Republican Rocky De La Fuente could be a giant-slayer in California’s U.S. Senate race this autumn.
Rancho Santa Fe businessman John Cox and wealthy land developer Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente of San Diego are the only two persons standing in the way of an all-Democratic general election in the state’s two marquee races — the governorship and the U.S. Senate seat currently held by aging and entrenched Democratic lawmaker Dianne Feinstein — as Californians go to the polls today to cast ballots in the state’s controversial “Top Two” primary system.
Cox, who was recently endorsed by President Trump, hopes to stave off the spirited candidacy of Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa, a former two-term mayor of Los Angeles, for the right to take on gubernatorial front-runner Gavin Newsom, another Democrat, in November, while the surging De La Fuente — a self-made millionaire and arguably the GOP’s potentially strongest statewide candidate in that increasingly one-party state — is in a neck-and-neck battle with Democratic state Sen. Kevin de Leon for an opportunity to challenge Feinstein in the general election.
Cox, who waged several losing campaigns for public office in Illinois more than a decade ago and voted for the Libertarian Party’s Gary Johnson in the 2016 presidential election — a vote he now says was “a mistake” — is clinging to a seven or eight-point lead against Villaraigosa in recent polls for the second spot in today’s crowded gubernatorial primary.
Unlike Cox, whose general election appeal might be limited to the party faithful, the 63-year-old De La Fuente is the real wild card in today’s primary. He could also be the Republican Party’s greatest hope in California this autumn. Its saving grace, some might say.
Several polls show the intrepid San Diego entrepreneur locked in a fight for second place, while at least one recent poll conducted by Stanford University shows him surging past de Leon, a former President of the state Senate, for the coveted second spot.
That poll, released last Thursday, showed De La Fuente polling an impressive 21 percent of the vote — a dozen points ahead of de Leon and only fourteen points behind Feinstein.
Feinstein, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in a special election in 1992, will turn 85 later this month.
A first-generation Mexican-American candidate, De La Fuente would arguably have the strongest appeal of any Republican statewide candidate in November.
A former Democrat — he undauntedly challenged Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in forty Democratic primaries and caucuses in 2016 — the refreshingly honest San Diego businessman has the ability to appeal to voters across the political spectrum.
Fiscally conservative, but socially tolerant — some would even describe him as culturally liberal — De La Fuente would appeal not only to rank-and-file Republicans and independents (who currently outnumber Republicans in California), but also a large segment of the state’s Democrats in his uphill struggle to unseat Feinstein, a 26-year incumbent who has spent almost her entire career in public office.
Unlike Cox in the governor’s race, the former Democratic presidential candidate would also certainly have tremendous appeal among the state’s growing Hispanic and Latino demographic.
Moreover, as NBC News reported yesterday, De La Fuente is the only Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate who has the kind of personal resources necessary to take on an entrenched Democrat like Feinstein.
According to NBC, the bold and imaginative San Diego businessman has already spent more than a million dollars on the Senate race — far more than any of the other ten little-known Republicans on today’s ballot.
Moreover, as of May 16th, De La Fuente had spent more than any of Feinstein’s thirty other challengers, including state Sen. Kevin de Leon. No other Republican candidate, incidentally, has spent more than $53,000 — a drop in the bucket in a U.S. Senate contest, particularly in a major state like California.
If California Republicans want to avoid being ignominiously shut out of the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races in the increasingly uncompetitive one-party Golden State this fall they should support Cox and De La Fuente in today’s primary, especially since at least one of them actually has the potential to win on November 6th.
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