Abram Wilson has been showing off his southern roots recently in his campaign for Assembly District 15.
I have to say, compared to the lackluster campaign of 2008 won by Democrat Joan Buchanan. There is a new energy to the 2010 version of Abram Wilson.
What I find interesting is the branding going on here. Wilson, who comes across as a non-partisan elite urban professional for much of his career is now pivoting to his right by touting his down home roots.
This is smart as Wilson can appeal to the remnant of Tri Valley conservatism without candidates from the Loony Tunes wing of the Republican Party running against him. In the Republican Party, Southern means conservative and it means conservative values. One only has to look at the New York CD-23 race to see that conservatives would rather support a thrid party conservative candidate than expand their current pup tent to a winning majority by embracing a moderate canidate who can win and who the local voters clearly chose in the Republican primary. Therfore Wilson by touting his Southern roots is shoring up his right flank and will now turn his attention to his opponent, Ms. Joan Buchanan.
I have told many a Republican the last two election cycles that if you want to be viable as a Republican and aspire to elected office then move to the Southern United States or inland-California, a place where Republicans are still loved. As opposed to Coastal-California and the Bay Area where they are loathed.
Maybe Wilson is trying to instill in the Livermore and Diablo Valleys what has worked in the South. Much of AD 15 still has a significant agricultural component. What we could be witnessing is an effort by Wilson to stretch the inland’s Red values into the Blue areas of the Tri Valley.
It is an interesting strategy from the man from South Contra Costa County.