The Sonoma County Republican Party held their annual convention Saturday, with the upcoming special election on redistricting and picking the party’s nominee for governor among top priorities.
Hundreds of people gathered to connect and listen California GOP leaders, including two gubernatorial candidates.
Republican Chair Debbie LeBoy has been looking forward to the convention since she got the job.
“I’m grateful for the word getting out,” said LeBoy.
LeBoy became chair in January, she says the convention is only in its 5th year but it’s roots go deeper.
“We had one of our members a couple of years ago find an article that showed Republicans came together in Sonoma County, about a thousand of them, and we went well we can start this up again,” explained LeBoy.
In the last few years, she’s seen it grow, this year they had almost 400 people exchanging ideas and hope for the future.
“We just want to do good policy that works for everybody,” LeBoy said. “We don’t want the partisanship.”
They bring in candidates to speak to constituents, the headliners were two of the men running for the Republican nomination for governor.
Chad Bianco is the sheriff of Riverside County but says he’s been all over speaking with voters.
“I’ve already talked to people who are saying ‘we’re not Republican, we’re Democrats,’ and they’re supporting me, and they know that I have to win,” said Bianco. “We’re at a point in California where people are starving for a leader they can trust.”
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The event’s theme is “Restore the Golden State,” a topic that has become an even bigger effort for the party since Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats started pushing for redistricting in California amid redistricting efforts in Texas and other states.
Voters will decide on the plan in a special election this November. Under the new plan, much of Sonoma County will be added to the 1st congressional district, transforming a district where people voted for President Donald Trump over Kamala Harris by 25 points, into a Harris +12 point district.
“It’s an absolute joke,” said Bianco. “They are absolutely out of touch with Californians. They couldn’t care less about Californians. They care about their own personal and political agenda and they are not listening to anything going on in California.”
Steve Hilton was the other headliner. A former Fox News personality, Hilton is a British-American political commentator and also thinks more redistricting is a bad idea.
“If you actually look at the way it’s done the districts we’re already heavily gerrymandered in California there’s probably an extra 10-12 seats that should be in Republican hands if we had fair representation when you look at the house seats,” said Hilton.
He feels confident things will be different after next election.
“I’m 100% certain that California’s going to vote for change next November,” said Hilton. “There’s a massive majority for change. We can’t go on like this. We have the highest everything: highest gas prices, highest electricity bills, highest housing costs. It’s really tough to live here.”
LeBoy echoed the need to turn the page.
“Let’s just do some good policy that has less taxes, and of course they’re going to take taxes, but use our money wisely,” LeBoy detailed. “We’re looking for some simple solutions, some commonsense solutions. You’ve got homeless, you’ve got crime, high taxes. We just have to work on those and fix it for everybody regardless of party.”
