Pete Wilson was a Republican governor of California whose tenure and political decisions are discussed across three episodes of The Bob Zadek Show. He appears in the excerpts as the central figure in two distinct policy narratives: the anti-immigrant politics surrounding Proposition 187 in 1994, and the veto of early high-speed rail legislation in 1992. In both cases, the guests and host treat Wilson’s actions as consequential for California’s political development.
Proposition 187 and the Hispanic Vote
In the December 2016 episode, Alex Nowrasteh recounts that Pete Wilson was elected Governor of California in 1990 and that in that year he split the Hispanic vote about evenly with the Democrats. Nowrasteh states that shortly after the election, California was hit by a recession, the end of the Cold War, and a decrease in funding for defense industries, which hurt the state. He says that Wilson and the GOP in the early 1990s decided to blame immigration and illegal immigration specifically for the problems the state faced. Alex Nowrasteh: How Prop. 187 Turned California Blue (2016)
Bob Zadek interrupts to characterize this as a political decision rather than a data-driven one, saying it was a case of “Hey, I have an idea, let’s blame Hispanics.” Nowrasteh agrees, calling it an entirely politically driven decision. He then describes how a group of conservative Californians put the Save Our State initiative, or Proposition 187, on the ballot. Nowrasteh says the proposition would have cut off social benefits for illegal immigrants, which he supports, but that the second portion was terrible: it would have made every California state employee an immigration agent required to report to the INS all illegal immigrants or suspected illegal immigrants they came in contact with. Alex Nowrasteh: How Prop. 187 Turned California Blue (2016)
According to Nowrasteh, the effect of the proposition was to galvanize Hispanic support against the Republicans in a way never seen before. He states that although Wilson won re-election in 1994, his Hispanic vote totals dropped to 25% from about 50% in 1990, and continued to fall after that for all other Republican gubernatorial candidates at the same time the Hispanic population in the state was increasing. Nowrasteh also describes a trend in party registration: Hispanics were increasingly registering as Republicans from 1980 to about 1991, a 20-point shift toward Republicans, but beginning in the early 1990s when Wilson started this, there was from 1991 to 2000 a 30-point swing against the Republicans in registration. He notes a surge in naturalizations, with legal Hispanic immigrants becoming citizens so they could vote, and they voted overwhelmingly against the Republicans and for the Democrats. Alex Nowrasteh: How Prop. 187 Turned California Blue (2016)
Nowrasteh contrasts this with Texas, which under Republican leadership did the exact opposite, reaching out to Hispanics and supporting immigration reform. He says the GOP by the end of this period was getting half of the Hispanic vote in Texas, while in California it was getting about 20%, despite both states having the same percentage of the population that is Hispanic. Nowrasteh concludes that the lesson is clear: the GOP needs to be nicer and to reach out to immigrants and not blame them for problems. Alex Nowrasteh: How Prop. 187 Turned California Blue (2016)
High-Speed Rail and the 1992 Veto
In the February 2018 episode, Judge Quentin Kopp tells Bob Zadek that in 1992, while a member of the California State Senate, he introduced legislation to create the California High-Speed Rail Commission. Kopp says he had first experienced high-speed rail in France, traveling from Lyon to Paris in 1985 or 1984, and was impressed with a system that had begun in Japan in 1964 in preparation for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Kopp states that the bill was approved by both the Senate and the Assembly but was vetoed by the then-governor Pete Wilson on the theory that California had enough governmental agencies. Let’s Talk About California’s “High-Speed” Rail (2018)
Kopp then says he introduced a bill in 1994 to establish a committee to evaluate the desirability and feasibility of high-speed rail in California. That bill passed and the governor signed it because he appointed all the members of the committee. The committee rendered a report to the legislature and the governor a year and a half or so later, concluding that high-speed rail was both desirable and feasible in California. Kopp states that in 1996 he introduced a bill establishing the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which passed both houses and was signed by the governor. Let’s Talk About California’s “High-Speed” Rail (2018)
Bob Zadek asks whether the committee’s study was a situation of “let’s have a trial so we can hang them” or a thoughtful, high-integrity study. Kopp responds that it was not political cover but a bona fide study from an intellectual standpoint and from a standpoint of the integrity of its findings and recommendations. He notes that he became a Superior Court judge in San Mateo County on January 1, 1999, and was not a participant in the study itself, but that when the study was completed, nobody criticized it from an intellectual standpoint or from the genuineness and honesty of its conclusions. Let’s Talk About California’s “High-Speed” Rail (2018)
Political Malpractice and Republican Irrelevance
In the March 2023 episode, Bob Zadek describes California as a remarkably politically dysfunctional state that has raised political dysfunction to high art. He observes that Republicans are in a minority to the point of irrelevance, and says that this happened as a result of political malpractice going back to Republican Pete Wilson and what he did with the immigration bill Prop 187 in the distant past. Zadek states that Republicans committed political suicide and just blew it. Moving California Forward with the Common Sense Party (2023)
Zadek makes this observation while distinguishing political dysfunction where one party made political decisions that destroyed itself from the structural issue of the country generally. He then asks Tom Campbell to make the case for a third party, noting that the Common Sense Party had recently expanded by joining forces with another third party. Campbell responds that it is a California-specific solution because California is one of only four states that have the “top two” primary selection process. Moving California Forward with the Common Sense Party (2023)
Campbell explains that without the top two runoff process, in November you have the Democrat, the Republican, the Libertarian, the Peace and Freedom, and the Green all running at the same time, and the winner is the one who has the plurality, resulting in a Democrat or a Republican. But in California and three other states, there is a chance to get to November with only one opponent. He says that if a qualified independent-minded candidate gets to the November finals, there is only one other candidate and a very good chance of winning. He cites the example of Chad Mayes in the Coachella Valley, who ran as an independent after having been a Republican, made it to the finals, and beat his Democratic opponent. Campbell notes that every Democrat who does not have a candidate in the finals will be interested in supporting the independent, and every Republican who does not have a candidate in the final will be interested in supporting the independent. Moving California Forward with the Common Sense Party (2023)
Across episodes
The excerpts show Pete Wilson discussed in two distinct contexts across three episodes. In the 2016 episode, Alex Nowrasteh presents Wilson’s support for Proposition 187 as the origin of a lasting Hispanic realignment against California Republicans, citing the drop from about 50% to 25% of the Hispanic vote between 1990 and 1994 and a 30-point registration swing against Republicans from 1991 to 2000. In the 2018 episode, Judge Quentin Kopp describes Wilson’s 1992 veto of high-speed rail commission legislation on the theory that California had enough governmental agencies, followed by Wilson’s signature on a 1994 bill to establish an evaluation committee and a 1996 bill establishing the California High-Speed Rail Authority. In the 2023 episode, Bob Zadek cites Wilson’s immigration politics as political malpractice that led to Republican irrelevance, while Tom Campbell discusses the top two primary as a California-specific structural solution. The later treatment by Zadek frames Wilson’s actions as settled history, while the earlier Nowrasteh episode provides the electoral data and the Kopp episode provides the infrastructure policy detail.
What the sources do not cover
The excerpts do not state Pete Wilson’s full name, his dates of birth or death, the years he served as governor, or any other offices he held. They do not describe the content of Proposition 187 beyond the two provisions Nowrasteh mentions, nor do they state whether the proposition passed or its legal fate. The excerpts do not give Wilson’s own reasoning for the veto beyond Kopp’s statement that he thought California had enough governmental agencies, and they do not include any statement from Wilson himself. The excerpts also do not cover Wilson’s position on the 1994 high-speed rail committee bill or the 1996 authority bill beyond the fact that he signed them.