Roxanne Hoge, the Los Angeles County Republican Party chair, said that turning out Republican voters in the county is the only way for Republican candidates and other electoral priorities to win statewide.
“They will only win if they lose L.A. County by less” Hoge said. “L.A. County has 25% of the electorate right here in this one county so you can’t ignore the importance of turning out Republicans in a way higher rate than they normally do.”
She said the LAGOP will be making recommendations in non-partisan races where no Republicans advanced to the general election.
“We are often relegated in L.A. to choosing the least bad option,” Hoge said. “For example for city attorney, yes, there is no titular Republican nominee. It’s a non-partisan race but the DSA is playing in that race. They got their candidate into the runoff. Marissa Roy would be terrible.”
She said John McKinney, a deputy district attorney, would be the better option “because he is just focused on the job of city attorney.”
When asked if she has a similar recommendation in the mayoral race Hoge said she believes there are no good options but thinks that “one [candidate] is slightly worse.” She did not say whether she was referring to Mayor Karen Bass or Councilmember Nithya Raman.
“A really smart politician would have made an overt pitch to Republicans and to Spencer Pratt voters and to any common sense voter to say ‘hey you should come with me,’” Hoge said.
When asked whether she thought Raman had reached out to Spencer Pratt voters after advancing from the primary in June, Hoge said she believes there is nothing backing up what Raman says.
“She seems to be completely incapable of realizing some of the sounds she’s making are incompatible with the DSA,” Hoge said.
Proposition 40, or the billionaire tax, is a one-time 5% tax on a billionaire’s net worth in California. Hoge questioned how a tax on one’s wealth would work in practice.
“Your jacket could be worth $1 million but if I tell you now you’ve got to give me 5% of that value, where do you get it? You have to sell that jacket,” Hoge said.
She called the ballot measure “a naked money grab” and said that certain Democrats were opposing it only because it benefits one public sector union and “the other public sector unions want a piece of that pie.”