There’s hope for Republicans, even in the bluest of states: Varney

You can slice and dice the primary results every which way, but one race stands out. It’s in California. It’s a recall vote. And it gives Republicans a lot of hope for a good showing in November. Even in California!

Josh Newman is a state senator. He's a Democrat, representing a district in Orange County in Southern California. He lost a recall vote Tuesday by 18 points, in a district Hillary Clinton won by 13 points. A Democrat loses big in a thoroughly Democrat area. In California! What on Earth is going on?

Well this recall vote was all about the notorious gas tax. It was imposed by a Democrat governor and passed by a Democrat legislature, and it is wildly unpopular. California gas is now nearly 80 cents a gallon more expensive than the national average! Twenty percent of Californians live below the poverty line – how do you think poor people feel about paying a big tax imposed by the coastal elites? Forget about it!

But here's the significance of the vote for Republicans. It was John Cox who organized the ballot initiative repealing the tax on the November ballot. Cox is a Republican. He is the Republican candidate for governor. You can expect a lot of people to vote against the tax. And a lot of them will be independents and Democrats. And they will be tempted to vote the Republican line, if that’s how you get rid of the hated tax.

Maybe moderate Democrats will be fed up with job-killing environmental rules, sky-high taxes, a lousy business climate and all the other nonsense the left has imposed on the formerly golden state. Maybe they'll vote for a change in direction.

There is hope for Republicans, even in the bluest of blue states.