PARKER: Could California elect a Republican governor?

California hasn’t had a Republican governor since 2011

Published Apr 18, 2026  •  Last updated 1 hour ago  •  3 minute read

Flag of California Republic. Photo by kyolshin /Getty Images

Here’s a scenario from California that would be hard for even a Hollywood screenwriter to come up with.

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This is a state generally seen to lean heavily to the political left.

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Its congressional delegation — the largest in the United States — stands at 52 House members, of whom 46 are Democrats, plus two senators, both Democrats.

The state legislature is decisively controlled by Democrats.

Yet there seems a reasonable likelihood that in November’s election for governor of California, we’ll see two Republicans running against each other.

How so?

California is an open primary state. The top two finishers in the June primary, regardless of party, move to the general election in November.

Eight Democrats have entered, along with two Republicans.

With Democrats’ support splintered among the eight, the two Republicans have been sitting at the top of the pack.

Now the story gets more out-of-the-box. Republicans just held their convention and neither of the two candidates managed the 60% necessary to garner an endorsement.

Further, the candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump, Steve Hilton, finished five points behind the other Republican, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.

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And now, the candidate generally considered the leading Democrat, seven-term Rep. Eric Swalwell, has pulled out of the race because of allegations of sexual misconduct.

California hasn’t seen a Republican in the governor’s mansion since Arnold Schwarzenegger departed in 2011.

California is a big, beautiful state with a $4.1-trillion economy, making it one of the largest economies in the world.

But it is a state with a problem. Instead of counting its blessings, it is now consuming its blessings.

California’s magnificent climate, ecology and natural resources attracted waves of population, business and talent over the years.

This led to booming industries in agriculture, entertainment, real estate and technology.

But now it’s going in the opposite direction. Skyrocketing costs of living and doing business, mostly due to taxation and regulation, are driving business and labour out of the state.

Per the Public Policy Institute of California, every year in the last 25 years has seen more departures from the state than arrivals.

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From 2010 to 2024, there were 10 million departures and seven million arrivals.

Hundreds of corporations have moved out of the state. Over the last few years, this has included McKesson, Chevron, Tesla, Oracle, CBRE, Charles Schwab and Hewlett Packard Enterprises.

Governor Gavin Newsom’s reaction to this has been indifference. Last year, when the CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond announced that it would open no stores in California as part of its corporate reorganization, he explained that California’s business environment “makes it harder to employ people, harder to keep doors open and harder to deliver value to customers.”

The response from the governor’s office was: “After their bankruptcy and closure of every store, we thought Bed, Bath, and Beyond no longer existed. We wish them well in their efforts to become relevant again.”

Per Joel Kotkin of Chapman University and the University of Texas-Austin, California has “roughly half of the nation’s homeless population … has the highest unemployment rate of any state … and has the highest cost-of-living adjusted poverty rate.”

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Kotkin says the state has “hemorrhaged 1.6 million above-average paying jobs over the last decade,” and created “five times as many low-wage as high-wage jobs.”

Meanwhile, Newsom, per Kotkin, has hired a New York PR firm, at a cost of $19 million to California taxpayers, to develop a PR campaign for the state.

Per a Public Policy Institute of California survey, only one in three Californians sees their state as a good place to realize the American dream.

When things seem chaotic, as they do today, it’s usually a sign that change is underway.

California is usually a leading edge for the country. Just as the nation is faltering and in need of a great rebirth and restoration of its founding principles, for sure, this is what’s happening today in the Golden State.

Star Parker is founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education

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