I’m not a big fan of demanding certain pledges of political candidates, like the no-tax pledges that are so common.
But I’d like to suggest that the California Republican Party push major statewide candidates to take a pledge – that they won’t quickly leave the state after they lose.
The Republican record in recent statewide elections is pretty embarrassing—it’s been years of losses, with the exception of people named Schwarzenegger and Poizner.
But recent cycles have produced a problem that goes beyond defeat: Departure.
Neel Kashkari, the Republican nominee for governor in 2014, no longer lives in California. He’s president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Before that, the 2010 GOP nominee for U.S. Senate Carly Fiorina decamped for Virginia shortly after she lost. (And one of the men she beat in the primary, Chuck DeVore, quickly fled for Texas).
Those departures suggest the GOP is nominating candidates whose commitment to California is less than ironclad. That’s not good politics. It isn’t good business either. One reason to invest in candidates like Kashkari or Fiorina, who were likely to lose their statewide races, is with the future in mind. They might not make it the first time, but they can become better known and perhaps run again in California.
But when they depart the state, the party loses that investment. Yes, Fiorina showed up as a presidential contender in 2016, but she wasn’t a factor in any of the primaries.
Which is why there should be a pledge. If you want the party support, you have to promise to stay in California for at least 5 years after the election.