Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) told Breitbart News on Tuesday that California “is too good to give up on,” encouraging conservatives to compete for political representation in the Golden State.

California’s political dysfunction will become increasingly nationalized if Republicans surrender the state, said Garcia, who was elected to represent California’s 25th Congressional District in November.

He outlined his view in an interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.

The district’s congressional seat was vacated after former Rep. Katie Hill’s (D-CA) resignation following reports of her having sexual relations with at least two of her staffers.

Garcia’s election marked the first time in 22 years Republicans had flipped a House seat previously held by a Democrat in California.

Marlow said, “I’m a native of Los Angeles and I am a big believer in California. I think California is the beneficiary of such natural gifts, be it the built-in industries and the topography and just the mystique of it all. California is not going to die anytime soon, which means the Republicans need to fight back. We need to not get give it up.”

Garcia replied, “Your mentality is spot on, and that was the reason why I ran for office. I had never held a political office before deciding to run for Congress. … My district, which has historically been a somewhat conservative district [and has] a large aerospace defense area and a lot of, frankly, rational actors.”

“Our state is too good to give up on,” Garcia continued, “and we have all of these natural resources, beautiful weather, beautiful geography, great people, [and]resources that most states would die for, but we’re being driven into the ground by politicians in Sacramento, and in this case, we’re starting to upload the problem from California to the national level.”

Garcia said “California’s problems” being “uploaded to the federal level.”
 
“California, we won’t die on the vine, Garcia remarked. “We will continue to have our problems if we don’t turn around and get back to a two-party system. But for me, the more the more important fight right now is making sure that our nation doesn’t turn into California. … [Joe[ Biden, in this first weeks, stated flat out that he’s using California as a blueprint for his policies, and that should scare the hell out of all of us, specially seeing the both intended and unintended consequences of the policies in California.”

An exodus of businesses and people from California to other states is a function of the state’s oppressive regulations and taxes, Garcia noted.

“[Californians] are just trying to survive,” Garcia continued. “They’re living in a state, right now, where they’ve got some of the highest taxes in the nation, some of the highest regulations, [they] are not able to get their kids back in school because of Governor Newsom’s actions. Very arbitrary and capricious mandates [from Newsom are] making our lives very, very difficult and dangerous to navigate.”

Garcia went on to point out businesses are going out of business and there’s a mass exodus, all of which indicates, “We’ve lost — at the state level — about a 134,000d citizens in California to other states just in a one-year period, and that’s a very real problem in my district. … This is a district that’s underpinned by aerospace and defense firms large [prime contractors] like Lockheed, Northrop, Boeing, and their entire supply chain. When you see a president take office and threatening to cut military spending, not only is it is it jeopardizing the warfighter and compromising their tactical advantages, but it’s also threatening our economy.”

California’s abusive political is fostering an “awakening” among the state’s residents, Garcia assessed. 

“[We must] sure that our country doesn’t turn into California,” Garcia concluded. 

To listen to the full interview click here.