California is often treated as a punchline by conservative politicians and pundits, for understandable reasons. But the electoral dominance of California Democrats should not distract from the fact that their failures leave a path open for a conservative vision, and conservatives shouldn’t give up on trying to pursue.

In 2020, California Republicans flipped Democratic House seats for the first time since 1998. In total, Republicans took back four seats that were lost in the Democratic wave of 2018. The state is still an important factor in taking back the House: Nine races were closer than 10 points, with Republicans winning six of them as they weakened Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s majority.