Most Republican congressional candidates in California’s most competitive districts have remained silent on news of former President Trump’s historic criminal conviction.
A New York jury deliberated for 9.5 hours over two days before convicting Trump of 34 counts of falsifying business records for illegally influencing the 2016 election by paying hush money to a porn actor who claimed the two had a sexual relationship. .
After the verdict, California Republican leaders quickly expressed doubts about the legality of the verdict and believed that it would increase Trump’s chances of being re-elected in November.
Former Bakersfield House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Trump’s “only ‘crime’ was running against Joe Biden in 2024.”
Jessica Millan Patterson, chairwoman of the California Republican Party, said the prosecution was a “politically motivated case brought by a far-left district attorney” and that the guilty verdict “should never have happened.”
San Diego-area Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall) called the verdict and trial a “disgrace.”
Democrats, by contrast, hailed the verdict as proof that the U.S. legal system is functioning properly. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), who is running for Senate, said that despite Trump’s efforts to “distract, delay and deny,” “the rule of law prevailed.”
Yet few in California’s most hotly contested congressional races are willing to publicly debate Trump’s conviction.
Reps. Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills), Michelle Steel (R-Seal Beach), Mike Garcia (R-Santa Clarita), David Valadao (R-Hanford) and John Duarte (R-Modesto) did not Reply to request for comment. Also not in the race is Representative Matt Gunderson, who is challenging Rep. Mike Levine (D-San Juan Capistrano) in coastal Orange and San Diego counties, as well as Stockton Mayor Kevin Kevin Lincoln is running against Rep. Josh Harder (D-Tracy) in Orange County.
Republican Representative Steve Garvey, who is running against Schiff for Senate, said he had no comment on the verdict.
One exception is Scott Baugh, who is running to unseat the coastal Orange County seat held by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine). Bowe, the former Orange County Republican Party chairman, described Trump’s trial as a political indictment and said the verdict “should not surprise anyone.”
“A politically motivated prosecutor and a hostile judge set up a trial for so many prejudicial errors,” Bowe said in a prepared statement. “President Trump will have the opportunity to appeal, I believe. A fair hearing will expose and resolve these issues.”
Longtime Riverside Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona), who is fighting to hold on to his once-safe seat in what is now a hotly contested swing district, said in a statement Thursday night that Trump’s indictment was political. sexual, but his comments were more understated.
Calvert said Americans who believe “justice should turn a blind eye to politics” should be “concerned” about the outcome of the trial. “It is alarming that our criminal justice system continues to be exploited by partisan prosecutors who want to use the power of their offices to influence our democratic elections,” he continued.
Whether to stay engaged with Trump has been a thorny issue for California Republicans for nearly a decade, and that’s especially true this year. Republicans hold such a slim majority in the House that several closely contested races in the Golden State could determine which party controls the chamber. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates 10 races in California as competitive.
Dan Schnur, a political science professor at the University of Southern California, the University of California at Berkeley and Pepperdine University, said it makes sense for Republicans in these hotly contested battleground districts to remain silent on the verdict.
“You’ll notice that the loudest voices supporting Trump on this tend to be Republicans in very safe seats,” Schnur said. “Candidates who need to reach swing voters don’t have that luxury.”
Thad Kooser, a political science professor at the University of California, San Diego, said one challenge for candidates is that partisan loyalties shape how voters view the trial.
The poll found that a clear majority of Democrats believed the trial was fair, while only a small majority of Republicans agreed. Support among independents is evenly divided. Kussel said a Trump-like message about a rigged and unfair trial could resonate with a candidate’s Republican base or turn off independents.
“Anyone who wants to win a November election in a hotly contested district needs to worry about mobilizing their base with more Trump-like rhetoric, but also the cost of alienating centrists,” he said.
Rob Stutzman, a Republican strategist who is not involved in any congressional races, said that while the verdict could be used by both parties as a tool on the November ballot, it was a “sensitive topic.”
“There may be independents on the bench who are indifferent to the verdict, but they don’t necessarily want to see Republican incumbents defending Trump or condemning the verdict,” Stutzman said.
But Sean Steele, who represents California on the Republican National Committee and is married to Steele of Orange County, said the ruling will have “absolutely no impact” on California’s House races.
“The White House got the verdict they planned years ago,” Steele said. “The Manhattan jury’s conviction of Trump was motivated by malice and hatred. Today’s verdict, along with the acquittal in the O.J. Simpson criminal trial, is evidence of a sharp decline in trust in American criminal justice.
San Francisco attorney Harmeet Dhillon is a California Republican National Committee representative whose law firm represents the Trump campaign. , Californians are more concerned about quality of life issues.
“People are tired of it,” she said. “People have a much greater incentive to vote in this election because things are getting bad in California.”
While California’s Republican House candidates have remained largely silent, the same can’t be said for some of their allies in other states, such as Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake and South Carolina vice-presidential hopeful Sen. Tim Scott .
“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” Trump told reporters after leaving the courtroom. “The real judgment will be made by the people on November 5.”
The Biden campaign said Thursday’s ruling showed the law applies to everyone, but warned the only way to prevent Trump from winning the White House was to vote in November.
“Regardless of whether he is convicted or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president,” campaign spokesman Michael Taylor said. “The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater. He is engaged in an increasingly frenzied campaign of revenge and retribution, promising to be a dictator ‘from day one’ and calling for the ‘termination’ of our Constitution , so that he can regain and maintain power.
After Trump’s conviction, Democrats seized on 23 vulnerable House Republicans who supported the former president, including Duarte, Garcia, Calvert and Steele.
“House Republicans continue to put Donald Trump first and the American people last,” said Courtney Rice, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Their districts deserve better, Rather than following a wannabe dictator like a cult, each of them should revoke their endorsement, but they won’t.
Trump’s trial, which began in April in New York City, is one of four felony cases Trump faces, although it is considered the only one likely to go to trial before the November election.
The verdict hinges on whether Trump falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 hush-money payment by Trump’s lawyer and later prosecution witness Michael Cohen to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, whom Daniels claimed she had an affair with sexual relations.
Manhattan Borough Atty. Alvin Bragg must convince the jury that Trump not only ordered Cohen to pay, but that he did so to influence the outcome of the 2016 election, not to shield his family from the consequences. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied having sex with Daniels; Cohen testified that he was deeply involved in the scheme.
