Steve Garvey Leading in California Senate Race Sends Message to Republican Voters

With former Major League Baseball player Steve Garvey narrowly leading in the U.S. Senate race, it’s past time to start praying that California Republicans don’t crap in their own nest again.

Republican voters tend to be a fickle bunch. They span the ideological spectrum: Socially liberal Republicans, Log Cabin Republicans, center-right to moderate-right Republicans, fiscally conservative Republicans, to uber-conservative, to so rigidly conservative, they order a purity-test for candidates they deem not sufficiently worthy of their support. And this isn’t to say that socially liberal Republicans aren’t fiscally conservative, or that Uber-conservative Republicans are fiscal hawks.

Somewhere in that mix are the Republican voters who just want to win races.

ARGH!!! …I can already hear the shrieks and gasps of disbelief that I dare to challenge the party purists. But sometimes, and especially in California, Republicans need to take off the chastity belt and just vote for a well-qualified Republican – for the win.

The state Republicans’ intra-party power squabbles need to be halted (hey, leadership!), and focus on doing what’s best for the Party and the state – which is growing the Republican Party for a more balanced state. Instead, there are California Republicans who would rather lose an important seat than be caught dead voting for an “insufficiently conservative” candidate.

Some years ago a Republican State Senator who represented a rather moderate-to-left district, explained to me during an interview after what appeared to be a disastrous vote, that the concerns of his constituents came ahead of his personal ideology. He felt it was his job to listen to the people who voted for him. And he said if he disagreed with his voters, it was up to him to hold town hall-style meetings and convince them otherwise.

Recently, the Globe published an opinion article very critical of Garvey – not because of his political positions, but because of his personal life. We publish many differing political opinions. It’s important not to operate in an echo chamber.

But we also need a hefty dose of optimism, which is a tall order in California – and especially for Republicans so used to losing.

The U.S. Senate seat left vacant by Dianne Feinstein is a rarity. For the first time since Republican Pete Wilson was elected to the U.S. Senate from California in 1983, and reelected in 1988, do Californians have a chance to elect another Republican. And it’s been a long, miserable dry spell in the meantime, as the state has taken a sharp left turn toward socialism.

California Republicans can afford on occasions to be rigidly conservative, but only with candidates from very conservative voting districts.

There isn’t an ideological or virtue test for registering Republican voters because the goal is to register as many Republicans as possible in the state.

However, I have observed really childish behavior from self-described “conservative” Republicans whose favored candidate doesn’t make it past the primary election. So they sit out the election. Or they refuse to vote for the Republican on the ballot. Or they write-in their dog, a favorite teacher, or the candidate who lost, throwing away an important vote.

We’ve all known phony Republicans, who claim they are Republicans because the district they are running in is mostly solid Republican. It is important to root out the phonies, and we expect the county party officials to vet candidates. But even the county Republican groups bicker over power and control, seeming to spend more time and effort fighting each other rather than opposing Democrats and the disastrous policies they usher in.

Someday, if Republicans start winning more elections in California, maybe then the Party can be more choosy – if candidate conservatism is an actual problem.

The First Step: California Republicans need to start winning more races. Yes, there are myriad reasons the California GOP has been shrinking, including the unbelievable mega-money spent by Big Labor locking them out. But if the Republican Party and Republican voters don’t promote and vote for Republican candidates, like Steve Garvey, and continue to bicker about who is the most conservative, they are helping Democrats win races.