GOP Challenger Ignores the Odds in Lopsided Race

To call Cliff McClain a longshot would be too optimistic. His chances of unseating Democratic state Sen. Teresa Hughes are right up there with a snowball’s in hell.

But McClain, 56, of Los Angeles is nothing if not a true believer, and there is no hint of masochism in his voice when he says that he--a Republican--can beat Hughes (D-Inglewood) in the overwhelmingly Democratic 25th District.

Forget that Democrats make up 71% of the district’s 274,000 registered voters, a whopping 5-1 margin that makes the 25th the most lopsided Senate district being contested this year.

Forget that Hughes crushed McClain four years ago, capturing 77% of the vote to his 18%. McClain, an easygoing man with a ready smile, is undeterred. He points out that 18% is higher than the Republican registration in the district.

Forget that he is that rare candidate, a black Republican in a heavily minority district that runs through Compton, Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood and Watts.

“This district needs someone ready to roll up his sleeves and get involved,” he said. He has earned his stripes over decades by running a volunteer program in a South-Central housing project, teaching adults to read and designing job training.

“I’m a Republican, but I’ve also shown people that I’m committed to the district,” he said. “I am disturbed that black folks have a problem with being able to vote for the person or the principle. To me, that’s a deficiency.”

Politicos and activists in the district find no deficiency in McClain’s commitment.

“Cliff has been a soldier in this community for 30 years,” said Ken Collins, vice president of the Brotherhood Crusade, a black-oriented charitable organization. “His family is a reflection of all that is good in our community.”

McClain, who runs Los Angeles’ Community Service Center in Canoga Park, is a member of the Brotherhood Crusade’s board and was a key player in its formation, Collins said.

Raised in South-Central, McClain turns wistful when he remembers Los Angeles’ stunning landscape in pre-smog days, saying he is “somewhat” conservative, “the kind of conservative I hope we all will grow to be.”

“I believe in conserving the environment, conserving resources. We have to be responsible stewards of this beautiful place God has given us--California.”

However appealing his ideas, McClain is still often hit with questions about how he can be the standard-bearer for a party that supports Proposition 209, the initiative that would outlaw affirmative action in state and local government.

“I don’t support 209,” he said. “I think it is an ill-advised move because it is divisive. There are some people who actually believe that because of affirmative action, they are not doing so well. Affirmative action has nothing to do with how well they’re doing.”

Sentiments such as those sound like the Democrat McClain was back in the 1960s when he ran for the state Assembly. “I went out there and got my butt beat real good,” he said.

After reading a book by Barry Goldwater in 1980, he was struck by how similar his views were to those of the former Republican senator from Arizona.

Goldwater’s solutions were different from his, McClain said, “but he saw that there was a need for welfare reform. He said this thing is not working. He saw the same thing in education. I said he’s right. We’re not getting the right results. It’s even worse today than it was then.”

He said he supports radically changing or dismantling programs that are not working. He urges serious reconsideration of the school voucher system, in which states would issue vouchers that parents could use to pay tuition at any school. Vouchers, which have been rejected by California voters, are a way of salvaging education in poor, black communities, McClain said.

“Vouchers are a way for people with ideas about how to educate black children to set up their own schools,” he said. Even the most die-hard Democrats “should see this as a way of changing the system.”

McClain is as full of good ideas as he is of good works, those who know him say. His “Batmobile”--a convertible 1980 Cadillac--is a familiar sight at the Avalon Gardens housing projects where he tirelessly works to reduce violence and drug trafficking while pounding on doors to get computers and playground equipment for young people.

“Cliff is a great guy who has always had a very deep concern for his community,” said Celes King III, the wily bail bondsman who is the godfather to black Republicans in South-Central Los Angeles. “But there is no possibility of him beating Hughes.”

So why run?

King said that by running, McClain will win some leverage inside the party--making appointments to the Republican State Central Committee or running for a seat on the committee himself if he chooses.

McClain agrees, but says that is not why he is running. He sees a community in distress, and he is determined to do something about it.

Yet he has precious little to do it with.

He said he has raised only about $4,000, mainly in $10 and $20 donations. The GOP has put two phones in his headquarters, and independent Republican clubs are walking precincts and passing out literature for him.

McClain is a dilemma for Republicans, said the Brotherhood Crusade’s Collins, once a staffer for former Democratic Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.

“He is not getting any support,” Collins said. “When [Republicans] claim to be a party of inclusion, they need to put their money where their mouth is. Cliff raises the issue of whether there is room for African Americans in the Republican Party, and the party needs to respond.”

McClain, too, wants his party to be inclusive. This is his last run for office, he said.

“But I’m going to be so deeply involved in Republican politics that I’m either going to have an impact or they are going to have to throw me out.”