower would never be able to run in this current GOP. That's how insane and toxic that brand has become. That's, in the end, what explains the recall result. There simply was no alternative to Newsom but to vote for insanity and insanity is not very appealing to people outside the right wing media bubble.
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How long can they sustain that?
