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.
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.
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to ChicagoSpeed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in OregonSpeed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denialSpeed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartelsspeed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feudSpeed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protestersSpeed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
-
US government shuts down amid health care standoffSpeed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies
