BRAWLEY, Calif. -- While Assemblyman Jeff Gonzalez, a newly elected Republican, was taking the oath of office in Sacramento last week, the phones of two supporters in Imperial County pinged with ecstatic updates from his staff about his first day at the Capitol.
There were photos of Gonzalez's nameplate outside his new office and of his freshly printed business cards. There was even one showing a piece of paper bearing his new letterhead.
The supporters receiving the pictures? Tony Gallegos and his fiancee, Olga Moreno, from El Centro. They are Democrats.
"We ate a little bit of crow in the beginning because here I am, a big Democrat, and [people think] all of a sudden I've changed," said Gallegos, a former chair of the Imperial County Democratic Central Committee. "Well, we didn't change. We just supported the better candidate."
By winning his race to represent California Assembly District 36, which borders Mexico and includes a wide swath of the Imperial and Coachella valleys, Gonzalez flipped a rural, mostly Latino district where Democrats hold a nearly 14-point voter registration advantage.
Gonzalez said he was successful because he worked hard to downplay party politics.
"I don't come here as a Republican," Gonzalez said in an interview at the Capitol. "Yes, that's my party, but ... I don't put that title on me. I come here as Jeff, as a community member looking to find a way to work together across the aisle."
Still, Gonzalez's victory has excited California Republicans who hope they can make inroads in this liberal state -- especially among voters of color -- amid the country's rightward shift that sent President-elect Donald Trump back to the White House.
Gonzalez is one of three Republicans -- two Latinos and one Asian American -- to flip Democrat-held seats in this election.
"I think it's huge," Gallagher said. "It represents a realignment. We're starting to see more and more Latino voters that were loyal Democratic voters and have started to break away from that."
A Focus on Local Issues
"I found a lot of people would talk about stuff that the Democrats were trying to push on them that they should care for," Castillo said......