HANFORD, Calif. —
At an Elks Lodge in the Central Valley, Larry Faria stood before a grassroots conservative group called the 1776 Sons of Liberty and asked for a show of hands.
It was Monday night, a few hours after U.S. House Republicans passed a set of operating rules for the new Congress that included concessions Kevin McCarthy made to the hard right during the historic 15 rounds of voting it took for him to become speaker.
“Raise your hand if you think we stood our ground for valuable concessions,” Faria asked.
“Kevin is a fighter, and he wants to move the country forward,” said Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield), who worked for McCarthy for a decade. “He will be a tremendous advocate for the Central Valley and all Californians to get our country moving in the right direction, stopping inflation, stopping overspending, advocating for hardworking families, dealing with the border.”
David Bynum, a Bakersfield lawyer and former intern for McCarthy, said most local conservatives are excited to have one of Kern County’s own as speaker.
“I have not heard one person say this was a shame, or a sham, or that it should have never happened. Not a one,” said Greg Perrone, president of the Greater Bakersfield Republican Assembly, an activist group he compared to the hard-right House Freedom Caucus.
He said McCarthy represents an establishment GOP that held both Senate and House majorities during the first two years of the Trump administration, and “the agenda they got accomplished was zero.”
Representatives for McCarthy did not respond to requests for comment.
As the state GOP has lurched rightward, its influence has plummeted. Gone are the days of California sons Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, who were centrist by today’s standards.
Republicans have not won a statewide contest since 2006, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was reelected and Steve Poizner became insurance commissioner. Among California’s 22 million registered voters, Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1.
McCarthy’s rise has been one of the few bright spots for state GOP officials, who hope McCarthy — a skilled fundraiser — will bring money and clout to the 11 other California Republicans in the House.
“He has been the most important and powerful Republican in California for at least the past decade. If he’s speaker, that’s good for [California] Republicans,” said Rob Stutzman, a longtime GOP strategist.
Tim Miller, who worked for the Republican National Committee and left the party after the 2020 election, said he is skeptical that McCarthy will be able to deliver anything meaningful for California because of Republicans’ razor-thin House majority and the dysfunction in Congress.
In California, he said, the GOP “has continued to look more and more like the ... objectors than it has like Kevin McCarthy.”