Wishful thinking aside, California did not participate in the realignment that, on November 5, 2024, may have transformed American politics forever. The positive spin on California’s dismal failure to liberate itself from failing Democrat policies rests on what are, in the cold light of day, modest achievements. California’s voters approved Proposition 36, a ballot initiative that made criminal behavior a crime again; they recalled a few Soros DAs, and GOP candidates logged a net gain of two seats in the state assembly and one seat in the state senate. It’s not enough.

To begin with, the fact that voters had to overrule a corrupt legislature and judiciary to compel law enforcement to once again enforce the law is no reason to celebrate. It’s just one first step, in just one area, against a party that wields layers upon layers of stupefying power in every area of policy. The State Supreme Court is still packed with Democrat appointees. The state bureaucracy, consisting of a bewildering and almost innumerable collection of regulatory agencies and commissions, is under the absolute control of public sector unions. Every higher state office is occupied by Democrats, including activist Attorney General Rob Bonta, a machine politician who aims to succeed Newsom as California’s next governor. Democrat politicians still enjoy a 62-17 (one seat is vacant) advantage over Republicans in the state assembly and a 31-9 advantage in the state senate. Newsom is still governor, and now he’s called a special session of the state legislature to “Trump-proof” the state.

Everyone knows that the consequences of California’s failed policies on energy, water, transportation, housing, homelessness, crime, and education inevitably roll out to afflict the rest of the country. Lobbying, “climate partnerships,” and similar end runs on national policy, and lawfare—which is about to be turned up a notch—are all California specialties. But the biggest example of California’s power is its ability to decisively influence the US Congress by virtue of having its largest congressional delegation. And this is where the California GOP’s failure on November 5 was so big it overshadows any traces of success. California’s GOP is on track to lose three seats in the US Congress, falling from a mere 12 out of 52 to only 9 out of 52. And how they lost these seats reveals an outgunned GOP organization that could not overcome the most corrupt, rigged system of voting in the country.