Republicans hope Trump’s visit will drive ‘red wave’ in the Valley
President Donald Trump is visiting Bakersfield next week, and local Republicans hope he will sign a water bill and say a “red wave” is swelling in the state.
Trump will stop in California and other Western states next week, a White House official confirmed Thursday. The California leg will include a stop in Bakersfield on Wednesday, where Trump will join House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to speak about efforts to improve water deliveries for farmers.
Fred Vanderhoof, the chair of the Fresno County Republican Party, said he hopes Trump will help get more water to cities and farmers. Despite environmentalists’ concerns, Vanderhoof said, getting more water to farms would help everyone.
The day before Trump visits Bakersfield, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt will be at Rep. Devin Nunes’ forum on water hosted by the Friant Water Authority. McCarthy is expected to attend.
Emails sent to the McCarthy and Nunes offices seeking details were not returned Thursday afternoon.
And even though California is mostly a Democratic state, Vanderhoof expects Trump will return to the state again. Next week’s schedule includes a stop in Los Angeles.
“The president isn’t giving up on California at all,” Vanderhoof said. “I think what we’ve seen, and my counterparts in other counties are seeing it, too, is a huge red wave building. I think it’s unprecedented.”
Vanderhoof said local Republican parties are seeing huge turnouts at local party events, partly driven by the impeachment hearings and the Mueller report.
Democratic response
The chair of the Fresno County Democratic Party, on the other hand, said he only hopes the president will announce something that won’t harm the state.
“I would hope the president will announce something that benefits California and not hurts it like he has in the past, like not allowing Californians to deduct their state income taxes any more as part of his tax bill that largely benefited the wealthy and large corporations at the expense of California’s middle and working class,” Andy Hansen-Smith said.
He said he also hopes Trump won’t announce any measures that hurt senior citizens and people with disabilities through cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and food stamps.
“I am hopeful he will announce that he will allow California to continue to push for clean cars and clean skies and not hurt that effort like he did last year by withdrawing California’s longtime ability to decide what type of fuel efficient cars we have,” Hansen-Smith said.
In a statement, Rep. TJ Cox, D-Fresno, said: “Solving Valley water issues is my priority and I’ll work with anyone to improve water infrastructure. My Move Water Now Act would provide $200 million to fix the Friant-Kern Canal and it’s on its way to passing the House. I look forward to having the president sign this vital bill because our economy depends on it.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Republicans hope Trump’s visit will drive ‘red wave’ in the Valley."