“Back When Party Didn’t Matter:” The Nation and the Valley
Matthew Wigler and Michael Gofman explore the intrusion of national politics in California’s 10th congressional district
“[He] is the real “Central Valley Guy” — Every Candidate’s Campaign
Chris Ricci is not your typical Progressive activist. The father, husband, and event promoter is a native of the Central Valley and, wearing beat up cowboy boots at his red, white, and blue-bedecked Fourth of July party, is proud of that fact. But what’s more surprising is that before evolving into a self-described “Progressive Democrat,” Chris was a staunch, albeit “moderate,” Republican for thirty years. In fact, as he pours the bulk of his time and energy into supporting challenger Josh Harder’s campaign for Congress in California’s 10th Congressional District (CA-10), Ricci remembers the days when — not too long ago — he not only donated to incumbent Republican Jeff Denham’s campaign, but put on a live concert with him.
Chris maintains that it was the Republican Party that had changed when he became a Democrat in 2008, not his own political views. “The GOP today is about billionaires and corporations, not people,” he explains. He points to the Republican Party’s opposition to Obamacare, a policy piloted by Republican Governor Mitt Romney, as proof, asking why the Republican Party turned against its own idea. When Ricci voted for Republican George H.W. Bush over Democrat Michael Dukakis in his first presidential election, he believed that there was not much real difference between them. “In the past, you couldn’t tell the difference between politicians. I couldn’t tell. Now, the differences are massive.”
As the differences between politicians widen across the country and political parties polarize, California’s 10th Congressional District bucked the trend. However massive the differences might have been between Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican congressional incumbent Jeff Denham in the 2016 election, voters in this district supported them both simultaneously. CA-10 was one of just thirty-five districts nationally, and seven in California, that split their tickets between candidates from different parties for the White House and the House of Representatives. Clinton carried the district with 51.7% of the vote, while Denham held on to his seat in Congress with 48.5%.
The Central Valley is a unique place politically: a uniquely moderate place, according to some. “It’s real moderate,” says Jarrod Brown, who recently graduated from Stanislaus State in Turlock, where he was a leader in the progressive movement. A more conservative-leaning Modesto attorney describes it as “the Midwest in the middle of California,” explaining that “there’s not much extreme in either party.” If there’s a reason why Denham managed to win California’s 10th at the same time Clinton won the majority of its voters support, Brown believes that it’s because “listening to Denham, you might think he’s a Democrat,” which “appeals to moderates.” The attorney has a similar hypothesis, guessing that “because Denham is viewed as a moderate Republican, he captures Democratic votes as well.”
Indeed, comparing Denham to his two Democratic predecessors, Gary Condit and Dennis Cardoza, reveals striking continuity in the area’s representation, regardless of its congressman’s partisan affiliation. Condit, the popular Democrat who represented the region in the House from 1989 to 2003, voted only a relatively small nine percentage points more liberally on Govtrack’s scale than Denham does in his seat today. However surprising the Republican Denham’s perceived “liberalism,” Condit’s conservatism was unique among democrats, even among his time. According to Govtrack’s scale, with 1 being the most liberal voting record and 100 being the most conservative, Condit scored a 59 over the course of his tenure, while Denham chimes in at a 68 today.
Just like their representatives, the district’s residents are also neither particularly progressive, nor very conservative. On the street, voters — particularly swing voters — express no strong party loyalty. Most open by proudly calling themselves moderate, one going as far as saying “I define myself as an independent moderate.” Despite what voters may say this area may only be mistaken for moderate. This area is something altogether different. The district, and its average voter, can be described best as a mismatch between the political alignments of the two national parties which hold little concern for the local issues of the voters in the Valley. Most voters held mainstream party views, but a combination from both parties.
It’s not centrist politics that dominate here over partisan politics, but local politics that dominate over national politics. “People understand that there are different national dynamics and local dynamics” states Jarrod Brown. Voters here are not moderate: they’re “Central Valley.”
Meet local mother and daughter duo Gabbi and Ashly W. At age sixty-six, Gabbi has just retired from a long twenty-year career at Gallo Wineries. Her daughter, Ashly, age thirty, is a mother of five. Neither mother nor daughter feel that either national party represents them.
“People like to be very left or right, but I just can’t,” Ashly says. “People want you to be this or that, but I can’t go all the way, either way.”
She goes on to explain that she cannot belong to either party because she feels that her views on abortion and health care do not match. “I’m very pro-life and family values,” she says, gazing lovingly at her five children, “but Democrats are good for health care.”
“Balance is important,” adds Gabbi, motioning a scale with her arms. Of course, the balance she and her daughter seek is not actually moderation. Their views on health care and abortion are not moderate. The balance they seek is between party platforms. “I want a candidate who will have good issues,” she says. Those good issues must be local issues.
Even strong partisans in the area tend to express their views in terms of local issues and preferences that conflict with national platforms. Married couple Bob and Mary, both seventy-seven, have lived in Turlock for some thirty-three years and identify strongly as Republicans. While they shuddered when they heard the name “Hillary Clinton,” the pair pointed out that water was their number one issue: they seek to build more storage. Mary accused Democratic policies of “shipping our water to San Diego so they can use it for swimming pools!” Their political identity lay first and foremost with a local issue, their politics playing out as much geographically as ideologically, opposing those outside the Valley as much as those outside their party.
Gary Condit’s daughter is now married to the Democrat Adam Grey. Grey’s record representing the southern portion of the congressional district in the California State Assembly, makes more sense in light of his father-in-law’s career. While he may have voted for the Democrat tax plan, he was also named the California Rifle and Pistol Association “Legislator of the Year,” a title almost unheard of for Democrats. He is what many people in the area consider a true “valley politician,” following in the footsteps of conservative “Blue Dog Democrats,” a caucus that his father in law once chaired.
Denham, though a Republican, has followed Condit’s route, staking out a reputation as a local advocate and diverging from his party leadership nationally when local interests have clashed with theirs. “Gary Condit was a Central Valley guy,” says Josh Whitfield, “Jeff Denham is a Central Valley guy.” Denham’s campaign posters leave out the words “Republican” and “Conservative,” instead describing Denham as a “local farmer.” Mr. Whitfield, himself a representative on the Waterford City Council, understands and proclaims that “in this district, all politics are local. These [party] labels are superfluous.”
That’s why Denham has opposed the leadership of his own party on the issue of immigration, Whitfield elaborates. Regardless of the national Republican platform supported by Trump, Whitfield states that Denham has remained consistent on immigration, supporting policies that he believes are in the best interest of the Central Valley “whether you like him or not, whether under Obama or Trump.”
Yet, according to Denham’s Republican primary challenger, Ted Howze, the incumbent congressman’s plan is “giving blanket amnesty to 3.2 million people,” which he says would serve the political interests of Denham, not the Central Valley.
“Ted Howze is a conservative candidate who ran to our right,” says Whitfield. Howze amassed 13,375 votes in — or 14.4% of the total — in the June 2018 jungle primary for the House.
While Denham supports a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, Howze has called for the deportation of all Dreamers except for DACA registrants. Though Howze contends that “the only issue I’m right of Jeff Denham on is immigration,” he also notes that “immigration is the most important issue of our time.” His stance on immigration earned him the support of groups like the State of Jefferson, which campaigned heavily for Howze against the incumbent who they felt was too soft on the issue.
Some then, might blame Howze for a nationalization of local politics in the Valley, making it more difficult for Denham to retain his moderate stance on immigration in opposition to President Trump and the base of the Republican party. “If we have a problem,” said Denham campaign manager Whitfield, “it’s on our right flank.”
However, while injecting some measure of national politics into the congressional campaign in CA-10 with his immigration policy that better mirrors that of President Trump’s than Jeff Denham’s, he too has also laid claim to the title of “Valley” guy. “I know this whole valley inside out,” said Howze. Denham, on the other hand, had abandoned the Valley in Congress “to play games in national politics,” earning credit with Republican leadership. Howze believes that he won over the most independents of any candidate in the primary. “Many of my votes came from hard right conservatives on the immigration issue,” said Howze, “but also from independents on health care. I am more moderate than Jeff on health care.”
After losing his first wife because of health insurance companies when she died from a curable cardiac arrhythmia, he supports a system that would cut costs across the board for medical care in America, but that is not socialized or “single payer.” It is enticing enough that even a self described “Progressive” like Chris Ricci has said that he would rather have seen Mr. Howze win the election than Congressman Denham if given a binary choice. It is worth noting that Howze also speaks fluent Spanish.
However, while those on the right have gone after Denham for leaving too much distance open between himself and President Trump, others have faulted him for voting to closely with him. Denham’s record in this Congress, in which he has voted with Trump 98% of the time, has upset many residents. including conservative ones who want to see Denham take a stand for local issues like immigration and the farm bill.
Joe Paulus, a student and small business owner, said that “I have a hard time fitting into parties because I’m pro-choice and pro-gun. That’s why I’m a moderate.” Back in 2016, he voted for Denham, but didn’t vote for Trump, instead going for Gary Johnson. Joe plans on voting for Democrats and Republicans, not just one party down ballot. “Harder is a cool guy,” he says, “and I agree with him on abortion, but he loses me whenever he talks about guns.”
Opponents of Josh Harder point to his donors and recent activity in the Bay Area. Harder has deep roots in the Valley, having grown up here. However, some claim he cannot represent the Valley because his heart, and his politics, lay in the Bay Area. His policies reflect this as well, towing the Democratic progressive line on issues that historically even Democrats in this district are conservative on, including gun control and free college.
Asked how she would label Harder politically, Democratic Party volunteer Jane-Marie Griffin described him as “moderately progressive,” sharing that she supports him because “he’s more of a thinker, someone solution-oriented.” Harder “takes very progressive stances” and that “might scare people,” worries Brown, who is also active in the Stanislaus Resistance, though he believes the “Trump Effect will negatively impact Denham.”
Yet, while national politics seem to have intruded on the Valley’s unique way, on the local level, the focus of politics has not only survived, but has excelled in rejecting partisanship. For instance, Elizabeth Talbott, a candidate for Waterford City Council, a self described progressive, explained that while she is a Democrat, “I’m not running as a Democrat, I’m running as a person from Waterford. The issues of the city are the issues of the city,” she said. “How do we attract more businesses? How do we make sure there’s affordable housing? We don’t have blue or red sidewalks in Waterford, we have purple sidewalks.”
The “nonpartisan civil servant” is a common theme among many of the candidates running for local office in the area. Tony Madrigal, the Vice Mayor of Modesto describes himself as “fiscally conservative and a social liberal, a democrat who can do math.” He describes his priorities as making sure that the police and fire departments have the resources they need in order to keep the Modesto area safe, a bi-partisan, or even non-partisan goal.
This, more than anything shows what makes this Valley unique. Although its Partisan Index has it at 0, making it the truest of swing districts, there is nothing “moderate” about it. Rather, it has a unique political climate, stuck between the liberal Bay Area and the conservative Foothills. This unique political climate needs a unique politician to carry it, and while this district may be rated as “centrist” or “moderate,” by a political analyst, that statement couldn’t be further from the truth. They wouldn’t be moderate, they would be uniquely Central Valley, someone who wouldn’t have to reach across the aisle because they already have a foot planted on each side of it. A political throwback, from the days, as Chris Ricci described it, “back when Party didn’t matter.”
