How Inland Empire's new Republican leaders hope to retake the region New leaders of the Republican parties in Riverside and San Bernardino counties are fighting to regain party dominance. By JEFF HORSEMAN / STAFF WRITER Published: March 10, 2017 Updated: March 12, 2017 11:12 a.m. RED TO BLUE Once a GOP stronghold in California, the Inland Empire today has more registered Democratic voters than Republicans. 2017: Riverside County: Roughly 369,000 Democratic and 364,000 Republican
San Bernardino County: Roughly 366,000 Democratic and 290,000 Republican 2007: Riverside County: About 258,000 Democratic and 340,000 Republican San Bernardino County: About 278,000 Democratic and 312,000 Republican Source: California Secretary of State; Riverside County Registrar of Voters and San Bernardino County elections office. To understand the challenge Inland Republicans face, consider Corona. In 2005, there were about 11,000 more registered Republican voters than registered Democrats in the city. Since then, Corona has added about 13,000 residents, but Democrats have closed the gap to fewer than 4,000 Corona is home to U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert, a conservative Republican. But the city narrowly went to Democrat Hillary Clinton, and Corona Republican Eric Linder s loss in November gave Democrats a supermajority in the state Assembly. While the GOP dominates Washington, D.C., and holds a majority of statehouses and governorships, the new leaders of the Republican parties in Riverside and San Bernardino counties are fighting to keep the Inland Empire red, or at least dark purple, in a deep-blue state. In January, central committee members elected Jonathan Ingram to lead the Riverside County Republican Party, and Jan Leja was selected as chairwoman of the San Bernardino County GOP. Ingram and Leja succeed former Menifee mayor Scott Mann and San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman, respectively. Ingram is a Murrieta councilman. Leja is a former Beaumont mayor. She won an Assembly seat in 2000, but stepped down before she was sworn in after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of falsifying campaign finance forms. Her court record has since been expunged.
The Inland Empire used to be consistently Republican. But that s changed in recent years with population growth that brought in Latinos who tend to support Democrats. Last year, Democrats overtook Republicans in Riverside County s voter registration for the first time in recent memory. San Bernardino County has had a plurality of Democratic voters since 2010. Along the way, Democrats have racked up a wins in competitive races for Inland Assembly, state Senate and congressional seats. Barack Obama won both counties in 2008 and 2012 and Hillary Clinton did the same. The Inland Empire is still more conservative than coastal areas. Assemblyman Marc Steinorth, R-Rancho Cucamonga, withstood a well-funded challenge last fall from a Democrat who earned a rare state legislative race endorsement from Obama. Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes lives in Yucca Valley. And while county elected posts are technically nonpartisan, Republicans hold most countywide offices in Riverside and San Bernardino counties and majorities on both counties boards of supervisors. For Inland Empire Republicans, the good news is that they can still win some elections, said Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. By contrast, much of Los Angeles County is a dead zone where Republicans cannot even get enough votes to make the general-election ballot. WELCOME HOME? A master electrician and construction specialist elected to Murrieta s council in 2014, Ingram said registering voters is essential to the GOP s success. You have to engage people in a way that changes minds and hearts, he said. The party s messaging needs to be better and branding is important. For Ingram, that means reclaiming the party s history from those who cast Republicans as bigots and hostile to the environment.
He noted that President Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, founded the national parks system; Republican Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves; the first woman elected to Congress -- Jeannette Rankin -- was a Republican; and that President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency. The GOP needs to broaden its outreach, especially to Latinos, many of whom share Republican values. Ingram said. One message that will be absolutely clear in Riverside County is that anyone can be a Republican, read a post on the party s Facebook page. No matter what proverbial box checked in the past, anyone can have a political home in the Republican Party. A key message for Ingram is the need to restore California s political balance. Democrats hold all statewide offices, a legislative supermajority and most of the state s congressional seats. Under his leadership, Ingram said the county GOP will focus on building its bench of candidates for offices up and down the ballot and communicating with a wide audience through social media. Noting that the party s new office in Temecula is donated, Ingram said he wants to cut overhead to free up money to support candidates. Leja said the San Bernardino County GOP has made progress in recent years and we will continue to build on that. Our goal is to energize our Republicans that we have and get them actively involved in the party, she said. A lot of people are reaching out wanting to be involved. While Trump is well-liked by a majority of Republicans, he s largely unpopular in California. But Ingram and Leja said that s not an obstacle. Most people that we ve been talking to, they re more concerned about what s been happening to the state of California and jobs leaving our state, Leja said. 'MORE-COMPLEX' RULES
State investigators accused Leja of inflating her campaign funding by at least $146,000 with fake campaign donations to scare off her assembly competition. She agreed to a plea deal with the state attorney general that let her avoid perjury charges. A judge sentenced her to three years probation and a $20,000 fine and she was banned from seeking public office for four years. At the time, she said she pled guilty to avoid a lengthy court trial. There was never any criminal intent, she told The Press-Enterprise in 2004 after getting an expungement. While I have felt personal frustration about that decision over the past four years, I would still put my family first. Leja, who ran unsuccessfully for Riverside County supervisor in 1996 and a Yucaipa-Calimesa school board seat in 2012, said she has no plans to seek higher office. Twenty years ago, the rules and regulations regarding elections were complex then, and they re even more complex today, Leja said. That s one of the reasons I m sensitive to that. The county party has a lawyer and a compliance officer to help candidates with campaign finance paperwork, Leja added.