Trump campaign to open California HQ in Sac next week

Some CA Republicans begin campaign aiming to stop Trump

UPDATED 7:58 PM PDT Apr 20, 2016


SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —Donald Trump’s presidential campaign will open its campaign headquarters in the Natomas area of Sacramento Monday, according to Trump’s California state director.

"We are opening our head office here in Sacramento and then we'll have regional satellite offices that we're about ready to open up,” said Tim Clark, a longtime Republican strategist in Northern California.


The move is one sign that both the Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns are racing toward the June 7 California primary, the nation’s next big primary election prize.


On the Republican side of the race, there are not only individual campaigns. There is also a broader campaign focused simply on stopping Trump from gathering enough votes to become the party’s nominee ahead of the Republican National Convention this summer.


“If you get to an open convention and Republicans nominate somebody other than Trump, Republicans still have a chance to beat Hillary Clinton in November,” said Rob Stutzman, a longtime political strategist in Sacramento who is helping lead the campaign to stop Trump. “If it’s Donald Trump, it is clear that he will be obliterated.”


Trump and his Republican rivals, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, are expected to begin appearing regularly in California starting at their party’s state convention next week in the Bay Area.


For now, their campaigns are strategizing ways to win delegates, which are awarded individually in 53 California Congressional districts. Each of those districts awards three delegates, regardless of how many Republican voters it has.


That creates an irony for voters: candidates’ time would be spent more efficiently in districts with fewer Republican voters.


“I mean, if you are a Republican living in the Marina district in San Francisco and Nancy Pelosi's been your Congresswoman forever, you probably don't feel loved and nurtured as a Republican,” Stutzman said. “Those districts are going to feel very loved and nurtured."


Stutzman’s group is trying to convince voters to vote for either Kasich or Cruz, depending on which one has the better chance of beating Trump in a given district.


Meanwhile, Clark said he believes Trump’s support in California is strong and any momentum he has built by winning the New York primary this week will help.


“The grassroots has created Donald Trump's infrastructure in the state,” Clark said. “And it's not been cultivated. It's just grown up organically."


Trump supporters are also mobilizing delegates for what could be multiple votes to choose a nominee at the party’s national convention in Cleveland if Trump is unable to win the delegates he needs before then. A former Sacramento Congressman Doug Ose helps vet potential delegates and asks them specific questions.


“Are you prepared to pay your own way to Cleveland?” is one question Ose said Wednesday. “Are you prepared to vote over and over and over and over again for Donald Trump so we can make America great again?"


In addition to appearances by the candidates, California voters can expect to see campaign advertising and direct outreach starting after the Republican state convention next week, the strategists said.

http://www.kcra.com/news/trump-campa...-week/39135020