'Voter apathy' and 'a lot of lies' transformed 'hippie surfer haven' into CA’s 'angriest MAGA city'

Although President Ronald Reagan once called California's Orange County the place where "good Republicans go to die," the "hippie beachside surfer haven" of Huntington Beach, SFGATE's Anabel Sosa writes, "has drawn national attention for leaning dramatically further to the right."

Just a few years ago, Sosa says, Huntington Beach had a Democratic-led city council. Today, the city's 200,000 residents are represented by a conservative majority city council — an all-Republican group that calls itself the "MAGA-nificent Seven."

That group has been on the front lines of MAGA's culture wars, from bans on children's books and pride flags to opposing vaccines and mask mandates and "dissolving a watchdog committee formed in the aftermath of white supremacist hate crimes in the 1990s."

These actions, Sosa says, have "shoved the seaside paradise into uncharted territory."

The city, she writes, "has a Republican stronghold of just over 56,000 registered Republican voters, compared to a little more than 41,000 Democrats."

Republican Mayor Pat Burns, one of those so-called seven, explained the city's leaning, saying “It’s a middle class town, basically. We just want to live our lives with as little government control as possible.”

Former Democratic city council member Dan Kalmick told SFGATE that "the fights were always over housing," but Mayor Burns, Sosa explains, "has stood firm against California’s state housing law, which mandates that every city keeps up with state requirements for adding housing."

As a result, Huntington Beach "has been out of compliance since the law’s passage in 2021, and is currently 13,368 housing units short," she writes.

Burns, who was sworn into office in 2024 said, that California is “trying to force us to do something that we don’t need," making the city build “low-income” housing to make Huntington Beach "more urban," because, he says, "Urban places turn blue.”

A September court decision determined Huntington Beach has 120 days to comply with its housing requirements. Burns said that “poor” people can live by the beach, but “it shouldn’t be subsidized.”

State Sen. Tony Strickland (R-CA) has supported said that Huntington Beach residents "care about three things: public safety, their love of America and to remain suburban."

Kalmick says the reason conservatives have had success is due to “voter apathy” and “a lot of lies.” The divide has only deepened as elected officials struggle to work together, Sosa explains.

City councilwoman city councilwoman Gracey Van Der Mark told SFGATE she was a Democrat until she “realized” that Latinos are inherently conservative.

She said were her priorities were “family first, believe in God, embrace culture,” adding that Democrats want to “exclude parents, break up families, sow division, bash our men.”

The city has been no stranger to white supremacy either, with a 1993 LA Times headline asking if Huntington Beach was “the skinhead capital of the count." And, Sosa writes, "as the 21st century began, the city increasingly became a hub for violent incidents against minority groups."

Kalmack says the city has become "center ground" for protests, but they may not be enough.

Pat Goodman, a co-organizer at ProtectHB, a non-profit organization that led the opposition to the city's library book ban, said her biggest fear is “there will be a very short list of candidates” running for city council next year. “That means we can look at another four years of similar elected officials.”

Kalmack agrees, saying the city has a long way to go before it returns to its Democratic roots.

“I don’t think Huntington Beach is winnable until the next 10 years,” he said.