Why is Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) opening an office in the liberal bastion of the San Francisco Bay Area? "There's a lot of smart people in Silicon Valley, and we want to use their brains to figure out how to win," Paul told the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday, after he spoke before the California Republican Party convention in Los Angeles. The junior senator from Kentucky didn't specify what exactly he hoped to win in California, but he told the Chronicle that one goal is "for the party, winning nationally."
It's lost on nobody that Paul is widely expected to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, or that Silicon Valley has a lot of very wealthy people, some of them inclined toward Paul's libertarian-tinged politics. "Probably some of the least loyal Democrats are in Silicon Valley," USC political analyst Sherry Bebitch tells the Chronicle. "No-party-preference voters are big in Silicon Valley — and it's not inconceivable that Rand Paul took that into consideration." As Paul said, he plans on visiting the Bay Area "fairly often." For whatever reason.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Is pop music now too reliant on gossip?Talking Point Taylor Swift's new album has prompted a flurry of speculation over who she is referring to in her songs
-
Nuclear near-missesThe Explainer From technical glitches to fateful split-second decisions, the world has come to the brink of nuclear war more times than you might think
-
What is cloud seeding and did it cause Dubai's severe rainfall?The Explainer The future is flooded
-
Ukraine cheers House approval of military aidSpeed Read Following a lengthy struggle, the House has approved $95 billion in aid for Ukraine and Israel
-
Poland, Germany nab alleged anti-Ukraine spiesSpeed Read A man was arrested over a supposed Russian plot to kill Ukrainian President Zelenskyy
-
Israel hits Iran with retaliatory airstrikeSpeed Read The attack comes after Iran's drone and missile barrage last weekend
-
Peter Murrell: Sturgeon's husband charged over SNP 'embezzlement' claimsSpeed Read SNP expresses 'shock' as former chief executive rearrested in long-running investigation into claims of mishandled campaign funds
-
Mark Menzies: Tories investigate MP after 'bad people' cash claimsSpeed Read Fylde MP will sit as an independent while party looks into allegations he misused campaign funds on medical expenses and blackmail pay-out
-
Why Johnson won't just pass Ukraine aidSpeed Read The House Speaker could have sent $60 billion in military aid to Ukraine — but it would have split his caucus
-
Sudan on brink of collapse after a year of warSpeed Read 18 million people face famine as the country continues its bloody downward spiral
-
Trump's first criminal trial starts with jury picksSpeed Read The former president faces charges related to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels
