Why these Californians voted red
By Paige St. John, Los Angeles Times
On a cattle ranch three bridges past a giant lone poplar tree on this isolated northeastern edge of California, Jeffrey Hemphill for once feels part of something larger.
He and his Lassen County neighbors cast 73 percent of their ballots, the strongest vote in the state, to elect Donald Trump for president.
They voted against the rest of California on almost every other ballot issue too, rejecting increased gun regulation, a plastic bag ban, tax hikes, prison parole and the recreational use of marijuana, all seen locally as urban impositions on the rural soul.
Lassen County had the strongest vote in the state to elect Donald Trump for president. It was one of about a dozen other counties in the state that remained solidly red.
