GOP candidate Neel Kashkari to California: ‘Give us a chance’

Neel Kashkari launched his general election campaign Wednesday by charging that California Gov. Jerry Brown had failed the middle class, and insisting that he could win his uphill race by expanding the appeal of the Republican Party — creating “the biggest tent you’ve ever seen in your life.”

Though Brown has brought the state back from a deficit to a surplus, Kashkari argued that California has been in steep decline since the end of Brown’s first run as governor in the 1980s. At a news conference Wednesday, he repeatedly noted that California has fallen to near the bottom among the 50 states in measures such as job opportunities and the level of education of its workforce.

“In 1980, we were right around the middle — right around 25^th for jobs of the 50 states,” Kashkari said at his event in a darkened movie theater in Corona del Mar. “Today we are 47^th for jobs. And in 1980 we were right around 25^th for poverty. Today California is No. 1 in poverty. Jerry Brown calls this a comeback. Jerry Brown’s legacy is the destruction of the middle class of California.”

“Gov. Brown, we are going to make you answer for our lack of jobs,” Kashkari continued. “We are going to make you answer for our failing schools, and, Gov. Brown, we are going to make you answer for our record poverty.”

Brown was out of office from 1982 until 2010, a period in which many of the declines mentioned by Kashkari occurred. Republicans held the governor’s office for 23 of the 28 years.

With Brown garnering nearly 55% of the vote in Tuesday night’s top-two primary to Kashkari’s 19%, the Republican and first-time candidate acknowledged that he faces steep odds – from uniting his own party to raising cash from donors who have far more promising targets as Republicans try to win back control of the U.S. Senate. (Brown has already raised more than $21 million with some GOP donors flocking to his side).

Kashkari may have an even greater hurdle in winning over the conservative grassroots activists who fueled the bid of his main GOP rival, State Assemblyman Tim Donnelly. In his concession speech Tuesday night, Donnelly railed against the “political establishment” — a slight directed at Kashkari and his backers — and said after his speech that he would not tell his supporters to support the former Treasury official.

Many of the activists who campaigned for Donnelly said Tuesday night that they would probably stay home in November or write in a different candidate on their ballots, because they see little difference between Brown and Kashkari, who staked out moderate positions on social issues and rejected Donnelly’s strident tone on illegal immigration.

But Kashkari made the case Wednesday that he could reenergize the state’s struggling Republican Party, which has fallen to 28% in California, while broadening its appeal to nonpartisan voters, as well as moderate Democrats.

“There is a positive path for Republicans to unite us and lift everyone up on a message of jobs and economic opportunity,” Kashkari said. “My vision for the Republican Party is the biggest tent you’ve ever seen in your life — a tent where everyone is welcome. And the principles that unite us are the principles of hard work and economic opportunity.”

Kashkari’s remarks echoed the usual upbeat assessment of possibilities that California Republicans have forwarded in every recent election campaign before foundering in November. No Republican has won a statewide election since 2006.