More than 40% of Californians voted for President-elect Trump this year, making it the most votes for a Republican presidential candidate in the blue state since George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004.

Experts say Californians are not as left-wing “as Newsom thinks,” citing several state ballot measures that turned conservative, followed by the overthrow of progressive, Soros-backed Los Angeles County. District Attorney George Gascón.

Although Trump lost California to Vice President Kamala Harris, his election result in the Golden State increased significantly; he won 31% of the vote in 2016 and 34% in 2020. Even with a conservative exodus of sorts that drove many residents to red states like Florida and Texas, Trump increased his share of the state vote by six points.

In absolute terms, Trump’s vote count in California ranks third behind his results in Texas. and Florida.

“Trump built a multi-party coalition,” Susan Shelley, vice president of communications for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “He has built a movement that crosses party lines and is reaching people who have not benefited from the policies that have been proposed.”

PROPOSITION 36 PASSES BY A LARGE ABSOLUTE IN CALIFORNIA, REVERSING SOME SOFT CRIME POLICIES BACKED BY SOROS

California Governor Gavin Newsom and President-elect Trump (Getty/AP)

Regarding California’s clean energy mandates, Shelley said, “People have paid a high price for this, and that’s what cuts across partisan lines.”

“Everyone’s electricity bill is higher because of climate policies,” Shelley said. “And Trump promises “Produce more energy domestically to reduce the cost of energy, and he now has a track record of doing this as president for four years.”

“The legislature is much, much more liberal, much further to the left than the voters. And you can see that in the results of the proposals,” said Shelley, who is also a columnist.

Proposition 36, which would reverse some soft-crime policies written by District Attorney George Gascon and restore felonies for certain drug and theft-related crimes, was overwhelmingly approved by California voters.

Another measure related to taxes, Proposal 5 also failed. Critics of the measure said it likely would have led to higher property taxes because it would have lowered the threshold for local bond issues, which are backed by tax dollars.

Gascon, Los Angeles County district attorney since 2020, was also removed. Independent candidate Nathan Hochman, a former deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush, will replace him.

“I think he knows California is changing and needs help,” Shelley said. “And he’s talked many times about California’s election process, mailing out 22 million ballots. He’s concerned about that. He’s talked about voter ID laws. Whether he’ll do anything about it as president, I don’t know, but he certainly has indicated that he knows that Californians are not as liberal as Gavin Newsom presents them as they are.”

DONALD TRUMP WINS THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

San Diego, California, ranked first on the list of best cities to celebrate Thanksgiving 2024. (iStock)

California was also ground zero for several culture wars over children’s education and transgender issues, such as sex-change surgeries for incarcerated people using taxpayer money.

Lance Christensen, a political expert at the California Policy Center, told Fox News Digital that these issues also played a role in winning more votes for Trump in the Golden State.

“I think people got tired of the things that Governor Newsom has been doing for the last few years,” Christensen said. “And they saw him doing that because of an enabling power of the Biden-Harris administration. And when they realized that the crazy progressive policies that were happening in California were being amplified in D.C., I don’t think they felt there was a good support for it.”

BLUE STATE GOVERNOR CALLS LEGISLATURE IN RESPONSE TO TRUMP’S WIN: ‘READY TO FIGHT’

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, raises his fist as he arrives to speak at a campaign event at the Nassau Coliseum, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Uniondale, New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

In July, Newsom signed a new law Prohibit school districts from notifying parents if their child uses different pronouns or identifies as a different gender than what is listed on their school record.

The law generated significant pushback from California parents who spent months protesting the new law at local school district meetings, with one school district going so far as to sue Newsom over the law.

“A lot of the social and cultural issues, the ethnic studies, the gender issues, the hypersexuality that was happening in a lot of our schools, and they just didn’t want that across the country, especially with issues like Title Nine, where more and more women feel disenfranchised by the Biden administration,” Christensen said.

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“I think we’re seeing a shift in the partisan landscape of California, and it won’t be dramatic, and it won’t necessarily be consistent across the board, but I think there is a march toward some kind of sanity when it comes to politics, there won’t necessarily be a division between red and blue,” he said.

On Thursday, Newsom called an emergency special session for December with the state legislature to respond to Trump’s victory and bolster the blue state’s legal response to any future attacks.

“California is ready to fight“Newsom said on

His action comes just a day after Newsom said he will “look to work with the incoming president.”