What happens next for conservatives in California?
The June 8 California primary election is now over. Over the last year or so, many conservatives throughout the state have been stirred to action. People who had never taken part in the election process before became active participants in the campaigns of certain candidates in whom they trusted. Unlike in previous years, when many conservatives felt that they did not have any real candidates who stood up for the issues that they believed in, this year was different. Countless hours of volunteer work were put in, and millions of dollars were contributed in the hopes of getting a true conservative elected in California.
And now that the primary is over, many of those candidates who were favored by true conservative are no longer standing. Whether it was because their opposition was simply too well funded (either by the opposing candidates’ own deep pockets or because of the influence of wealthy special interest groups) or because the grassroots efforts simply were not enough to overcome the established political structure, we are now left with very few true conservative choices remaining amongst the candidates who are running for public office.
So, what happens now? Where does all of the pent up energy of the people, the energy that up until now had been expended on the campaigns of the true conservative candidates, go? Do these people, the ones who are resolutely committed to principle, simply lose interest and fade away from the political landscape, having lost all hope that anything truly monumental can happen in California politics? Or do these people somehow manage to swallow their pride, hold their noses, and work to support the lesser of the two remaining poor choices in whatever race they had been working on previously?
There is a different choice available out there. I would hope that the energy of all of these principled people can somehow be harnessed into accomplishing something truly special. After the primary election, there are only a few true conservative candidates remaining. If we can take the energy and effort and fundraising abilities of people throughout the State of California who are interested in getting a true conservative elected into office and somehow focus all of that energy into a few key races where a true conservative candidate still remains, then we can pull off the unexpected.
I am running for State Assembly in California’s 20th District (Fremont, Newark, Union City, Milpitas). Going into the primary election, I managed to clear the field of all other conservative candidates. As a result, I ran opposed on June 8. At the same time, the two Democrats running for AD20 were busy raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in special interest contributions and slugging it out amongst each other to get the Democratic nomination.
You see, according to conventional wisdom, whoever wound up winning the Democratic nomination for AD20 was assumed to already have won the seat in November. Because of voter registration numbers, money, name recognition, and the strength of the Democratic political machine in the Bay Area, the belief is that a true conservative candidate could never win in AD20. Well, on June 8, Bob Wieckowski wound up securing the Democratic nomination. I guarantee you that, in his mind, he believes that he will be in Sacramento during the next session of the State Assembly convenes. If he hasn’t already done so, he is already hiring a staff and deciding the logistics of his transition to the Capitol. To him, the general election in November is already a forgone conclusion. He is all set to go to the statehouse and begin implementing big government legislation and a methodically strip citizens of their liberties and individual ability on how to choose to live their lives.
Doesn’t it make you angry that conservatives are already an afterthought in the mind of Bob Wieckowski? He couldn’t care less about us.
But imagine if all of the principled people throughout the state, those who no longer have a true conservative in any State Legislative race in their district remaining, or those who are unhappy with any of the candidates running for statewide office, decided to back me in my race for State Assembly. All of a sudden, we could take away the certainty that Bob Wieckowski has in that he will automatically be selected to go to Sacramento in the November election. If we all worked together, we could possibly pull off a huge upset.
Imagine if we could somehow elect a conservative to the statehouse from the liberal Bay Area. That would be an incredible testament to the power of the people to change the status quo. Do you see how powerful of a message that would be? It would be something that could shake up California politics for decades.
Something that bears keeping in mind is that, as an Assemblymember, I would be able to introduce legislation that could benefit citizens throughout the state. No matter where a person lives, if that person has an issue that is consistent with my beliefs, then I would not hesitate to push for that cause. And on the floor of the Assembly, I would be an outspoken advocate of conservative principles and would stand against legislation that would attempt to subvert what I and so many others believe in. In effect, I could be an Assemblymember who represented any person in the State of California who believed in a conservative point of view, regardless of what Assembly District they live in.
All we have to do is get a true conservative’s foot in the door. After that happens, I guarantee that I will be a force that the State of California has never seen the likes of before.
Adnan Shahab is a candidate for State Assembly in California’s 20th District. You can visit his official campaign website at http://www.shahab2010.com