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My picturesque and diverse home state of California has become overrun with crime, illegal drugs, and homelessness under “progressive” policies. Yet, following the November elections, it appears there may be hope for the state after all.  

While illegal immigration is a huge problem for the Golden State, it was legal immigrants who redeemed one voting center worker’s faith in the fight for conservative values in California.  

My father, Mark Streb, worked in an Orange County, California, voting center this past election, where he met a number of legal immigrants and escapees of communist regimes that yearned for the return of conservative leadership in America.  

“I will never forget one older woman in particular,” Streb said. “She required some assistance with the [voting] machine, and after getting her ballot fed, stopped and engaged with me. Our eyes met, and hers filled with tears as she told me, ‘I came from a communist country. We are headed in the wrong direction and are making terrible mistakes. We need Trump!’ Her voice was soft enough to not be overheard by others, yet desperate and emphatic at the same time.” 

As a poll worker, Streb needed to remain as unbiased as possible, yet he stated, “I was moved by this exchange. I later learned from a colleague that this woman was from Venezuela. It struck me again that the people who have immigrated to the United States from dark and sinister regimes understand what is truly at stake—freedom, liberty, and life itself.” 

Another worker at the polls—the only other professing to be a Donald Trump voter—also escaped a communist regime.  

Svetlana Ramsay, 63, told The Daily Signal after the election, “As an immigrant from Russia—I moved to California in 1990—I feel great about the future now that Trump is going to be our next president. It feels like there will be change for the better in domestic and foreign policy.” 

Increased support for Trump and conservative values in California is undeniable. Over 70% of Golden State voters passed Proposition 36, which cracks down on drug trafficking and theft. Trump gained a lot of ground in California, flipping 10 counties to red, according to Fox 5 San Diego.   

“California had the joint biggest swing towards Trump of any state in 2024, at 12 percentage points,” Newsweek reported earlier this month. 

Despite this red shift, Gov. Gavin Newsom is determined to “Trump-proof” California, advising state lawmakers to prepare funding for litigation against the approaching Trump administration.  

“Newsom wants to show that he is on the side of poor people, [that] he protects immigrants’ rights, but in reality, he is a wealthy politician who is detached from reality,” Ramsay said. “During the pandemic, he was enforcing masks while dining without masks in a very expensive restaurant in Northern California. He is a professional politician and hypocrite. And it is not good for California residents if your governor constantly quarrels with the federal government.” 

Newsom wrote on X, “California is ready to fight. … We refuse to turn back the clock and allow our values and laws to be attacked.” 

Legal immigrants like Ramsay, as well as results from California ballot measures like Proposition 36, prove that there is a “progressive disconnect with real California values,” according to the Orange County Register. 

Streb concluded from his time at the voting center: “I was thrilled with the number of people who came out to express their voice via vote … After all, it was for this reason so many men and women have sacrificed, dating back to our Founding Fathers.”

Following his exchange with the immigrant from Venezuela, he noted, “I could not have been prouder to be an American at that moment.”