California Republicans, long banished to the political outside of their home state, enjoyed being surrounded by like-minded conservatives at the Republican National Convention and hearing some criticism of blue-state politicians and policies.
Eric Trump, the former president's son and a Republican candidate in 2024, said his family owns a beachfront golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes.
“The most beautiful views in the world, the most perfect weather in the world,” Trump told hundreds of California delegates and guests at a breakfast Tuesday morning. “Every time I go there, I think, ‘Man, if it wasn’t for the taxes, if it wasn’t for the taxes and the craziness, I’d probably live here.’”
Trump spoke on the second morning of the Republican National Committee in Milwaukee, a day after the party officially nominated former President Trump and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as its White House running mate, adopted a slimmed-down platform that toned down language on traditional marriage and abortion, and was rocked by a surprise public appearance by Donald Trump, his first since a gunman tried to assassinate him on Saturday.
Delegates have been enthusiastic about their party's prospects and have described Trump's appearance, just days after the shooting that severed his ear in Pennsylvania, as something akin to a religious resurrection.
“Some of my colleagues in my delegation, I looked around and I could see tears coming out of their eyes,” when Trump appeared before the delegates, said Cindy Spray, a delegate from Florida. “And there was this huge outpouring of emotion: ‘Thank God he’s still here.’ God took care of him.”
As Democratic elected officials spoke outside the convention hall, a designated protest space in a park near Fiserv Forum remained largely empty Tuesday.
Trump's team announced that he would return to the campaign trail with Vance on Saturday for a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The event will take place just a week after the shooting that killed one person and seriously injured two others, but narrowly missed out on the candidate's life.
The theme of Tuesday’s convention is “Make America Safe Again,” with the goal of focusing the gathering on crime and illegal immigration. Former rivals Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley were scheduled to address attendees in the afternoon session. Also expected to be on the agenda are people who will speak about their experiences with the fentanyl crisis and crimes committed by people who are not authorized to be in the country.
Those themes filtered into conversation over the California delegation's breakfast, where attendees drank bloody Marys and ate fried chicken and waffles at their hotel in Brookfield, a Milwaukee suburb.
“Today, every state in America is a border state, but that doesn’t diminish the enormous challenges that I know you see in California,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin told the delegation. “They are unprecedented. They are unprecedented.” [Texas Gov.] Greg Abbott as your governor and I'm sorry. I'm sorry.”
Abbott has won both notoriety and condemnation for his immigration policies. In March, he signed a measure allowing Texas law enforcement to detain Mexican immigrants who enter the state without legal authorization. He said the federal government had failed in its efforts to curb unauthorized migration.
The law promised a showdown with federal officials over which branch of government has authority over U.S. borders and immigration. Opponents said the Texas law would lead to racial profiling and the detention of U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. The Texas governor also angered Californians by sending tens of thousands of migrants to California and other Democratic-controlled states.
Democrats in Washington held a news conference in which they criticized the Republican position on immigration as extreme and said it would divide families, while Trump follows through on his promise of mass deportations.
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) said Americans should oppose “a right-wing extremist’s dark vision for America that focuses on attacks on immigrant and border communities.” Trump’s plan amounts to a “xenophobic plan,” she said, “that seeks to remake America in his white-only, supposedly Christian image.”
State party chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson contrasted Trump's policies with those implemented by the Democrats who run California's government.
“No one knows better than Californians the consequences of failed Democratic policies,” he said.
“Under the failed one-party rule of California Democrats, thanks to disastrous leaders like [Gov.] Gavin Newsom and [Vice President and former Sen.] Kamala Harris, California has the highest unemployment rate of any state in the country, the highest gas prices, the highest poverty rate, the largest homeless population, rising crime, failing schools, and one of the top entry points for illegal immigration. The list goes on.
California's government and voters are overwhelmingly Democratic, yet because of its size and how it draws its congressional districts, the state is home to the most competitive House races of any state in the country and millions of Trump voters.
But speakers addressing the state delegation attempted to offer reasons for optimism.
“I firmly believe that not only our majority, but the expansion of the majority in our House of Representatives, runs through California,” Youngkin said.
Eric Trump added that California has donated more money to his father's campaign than any other state in the country, a fact that is typically true for Republican candidates in contested elections across the country due to the state's size and high concentration of wealthy donors.
“California has bought more MAGA hats than any other state in the country,” Trump added to cheers.
Attendees expressed joy at those messages and, more generally, at spending time with like-minded conservatives.
“It's great to see people who think like you, who share the same values and who support the same people as you,” said Jon Huey of Woodland, near Sacramento, adding that it was a contrast to his home state.
“It’s hard because obviously if you live in the blue zone of California or in a Democratic county, your neighbors are mostly Democrats,” added the 42-year-old, who works on GOP campaigns. “You’re not that overtly Republican or conservative.”
Mehta reported from Milwaukee and Rainey from Los Angeles. This story includes information from the Associated Press.
