Yup, we tried voting for John Cox. But not enough of us to take the vote
Unfortunately with the Democratic strong holds of the bay area and LA I doubt you or I will ever see a Republican Governor again in either of our lifetimes. Additionally the spread of people leaving the bay area has gotten worse over the years. They are spreading further out beyond their close neighboring counties and subsequently changing the voting maps. From my perspective this started in Sacramento and stalled with the housing crisis years ago and has picked up again. In my area for example many homes are being bought up by bay area liberals with cash, I have coworkers who have sold their homes to these people so I know first hand. My wife and I in fact competed with a couple from San Jose for our current house who were offering cash. I have also noticed more frequent idiotic posts and responses on my neighborhood FB page by what I assume to be these same idiots accusing others of "white privilege" and just having "white people problems". My county used to be deep red but I fear it is on the edge of flipping.