<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654709472384,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017f-e2f4-de00-a7ff-e7fff8030000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654709472384,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017f-e2f4-de00-a7ff-e7fff8030000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54528443", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1026847"} }); rn","_id":"00000181-3a87-d421-ada5-7edfa9060000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedA former top adviser to Mitt Romney’s 2012 GOP presidential bid is the Republican Party’s best hope for winning a statewide race in California this fall, with Lanhee Chen poised to snag a November ballot spot in the open-seat race for state controller.
Chen was the chief policy adviser to Romney when the former Massachusetts governor lost against President Barack Obama. Romney has since become a Republican senator from Utah.
With about 48% of expected votes in, Chen was on top of the multi-candidate field, with 36.7%. Several Democratic candidates split the rest of the vote, with California State Board of Equalization Chairwoman Malia Cohen in second place with 21.4% of the vote.
Chen was the only Republican running for state controller on Tuesday, an immediate advantage in California’s all-party nominating contest. But Chen had more going for him than four Democrats and one green party standard-bearer dividing up the rest of the vote. The Stanford University academic, who earned four Harvard degrees, proved to be an impressive candidate. Chen even earned an endorsement from the Los Angeles Times’s liberal editorial board.
California is a reliably blue state, with President Joe Biden in 2020 crushing former President Donald Trump 63% to 34%. Despite the developing Republican wave poised to sweep the Democratic Party from power in Congress and amid myriad crises afflicting California — homelessness, rising crime, inflation, and a lack of affordable housing — Democrats are on pace to maintain their grip on Sacramento, the state capital.
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Chen, 43, mounting his first campaign for elective office, might be the exception. In part, that is because the office he seeks, state controller, is more about sound fiscal management of California’s finances than politically charged cultural issues that work to keep staunchly liberal.
That political dynamic has never been more apparent than in recent years, coinciding with the rise of Trump. Californians’ rejection of Trump’s conservative populism has kept Republicans marginalized in the state, even as voters soured on Biden and Democratic rule in Sacramento and the state’s marquee metropolises: Los Angeles and San Francisco, and their surrounding communities. Smartly, Chen’s campaign reflected this fact.
The Northern California resident, a married father of two children, clearly ran as a Republican. And Chen promoted endorsements from nationally prominent Republicans, such as Sen. Tom Cotton (AR), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA), and Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), among others. But in style and rhetoric, Chen put distance between himself and a national GOP, often defined by Trump’s (other Republicans’) preference for pugilistic cultural combat.
To wit, in May, when a draft of a Supreme Court opinion suggesting Roe v. Wade might be overturned leaked, Chen swiftly issued a statement saying he would not use the office of state controller to attempt to curb or eliminate California’s expansive abortion rights protections.
“As Controller, I will be singularly focused on standing up for taxpayers and bringing fiscal transparency and accountability to Sacramento. In that role, I would have neither the power nor inclination to change current California laws regarding abortion or to restrict access to abortion in our state.”
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Chen still faces an uphill climb in November. As possibly the only Republican threatening to win a state constitutional office, Democrats will surely devote resources to defeating him. Given the state’s size and expensive media markets, Chen will possibly need tens of millions of dollars to compete effectively.
Incumbent Betty Yee, a Democrat, is leaving office early next year due to term limits.
