One group of Californians is very happy to see Mike Johnson — an anti-same-sex marriage, transphobic, election-denying, anti-abortion rights, pro-Donald Trump Republican — replace Bakersfield Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House: Democrats running in battleground House seats.
Democrats can go a long way toward retaking the House if they can flip some of the vulnerable Central Valley and Southern California Republican-held seats.
So not only are they planning to tie Johnson’s extreme positions to their opponents — all of whom voted for Johnson — but many are also rejoicing that McCarthy likely will no longer be able to raise money at the same clip now that he doesn’t have the cachet of being speaker.
Committees controlled by McCarthy have raised $13.7 million so far this campaign cycle, on pace to match the $27.3 million he raised in 2022, according to fundraising reports compiled by Open Secrets. But now that is unlikely to happen after Republicans bounced McCarthy from the speaker’s chair earlier this month.
For a preview of what fate faces McCarthy, in 2022, committees controlled by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi raised $25 million. This year, as speaker emerita, Pelosi has raised $3.2 million. That was still a lot more than Johnson’s committees have raised this year: $548,002.
Plus, McCarthy has long been a top candidate recruiter and someone tapped into a coast-to-coast financial network. Those skills aren’t replicated overnight.
“Republicans in California have lost their star,” said Amelia Matier, a spokesman for state Sen. Dave Min, an Orange County Democrat who is running for the seat Rep. Katie Porter is leaving to run for Senate. Min faces a strong opponent, former Assembly GOP Leader Scott Baugh.
“Now they’re saddled with a guy with much more extreme views — and a lot less money and organization. This is great news for Dave Minn.”
But it’s not just the likely diminution of McCarthy’s fundraising prowess that has California Democrats salivating. It is Johnson’s hard-right positions — particularly on same-sex marriage and abortion — that Democrats will try to exploit in a state where both have wide support.
There’s also Johnson’s unwavering support for Trump, who is extremely unpopular in California. Johnson opposed certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral win and urged Trump to “stay strong and keep fighting, sir! The nation is depending upon your resolve.”
Johnson’s position on abortion is far outside the mainstream. He once said that if Roe v. Wade was overturned, “that would be the greatest day of my life.”
He has supported legislation that would ban abortions after 15 weeks and another that would require abortion providers to tell patients about the possibility of reversing a medication abortion — a claim that the The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said is “not based on science and do(es) not meet clinical standards.” Last month, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued two crisis pregnancy centers operators alleging that the organizations are illegally advertising “abortion pill reversal.”
Johnson, in his previous role as an attorney for the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom, wrote in a newspaper op-ed that same-sex relationships are “inherently unnatural” and “could place our entire democratic system in jeopardy by eroding its foundation.”
Echoing offensive and nonsensical far-right rhetoric about marriage, Johnson wrote that “there will be no legal basis to deny a bisexual the right to marry a partner of each sex, or a person to marry his pet.”
Not only do most Californians support same-sex marriage, so do most Republicans nationally.
Last year, Johnson introduced a measure in the House that is similar to a Florida law banning teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity, a measure critics deride as the “don’t say ‘gay’” bill.
Johnson led a House hearing last year opposing gender-affirming care for minors.
“Whether it’s by scalpel or by social coercion from teachers, professors, administrators and left-wing media, it’s an attempt to transition the young people of our country,” Johnson said.
Many of Johnson’s positions on social issues are informed by his evangelical Christian faith. Earlier this year, when Republicans were struggling to choose a speaker before selecting McCarthy, Johnson was among several GOP House members who knelt in prayer on the floor of the House.
Florida GOP Rep. Greg Steube recalled Wednesday that he and Johnson “lifted up the Speaker’s race to the Lord and asked for his divine guidance. Immediately after the prayer, 14 members changed their votes, ultimately leading to Speaker McCarthy securing the gavel by the end of the day. Mike Johnson is a strong conservative, but above all else, he is a strong Christian. He’s not afraid to look to his faith for guidance. America needs that more than ever in the U.S. House.”
But Republicans may not want it in California battleground races.
“Republicans lost GOP suburban women in 2018, 2020 and 2022 because of abortion rights and cultural extremism,” Mike Madrid, a former political director of the California Republican Party who co-founded the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, wrote on X. “If you think Mike Johnson helps them fix that, you’ve lost the plot.”
California Republicans are undeterred by the attacks on their current and former speakers, as the state party “looks forward to working with Speaker Johnson and Speaker Emeritus McCarthy to keep and grow our House seats here in California,” state party communications manager Ashley Yanez said Thursday.
“Californians are most concerned about kitchen table issues, and under Democrats’ failed one-party rule, it’s getting harder to live the California Dream,” Yanez said in an email. “Voters throughout the state aren’t buying what Democrats are selling, and I don’t envy any candidate that has a ‘D’ next to their name on the ballot come next November.”
Yet within minutes of Johnson’s elevation this week, Democrats started pointing out that Republicans in vulnerable swing districts, like Central Valley Reps. David Valadao and John Duarte, Orange County Reps. Michelle Steel and Young Kim and Los Angeles-area Rep. Mike Garcia, all voted for him.
“The stuff that this guy (Johnson) has said and advocated for for the past 20 years is incredibly disturbing,” Dan Gottlieb, West Coast spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Thursday. “And the more we hear about it, you’re like, ‘Why would Mike Garcia think it’s a good idea for the Antelope Valley to put that guy on the pedestal?”
Tyler Law, a media consultant for Democrat Rudy Salas, a former state Assembly member challenging Valadao, said the Republican has little room for error after beating Salas by 3,132 votes in a low-turnout election last year in a district that President Joe Biden won. Democratic turnout in particular is traditionally stronger in presidential election years.
While Valadao touts his 2021 vote to impeach Trump as a way to show his independence, Law intends to tell voters that his support for Johnson negates that move.
“Valadao has to pitch a perfect game,” Law said. “And in order to do that, he needs House Republicans to at least have some semblance of competency and common sense.”
Reach Joe Garofoli: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @joegarofoli
