While Kamala Harris may have defeated Donald Trump in her home state of California, data show that multiple blue-voting counties in the Sacramento area have now flipped red.
A closer look at the Golden State’s election maps reveals that Trump appeared to flip multiple counties in 2024 that Joe Biden carried for Democrats in the 2020 election and Hillary Clinton won in 2016.
“It will swing back blue.” However, Democratic Strategist Steve Maviglio stated that the Democrats must understand and recognize this, rather than dismiss it.
In the 2020 presidential election, Biden won Nevada, Butte, Stanislaus, and San Joaquin counties in Northern California. As of Wednesday night, the maps showed that Trump had flipped each of these counties.
According to the California GOP, this is a positive step forward.
“I believe what has happened in California is that the pendulum has swung too far left. For decades, the Democrats have promised a better life and more affordability, but they have not been able to deliver,” said Corrin Rankin, the California Republican Party Vice Chairman.
In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton won Nevada, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus counties. She had turned Nevada County blue from red in 2012.
The last time all four of those counties went red was in 2004, when George W. Bush was elected.
“Remember that the valley’s diversity used to trend democratic. Latino voters, in particular, leaned heavily Democratic. “And Republicans have been very successful in chipping away at that,” Maviglio stated.
Maviglio claims that these counties voting red did not happen overnight, and that Democrats should have focused on specific issues such as the economy to encourage voters to vote blue.
“I believe the Democrats should focus on kitchen table issues, the economy, and what it means to work for the little guy in the Central Valley rather than corporations.” And that’s the winning formula,” Maviglio explained.
The California GOP says they are pleased with the current outcome.
“The common theme I’ve heard repeatedly is that I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. “The Democratic Party abandoned me,” Rankin said.
