https://www.siliconvalley.com/2025/01/07/opinion-california-county-democrats-republicans-imperial/

Since the conclusion of the election, much of the media have painted Imperial Valley as having dramatically shifted its politics. With President-elect Donald Trump jumping from 37% of the 2020 vote in the region to 49% this year, many now claim that it has “flipped” from blue to red. Are we a once-blue county making a revolutionary realignment toward the Republican Party, or one growing more purple?

The truth is neither. The Imperial Valley is not living through a left-versus-right war, a storyline far too easy and convenient for pundits to resist as they lazily view our region as a political novelty. Trump’s strong local finish does not mark a sudden conservative awakening, just as the region’s previous Democratic lean did not reflect an unwavering progressive faith.