I turned 18 in July of 1984. I got to vote for Ronald Reagan, but not In California’s Primary. During the 1986 Primary, my first Republican Primary I learned how splitting the vote could be deadly to pro-life candidates
There were a lot of big names in that GOP primary. Some of them were Bobbi Fiedler, Ed Davis, Mike Antonovich, Bob Naylor, Art Laffer, Ed Zschau and Bruce Herschensohn. There were all fighting for the chance to defeat Senator Alan Cranston.
As the primary got to the end it became clear that the nominee would be Zschau (A pro-abortion liberal) or Herschenson (a pro-lifer). The winner was Zschau by seven points.
Here was my error. I was in Germany, not paying attention to the race. I voted for Mike Antonovich. Antonovich was and is my county supervisor. He is very pro-life and as a legislator actually stopped California from experimenting on unborn babies.
Great guy. Still glad I can vote for him for Supervisor. The problem was the money and dynamics of the race showed he couldn’t win. I voted my heart not my head. Antonovich got nine percent of the vote.
Since then I have been more careful. Making sure I cast a smart pro-life vote not just a pro-life vote. Unfortunately, I have seen this happen again in races for Assembly or State Senate.
Our duty is to elect pro-life candidates. The word elect is as important as the word pro-life. Lesson learned.
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