GOP 'Young Gun' Recruitment Effort Failed in Calif.

The Republican recruitment initiative led by House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy this election year was a disaster in his home state of California, where 24 of 25 GOP candidates lost.

 

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the so-called "Young Gun" effort that began in 2008 to bring "a new generation of conservative leaders" to Capitol Hill, was heavily funded by the National Republican Congressional Committee to limited success.

 

Of the Young Gun candidates that ran for the U.S. House in California, only David Valadao was victorious.

 

The lopsided results delighted Democrats. Andy Stone, the communications director of the Democratic House Majority PAC, told the Chronicle, “If this is Kevin McCarthy's idea of resuscitation, we should all be pretty glad he's not a doctor.”

 

California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton said his party’s wins were due to a  good "ground game" and "demographics." Asians, Latinos, women, and young voters went solidly Democratic during the election, not only on the West Coast but throughout the nation.

 

Nevertheless, McCarthy spokesman Mike Long said the recruitment program “will absolutely continue in the 2014 midterms — as will our members' and candidates' efforts to complement Young Guns by putting infrastructure and resources on the ground in places that have been without such support for quite a long time.”