American organization of Republican college and university students
The California College Republicans (CCR) is a California state organization for college and university students who support the Republican Party of the United States. Founded on August 29, 1963, the organization is the official chartered youth wing and a recruiting tool for the California Republican Party. It has produced many prominent republican and conservative activists, with notable alumni such as Kevin McCarthy, Ben Shapiro, and Kevin Kiley.
CCR is an independent political action committee (PAC) that is affiliated with the College Republicans of America (CRA).
History.
Founding and early history.
CCR began with 1,800 members on August 29, 1963 — founded by Randolph Siefkin, Harold Phillips, William Nielsen, William Dillon, and Pete Wilson (who went on to serve as a US Senator from 1983 to 1991 and Governor of California from 1991 to 1999).
The 1963 mission statement of CCR read: "The specific and primary purposes for which this corporation is formed are to support the Republican party, to provide pleasure and recreation for the members, to encourage constructive thinking among young people and the development of their interest in good government, and to unite young people in the spirit of good fellowship to achieve these objectives."CCR was formed as a break-off group of the California Young Republican College Federation, also known as the California College Federation of Young Republicans, which was a subcommittee of the California Federation of Young Republicans. This split occurred following election disputes in 1962 and 1963. In 1962, the moderates and conservatives violently clashed, with Walter Driver of the conservatives stating six sergeant-at-arms "banged my head into a chair and my body into a wall."
Harold Phillips of the moderates ultimately prevailed in the election as chair.
In 1963, competing conventions of a conservative wing and a moderate wing each elected new chairmen. Trent Devenney and Randy Siefkin each claimed legitimacy, with the California Young Republicans organization — at the time the parent organization of the college federation — set to recognize Devenney. At the same time, nationally, College Republican groups began to break off from the Young Republican groups, where one would service students and the other would service young adults. Siefkin helped lead this split in California, taking his moderate wing of students with him to form CCR. CCR would go on to charter with the College Republican National Committee (CRNC) (which it later separated from in 2019) after it broke off from the Young Republican National Federation. The California Young Republican College Federation continued to exist as part of the California Young Republicans and the Young Republican National Federation until 1969, when they merged with CCR in a unity election. The unification was supported and partially brokered by then-Governor Ronald Reagan.
Reagan enjoyed and worked closely with the youth — among them CCR members — during his campaigns and tenure. In 1988, he described CCR as "A group I take a kind of personal interest in..."
CCR also earned the admiration and attention of another President, Gerald Ford. In 1967, then-House Minority Leader Ford attended the annual CCR convention in Santa Barbara as the keynote speaker. He concluded with the following: "We must build the Republican Party ... We can do that if college Republicans here and throughout the Nation will rise to the responsibility that is theirs--the challenge to go out into the wilderness of young Democrats and come back with some scalps. The future of the Republican Party, ladies and gentlemen, is in your hands."CCR conventions have featured a number of notable speakers over the years, including Gov. Pete Wilson, Gov. George Deukmejian, Lt. Gov. Edwin Reinecke, Lt. Gov. Mike Curb, Rep. Barry Goldwater Jr., Milo Yiannopoulos, Amb. Richard Grenell, Rep. Paul Gosar, and many others.
1963 was not the only time CCR faced competing conventions and claims of legitimacy. In 1987, Fred Whitaker (who went on to serve as Chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County) and Jim Michalski ran for chairman. Whitaker, unable to mount enough delegates to win the election, led a walkout at the 1987 election, hoping to break quorum. However, not enough delegates left with Whitaker, and the election proceeded with a vote for Michalski. Whitaker, meanwhile, convened his own convention with the delegates that followed him, where they elected him as chairman. This triggered a crisis over the rightful Chairman of CCR.
Whitaker was backed by CRNC Chairman Stockton Reeves, and Michalski was backed by the California Republican Party. The state party stepped in with, according to the San Francisco Examiner, "a private meeting trying to resolve a dispute between two college Republican groups." This led to party leadership, including CAGOP Chairman Bob Naylor, missing a vote of the party convention calling for the prosecution of the San Francisco AIDS foundation. The state party eventually caved to the CRNC and agreed to recognize both groups as equal and legitimate. They finally merged again in 1988, following a unity convention. In an interview with the Orange County Register, Whitaker said: "'I was running for chairman of the state College Republicans and we split into two organizations,' ... A 'unity convention' followed and both groups reunited a year later..." Whitaker was defeated by Michalski in the unity convention rematch election.
Modern history.
Prior to the election of businessman Donald Trump in 2016, the California College Republicans had not had a contested election in nearly a decade. Trump's election sparked a resurgence of youth activism in California, which led to Ariana Rowlands' involvement in the College Republicans. In 2017, Rowlands built a socially conservative and pro-Trump coalition to contest the CCR heir apparent, Vice-chair Leesa Danzek, for the position of chairman. Danzek and her faction were considered the moderate-wing of CCR.
The 2017 convention was derailed before voting began, with the OC Register summarizing the events:"Hours-long debates on parliamentary procedures and questions about who could and couldn’t vote ended with student organizers booting more than 150 delegates from a Double Tree Hotel ballroom in San Jose, where the election was being held, into a hallway. The meeting dissolved into heated debates over procedures and by the time some delegates were allowed to return, it was too late. Hotel staff said it was time to go."The CCR Convention was reconvened in October 2017 at the California Republican Party Fall Convention. By that point, Leesa Danzek had assumed the chairmanship following Ivy Allen's resignation in August. At the meeting, the LA Times reported that "[M]embers accused Danzek of using her influence over the state organization to withhold information about the election and improperly disqualify some students from voting"
Despite the tensions, Rowlands emerged the victor by a vote of 88–64.
Rowlands remained popular enough to win reelection in 2018, where she staged the largest attended CCR convention in modern history. She was listed as one of Washington Examiner's "30 Under 30," and brought renewed media attention to CCR from "FOX News, ABC 7 and The Daily Ledger ... Breitbart News ... TIME..."
However, she also faced scandal in her second term. Rowlands and her successor, Kimo Gandall, were accused of allegedly removing CCR members and chapters they disliked via the Judicial Board case "Gandall et al. v Morcott et al," which found two members guilty of violating the CCR constitution and stripped their voting rights. According to the Judicial case in question, no further action was taken, and the members and chapters in question remained part of CCR. The case order read:"[O]rder (1) does not imply formal expulsion from the California College Republicans ... order (3) does not imply the permanent forced dechartering of the defendants’ respective chapters ... [T]o regain the ability to send delegates to the annual convention ... the members may remove the defendants from the presidency of their respective chapters, or (2) the members may amend their governing documents to legally appropriate the power to petition CCR away from the president and to some other member of their chapter as they see fit."However, dissatisfaction with Rowlands led to another contested election in 2019. Kimo Gandall, backed by Rowlands, and Matt Ronnau each built slates of candidates and announced their intention to run for the CCR Executive Board. Prior to the 2019 election, Ronnau and his slate dropped out of the race and led a push for 10 clubs to decharter, or disassociate, from CCR instead of attending and running in the election. In the press release announcing the mass decharter, the clubs charged that CCR was "Failing to address ... repeated concerns," yet the clubs in question did not appear at the election or introduce legislation to amend CCR's constitution. Gandall was elected chairman.
Most of the 10 clubs that left formed a splinter group that was regarded as "an establishment GOP group that broke away from the more pro-Trump California College Republicans in 2019." CCR, meanwhile, described themselves as "the 'Trump wing of the GOP'" — and continuing Rowlands' socially conservative legacy.
In 2022, CCR Chairman Dylan Martin began collaboration with then-new splinter group leader David Chan to unify CCR once again. Chan had not been around during the initial split, so was highly in favor of unification. The two reached an agreement to hold a unity election in Las Vegas on June 24, 2023. Chan was elected chairman of the merged organization, and he proceeded to appoint Dylan Martin as Executive Director. The name of the merged organization was voted on by convention delegates, with "California College Republicans" winning with 59% of the vote. Corrin Rankin, Vice Chairwoman of the California Republican Party, attended the unity election and congratulated Chan and Martin on unity, saying:"The College Republicans have voted to unify and their official name is California College Republicans. Ensuring Republicans have a presence on college campuses is necessary to grow our party amongst young voters. I was honored to witness the unity today at their convention in Las Vegas. Congratulations to David Chan on being unanimously elected Chairman."Chan is notable for serving concurrently as Chairman of the Alameda County Republican Party at just 20 years old.
National Federation.
The College Republican National Committee (CRNC) [1963-2019].
The California College Republicans ceased affiliation with the College Republican National Committee (CRNC) in 2019. According to a press release from CCR, the splinter group that had broken off during Rowlands's administration had petitioned the CRNC to revoke CCR's charter. The statement reads:"On Saturday, July 13th, despite Gandall agreeing to many of the terms for mediation, the CRNC ruled that CCR was to be “dechartered." ... Gandall strongly objected ... but his appeals were rejected without reason. “Despite my objections in Committee under my right to a point of order, the arbitrator illegally ... [removed] the charter. But this isn’t allowed in the Bylaws,” said Kimo Gandall, Chairman of the California College Republicans. “CRNC has a secret constitution that is not public,” continued Gandall, “and once I leaked it, I found that there were deep discrepancies. §2(5)(b)"CCR is not the only organization that is independent from the CRNC. In 2021, the CRNC controversially stripped the voting rights of several state federations that backed the election of Judah Waxelbaum over Courtney Britt for CRNC Chairman. Among those disqualified were Texas, New York, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Puerto Rico, who all voted to secede following Britt's election. The action's of the CRNC earned condemnation and words of support for the allegedly disenfranchised states from the New York, Connecticut, Arizona, and Arkansas Republican parties, as well as from Elise Stefanik, George P. Bush, John Boozman, and more. After losing its national charter, the California Republican Party used this as justification for stripping CCR's permanent charter with the state party. According to CCR:"The California Republican Party used CCR losing its recognition by the CRNC as justification for removing CCR’s permanent charter with the Party in 2019, and Party officials have encouraged CCR to rejoin the CRNC in the years following this move as a potential condition to regain a permanent charter."A permanent charter status with the CAGOP had allowed CCR to file less annual charter paperwork and granted the group an extra party delegate. CCR maintains a temporary or "regular" charter with the CAGOP, but by losing the "permanent charter," the party effectively stripped a delegate from the College Republicans.
CCR says the reason the party gave for stripping its charter was to encourage CCR and the splinter group to reunify, and that the permanent charter would be returned as soon as they unified.