Mr. Larry Moore (Dec. 8, letters to the editors) called our 27th Congressional District Rep.-elect George Whitesides a “carpetbagger” because he has lived in the Antelope Valley. Remember that Democrat Katie Hill defeated Republican Rep. Steve Knight in the 2018 midterm elections when Santa Clarita was in the 25th Congressional District. Hill was a resident of Agua Dulce and Steve Knight lived in Palmdale. Were they also a couple of “carpetbaggers?”
Rep. Mike Garcia is a decent man, and no reasonable person would question his character, but his defeat was not about geography. Garcia is a conservative Republican in moderate clothing, which a majority of the voters saw through and rejected. What we know from this election is that Donald Trump’s appeal is distinct from that of other GOP candidates.
Republicans who run on a MAGA platform will have an uphill battle for election or reelection in any purple district like our own when faced with a credible and moderate Democratic challenger. But the bigger question is, what happened to the California Republican Party?
If the best the California GOP can do is nominate an aging former major league baseball player to run for the U.S. Senate, it should expect to lose every time. The California GOP needs a Kemi Badenoch, who has a master’s degree in computer engineering, and has just become the first Black woman to lead Britain’s Conservative Party.
Closer to home, voters in Los Angeles County ousted an incumbent district attorney, who put his ideology before prosecuting crime, in favor of Nathan J. Hochman, a former federal prosecutor who promised vigorous prosecution of criminals. Candidates like Badenoch and Hochman should be the templates for California Republicans going forward instead of Republicans giving up and moving to Texas.
Philip Wasserman
Stevenson Ranch
