YORBA LINDA, Calif. — The Republican Party of Orange County is hoping to turn the tide in 2020 after four seats were flipped in the 2018 "Blue Wave".

Right now volunteers would typically be canvassing for votes, but with the pandemic all voter contact is happening from a distance.


What You Need To Know

  • OC Republicans are looking to gain seats back that were flipped in 2018

  • Statewide the GOP is using an app called CampaignSidekick that’s making it easier for the party to target voters they might have lost in 2018

  • Janice Lim, a volunteer for the Republican Party of Orange County has been holding Zoom meetings and making “cold calls” to registered voters in the 39th congressional district

  • They say they’ve had five times the rate of picking up, and they’ve made over one million calls to their targeted races

Hitting the pavement has turned into hitting... the hardwood floors for Yorba Linda resident Janice Lim.

She's a volunteer for the Republican Party of Orange County, and this year - amid the pandemic - all of her work is taking place from home.

“I miss the door-to-door and just meeting people.”

Janice has been doing Zoom meetings and making “cold calls” to registered voters in the 39th congressional district - a race in which Gil Cisneros narrowly defeated Young Kim in 2018.

“The difference between knocking on doors and doing a virtual meeting is the push and pull of information - that they’re not actually pushing information - that they’re pulling information,” Lim says.

The side effect of the pandemic - people being at home - has been positive for the party’s responses.

They say they’ve had five times the rate of picking up, and they’ve made over one million calls to their targeted races. “It’s true. I think when you’re door-to-door it’s just easy to step aside and say, ‘We’re not at home,’ but not answer the door. And I think with virtual, it’s something that they proactively go out and they meet with you on Zoom or any of the other type of virtual meeting places,” Lim says.

 

Tech has played a big part. Statewide the GOP is using an app called CampaignSidekick that’s making it easier for the party to target voters they might have lost in 2018.

Republican Party of Orange County Chairman Fed Whitaker says the county’s 2020 election results have a major impact the country’s political landscape.

“It also has a real importance nationally because the path to take back the House of Representatives has to go through Orange County and California. Of the 40 states that the Republican Party lost in 2018 - in suburban districts all around the nation - 7 of them were in California - 4 of them were in Orange County.”

And while you might think Janice would be tired after all those calls and meetings... she says that being involved in her community is what keeps her going.

“That’s really energizing because that means that us as individual citizens, we could make a positive change for our community.”