california republican party chairman jim brulte. | ap photo/chris carlson by david siders 11/09/16 05:55 am est sacramento <u+2014> in an election the gave the presidency to donald trump and lifted republicans across the nation, the vote in california was highlighted by ground-breaking liberal victories on a number of ballot measures. before tuesday, in election after election in the nation<u+2019>s most populous state, an increasingly democratic electorate had tended to cling to the political center. story continued below only eight years ago, californians approved a ballot measure, later overturned by the courts, outlawing gay marriage, and more recently they rejected initiatives to repeal the death penalty and to legalize recreational marijuana. while californians approved an income tax increase in 2012, they rejected a cigarette tax increase, and they elected <u+2014> and re-elected <u+2014> their democratic governor, jerry brown, based largely on his promise of fiscal restraint. but on tuesday, as the nation went for trump and republicans retained their majorities in congress, california went left. and while the republican party appeared likely to defend several house seats and to prevent democrats from gaining a two-thirds supermajority in the california legislature, key pieces of the party's conservative agenda were lost. in the same state that once propelled ronald reagan to the white house and spurred a tax-limiting movement with proposition 13, voters on tuesday extended higher income taxes on the wealthy, legalized marijuana and made certain felons eligible for early parole. they approved stricter gun control measures, while measures to authorize $9 billion in school bonds and to increase the cigarette tax by $2 per pack were both running ahead in early returns. a measure to repeal the death penalty had fallen behind. but the combined effect of the other propositions moved california to more liberal ground even than brown, who expressed reservations about legalizing marijuana and declined to endorse an extension of the taxes he championed as temporary in 2012. <u+201c>even with democratic majorities, it could be argued that california was a center-right state at the initiative level,<u+201d> california republican party chairman jim brulte said late tuesday. <u+201c>i think the results of the initiatives tonight probably suggest that that may no longer be the case.<u+201d> republicans who had scrambled for weeks to minimize expected losses in house and legislative races were largely celebrating leads in competitive house contests late tuesday. u.s. reps. darrell issa, jeff denham, steve knight and david valadao were all running ahead of their democratic challengers in early returns. meanwhile, the gop appeared likely to deny democrats the supermajority they were expected to gain in the state assembly. in southern california assembly contests, republican dante acosta was running ahead of democrat christy smith, and republican assemblywoman young kim was leading democrat sharon quirk-silva in a rematch of their race two years ago. in a closely watched suburban san francisco assembly race, republican incumbent catharine baker had pulled ahead of democrat cheryl cook-kallio, who like many democrats had tried relentlessly to yoke her opponent to trump, who fell to clinton by a wide margin here. the republican party has long been withering in california, its ranks of older, white voters dwindling as the electorate has become increasingly diverse. the party<u+2019>s share of statewide voter registration has plunged to 26 percent, and demographic trends continue to work against the gop. late last week, according to the nonpartisan data research firm political data inc., more than 5 million voters had registered or re-registered in california since the beginning of the year, with a record voter registration of more than 19 million. millennials now make up a plurality of registered voters in the state, and the republican party failed even to advance a candidate to the general election in the u.s. senate race. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s hard to deny the march of time in california, and the generational shift among voters,<u+201d> said bill whalen, a research fellow at stanford university<u+2019>s hoover institution and former speechwriter for gov. pete wilson. if the republican party had cause for optimism about the leanings of the california electorate, it was the strong performance of a measure that would require public approval of state projects costing more than $2 billion. the initiative, by stockton-area farmer and food processor dean <u+201c>dino<u+201d> cortopassi, a libertarian-leaning democrat, could disrupt brown<u+2019>s delta water project and high-speed rail. the measure was running less than 1 percentage point behind late tuesday, with millions of ballots yet to count. brown campaigned against the cortopassi measure but only intensified his efforts in recent weeks. asked tuesday if he could have started campaigning earlier, brown said, "hard to say. i mean, people are paying more attention now, and there's so many measures, to break through is very difficult." in previous presidential election years, even when the republican party succeeded nationally, its california branch could look forward two years to the mid-term elections, in which lower turnout typically benefits republicans. but a wide-open gubernatorial race is expected to dominate the 2018 election in california, and it is unclear if the republican party will field a credible candidate at the top of the ticket. <u+201c>what becomes hard is, you can<u+2019>t really cast a vision to voters as to what a california republican party could do for them without strong statewide candidates,<u+201d> said rob stutzman, a republican strategist in sacramento. <u+201c>at the same time, it<u+2019>s difficult to attract strong statewide candidates when the prospect of winning or the prospect of even being competitive or getting your message out is rather daunting.<u+201d> in two years, he said, republicans could be shut out. <u+201c>republicans are at risk of the real discourse about things like crime, pension, education reform all happening inside the democratic [party],<u+201d> stutzman said. on tuesday, however, with a republican taking the white house and the state party likely to avert large losses in the legislature, it was democrats who slumped in silence over their drinks at the state party headquarters. and it was a democrat earlier tuesday who offered republicans a hopeful assessment of the electorate in his state. <u+201c>make no mistake: californians don<u+2019>t like taxes that much, and they<u+2019>re always ready to throw the bums out," brown told reporters at a polling place in sacramento. "so anytime you think california<u+2019>s going left, watch out, because they<u+2019>re just about to turn right in the next year or two.<u+201d> carla marinucci and david siders' must-read briefing on politics and government in the golden state
while republicans celebrate across the nation, california lurches left
david siders