IF you live in Placer County and are paying attention politically, you have seen the meltdown going on in Placer County’s Lincoln-Based Supervisor District Race. Suffice to day, Holly Andreatta allowed herself to become an easy target for the extreme left-wing hit squad at the Sacramento Bee. When combined with the usual suspects in the area – some of whom may be connected to Soros et al NGO’s, Andreatta is in deep doodoo.

Also in the last month was the surprise resignation of John Jackson as President of William Jessup University. Jessup has long been a political leader in Placer County. My instincts about this situation were set off when it was announced that Parnell Lovelace was tapped to replace Jackson on an interim basis. Lovelace used to be (and may still be) an associate pastor at Bridgeway Church and I personally sat through sermons of his that were laced with Woke Theology including telling people that Christians were commanded to fight for social justice. Such a turn from a known conservative, to an unabashedly woke PHD who abuses his mantle as a pastor to bash white people and trash Republicans of all ilk on his social media did not happen in a vacuum.

I’ve heard a lot from several people about what is happening at WJU. With Lovelace at the helm it looks like backing a gasoline semi to a 5 alarm building fire, unless I am missing something or the people I have spoken to have bad info. Perhaps that was the goal.

The Roseville City Council Races, and there are at least 2 that are going to be hotly contested, are going to be a mess. With the outgoing Krista Bernasconi, who in my opinion has been self-destructing for at least 4 years, attempting to seal some sort of legacy, it adds a layer of drama to a dynamic featuring heavy influence from the Bay Area. Sparing the pejorative of all the voters that have not figured out why they left the bay bringing the same voting patterns to Placer, blah, blah, blah… at least one Roseville Council seat is blue and others are mixed enough in registration that everything is on the table.

Don’t look now but Lincoln City Council is also shaping up to be interesting and this was before the SUP D2 issue.

Which Brings me to State Level Stuff:

Governor:

I like Chad Bianco, I helped him in a major way in 2018 unseat the corrupt sheriff Stan Sniff. I have no involvement in his governor campaign, and have scarcely talked to him, just a couple of text messages. As I had feared when I first head of him running for Governor, he appears to have not raised much, if any money.

Steve Hilton is a 5’7″ English dude who sounds like George Michael. He is running in the most pretentious state in the union. Not buying, the voters of the state won’t either. It is like a short white Larry Elder. Just because you run a talk show with a following does not qualify you to be governor.

Then there is some rich dude with a lot of money looking at it too. If rich dude with a lot of money actually spends a lot of money – he becomes the leading Republican Candidate by default. I am also told this guy has no real ideological deficiencies so the usual attacks on a rich dude running for governor won’t work on the guy.

There are going to be some state level races with drama as well. I’ve written previously about AD03 which is going to be an all-out war between two evenly matched opponents. Jamie Johanssen vs Dom Belza.

I’ve heard about some drama that is coming down the Central Valley of the State. While it is known that Marie Alvarado-Gil is being welcomed in to the GOP with a primary challenge from her left in SD04, I am hearing there could be other primary challenges of incumbent Republicans in other areas.

I’ve written many times, I am not a charter member of the Donald J Trump fan club, but dear God people the GOP refuses to win. Trump is doing things we could have only dreamed of against illegal immigration, corruption and snatching a maniacal dictator to bring to trial in the USA… and we are having circle jerks all over the state as our caucuses are shrinking.

Specifically with SD04, what is the Senate Caucus going to do with their newest member? There is a prevailing thought that they abandon that district because it is going to elect a Republican so they say. It is a fact that the home district of current Senate Permanent Minority leader Brian Jones has gong 50-50 in Registration so that is going to be a focus. In addition, the D+10 district of Melissa Hurtado is always a tantalizing target because of its’ overlap with other Dem heavy areas that frequently cross and elect Republicans (see also Congressman Valadao).

What effect do rumored primary challenges in other areas have on the Caucus’ attempts to expand their size? The GOP Assembly Caucus stopped a decades long slide gaining seats for the first time in a Presidential Election since the 1990’s…

If a Broke Chad Bianco, or another Talk Show host is the GOP standard bearer in California, it will be more of the same. Dems pick up more seats and further consolidate a super-majority.

Which leads me to some party stuff.

The age-old “Conservative activist versus establishment” fight rages on. Steve Frank recently turned 79, he is still attempting to lead the rag-tag coalition against the establishment. He is still making the same mistakes he has been making since I met him in 2002. I see other groups and other figures come and go – and 2026 is no different.

While CAGOP Chair Corrin Rankin does not fully fit any of the “groups” within the CRP, Steve Frank and his minions have attempted to paint her as “a RINO” because she is not one of their shrinking group. I type like a broken record, but as long as the opposition to anything current CAGOP is led by 70-somethings stuck in the 1980’s, they are headed nowhere.

I do want to dispel a rumor – there is no effort to de-charter the California Republican Assembly. There is also very little support to do so. During the six-year tenure of the her majesty “the Chairwoman” this was talked about openly within her leadership circle. Do understand that despite my past history with CRA (namely being banned from the group in 2015), I will run anyone over with a tank that attempts to de-charter that group. It serves a vital purpose within the CAGOP. Corrin Rankin recognizes that conservatives (including those that disagree with her) need a strong voice within the GOP. Contrast that to the McCarthy-Patterson axis that gleefully attempted to purge any undesirables.

2026 starts out with the recurring Age-Old rumors of the CAGOP is dead. I’ve been hearing that since 2002. Even Governor Arnold Squishenegger couldn’t kill the CAGOP. (and he tried) With the reality of 2026 elections upon us, there appear to be coalitions and collaborations forming. Internal moves I am aware of indicate that the operations of the CAGOP are ongoing unabated.

Prop 50 passing sucks, but it does not mean the end of the CAGOP. What it does mean is that Carl DeMaio will be using that canard to fundraise (until he moves on to something else). His message is as it always has been, give to me not anyone else. I am the only person that can… (fill in the blank here) In the years I have been in politics I have see a bazillion of these come and go, and in the case of DeMaio, his grifting has been a next-level success. It has lasted for at least a decade, and his PAC (that claims to not pay consultants, yet lists a bunch of them in its’ financial reports) is a mainstay of the grifter universe.

And I will conclude with a couple things I have typed for years. The absolute lack of discipline and discernment within the conservative movement is why they can’t have nice things and the affinity for grifters and has-beens is a fatal flaw to the movement. One need look no further than people like MTG who once was a darling until she didn’t get her own way on running for Governor of GA or Candace Owens who appears to be in the throws of some mental health issues. I never liked either one of them from their very beginning, yet both of them are causing division as they spiral because of the unwise followings they both built.

And the PAC’s keep sprouting up and the money keeps flowing to them and the grifting continues…

To be continued.