Despite Proposition 50 passing in California on Tuesday, one city council member from a coastal conservative stronghold told the Daily Caller News Foundation why he remains optimistic.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s gerrymandering measure, Prop 50, passed Tuesday and is poised to reduce Republican congressional seats from nine to four by redrawing district boundaries. Among the affected districts is Huntington Beach, which will be merged with other coastal cities under the newly approved maps.
DEEP RED COASTAL CITY
The city of just under 200,000 residents is known for its right-wing identity, as is the rest of Orange County. President Ronald Reagan once called the county a place where “good Republicans go to die,” praising its deeply rooted conservative values.
Since President Donald Trump’s first term in 2016, Huntington Beach has hosted rallies supporting him, protests against the state’s COVID-19 lockdowns and, more recently, a memorial for Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk after his assassination in September.
Democratic state Rep. Dave Min currently represents the area, but Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia is expected to take over the district if elected next year. Garcia is viewed as a more progressive lawmaker who drew media attention this year for traveling with other Democrats to El Salvador, staying at a luxury hotel and advocating for the release of reputed MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
While Min is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the Democratic lawmaker has occasionally sided with Republicans. In September, he voted to lower the age at which minors can be tried as adults for certain crimes in Washington, D.C., and supported Republican Florida Rep. Byron Donalds’ SAFE Act.
Garcia did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
OPTIMISM FOR THE CITY’S FUTURE
Though Garcia might clash with the conservative city, Huntington Beach Council Member Andrew Gruel told the DCNF he remains optimistic, saying the congressman’s interests could still align with the city’s.
“I’m actually not as concerned as a lot of others are. I think Dave Min is an empty suit right now and does nothing for the district, especially Huntington Beach. I’m actually more optimistic to work with Garcia because of his, there’s areas in which I firmly believe that we can be aligned,” Gruel said.
“There’s areas, of course, where we’re going to disagree, but when it comes to our congressional reps, what are they really doing for us? They’re getting money, jobs, grants, etc. If we’re trying to establish financial autonomy anyway, especially as a charter city, we don’t necessarily need somebody running back and filling the bag with money,” Gruel added. “I guess Garcia, his focus has always been more urban … For us, being a coastal city and focusing on tourism, we’re worried about our coastal economy … tourism, housing affordability pressures, a lot of public infrastructure issues.”
Already representing a district with major coastal areas, Garcia has consistently advocated for protecting California’s beaches and marine ecosystems.
Though he believes Garcia’s agenda is “a lot more hyperbolic in regards to the climate crisis stuff,” he told the DCNF that Huntington Beach faces “local vulnerabilities as a result of sea level rise, coastal erosion and some of the harbor dynamics,” and that Garcia could be “very helpful” in at least “drawing awareness” to those issues in Washington, D.C.
Since 2024, the Huntington Beach City Council has advanced several conservative initiatives, including banning mask and vaccine mandates, designating the city as a non-sanctuary city and limiting which flags can fly on city property to those including city, county and American flags.
The council’s composition shifted in December 2024, when Republicans won all seven seats, prompting Republican state Sen. Tony Strickland to dub the group the “MAGA-nificent 7.”
While there are areas such as housing where Gruel said the council likely disagrees with Garcia, he noted that maintaining a positive working relationship is still essential.
“I distill it down to, at the end of the day, our representatives are going back to Washington to not just represent our interests, but to get money,” Gruel told the DCNF. “If there’s areas in which our interests can align and he can help us get some of the funding for things that are related to the coastal projects and our infrastructure needs, I think that’s a good thing. We need to have a positive relationship from that perspective.”
AT ODDS WITH SACRAMENTO
Despite that optimism, Huntington Beach frequently clashes with California’s attorney general and state administration.
In March 2024, the city approved Measure 1, which authorized Huntington Beach to require voter identification for elections, among other election rules, such as defining an elector as a U.S. citizen, a city resident and at least 18 years old. Just a month later, state Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the city over the measure, claiming it placed “a burden on voters [that] cannot be reconciled with state law.”
In September 2024, Newsom signed Senate Bill 1174, prohibiting local governments from requiring voters to present identification, which was notably authored by Min. But on Nov. 15, Superior Court Judge Nico Dourbetas ruled against the state, allowing the ballot measure to move forward.
Bonta and Democratic Secretary of State Shirley Weber appealed the decision to the California Fourth District Court of Appeal, which ruled on Nov. 3 that the measure was “unlawful and preempted by state law.”
When asked about the pressure from Newsom and his administration, Gruel called Bonta’s statement a “joke.”
“That was a measure that we put in front of the people of Huntington Beach and they overwhelmingly voted in favor of it. The fact that we’re a charter city, they’re arguing against us on the charter city element of this,” Gruel said.
“We have the right to run our municipal elections and the people voted for it. He’s not just rejecting the Huntington Beach City Council, he’s rejecting the will of the people. It’s an 80-20 issue.”
Gruel noted that the voter ID issue will end up on the state ballot regardless, based on the work of Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio and Strickland, saying the administration will then see what “the people of California believe.”
“I firmly disagree with the opinion by the Court of Appeal and the judges. I think that it was a political response. I don’t think that they looked at the issue. First of all, they heard this case and turned this decision around in two weeks,” Gruel told the DCNF. “That never happens. It’s months when things go in front of the Court of Appeal. This was predetermined, in my opinion, and it’s political.”
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