It really has very little to do with Cox or Newsom in particular and almost everything to do with the current state of the CA GOP and how the OC region is shifting demographically/politically. I mean, every single Democrat running for statewide office (against a Republican, that is) won OC: Ma, Padilla, and Becerra all won it by more than Newsom did. And that isn't to mention the simultaneous mass overthrow of GOP congresspeople in that region. Honestly, Cox did decently in OC compared to most other California Republicans running for legislative or executive offices. I actually expected him to do slightly worse given Hillary's impressive showing there in 2016; I'm guessing that some OC Republicans were more open to supporting Cox as a check on the CA legislature than they were to supporting Trump, who (despite being ideologically similar) was even less polished than Cox and was likely to already have a GOP-controlled legislature should he be elected, considering the fact that OC still sent a Republican-dominated delegation to Congress in 2016.
So what should the California GOP do to regain some control in Orange County? What should be the strategy? Newsom does not fit OC and it’s just stunning to me how he won it.
