Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
Most of us think of California as a long-time bastion of Democratic politics.
Sure, the Democrats control both state houses and the governor's mansion now. But until the end of the 20th century, the state was, in fact, consistently red. It gave us Earl Warren, and later Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
Why did California turn so true blue?
Many political historians point to Gov. Pete Wilson's anti-immigrant campaign, encapsulated in Proposition 187. The groundswell of opposition brought out new voters, many of them Latino. The Democratic party capitalized on the controversy by registering new voters and engaging them in the process. And they successfully branding the California GOP as the anti-immigrant party.
Sociologist John D. Skrentny has been thinking about how the California experience with Pete Wilson might be replicated nationwide under Donald Trump. He wrote about this in a op-ed for The Hill. And he shared his theory with us on Take Two.
Listen to the entire conversation. Click on the blue bar above.