Over homemade tacos at a Capitol Hill row home, several of California’s members of Congress did something unusual last year: they gathered for a bipartisan, home-cooked meal where politics were not on the menu. The table full of Republicans and Democrats represented an opening salvo in a push by some of the state’s newest representatives to build collegiality and cross party work in a place that in recent years has supported neither. “We just sit down and break bread and get to know each other,” said the event’s host, Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Big Bear Lake), who was elected in 2020. “We try and invite diverse groups of people that don’t know each other or haven’t had an opportunity to even meet and just introduce everyone, no agenda.”
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[Ken] Calvert said members work across party lines on regional issues within the delegation, but the longtime frostiness between California’s Republican and Democratic representatives is a matter of “philosophical differences.” He said social events like Obernolte’s dinner, rather than policy focused meetings, might be the way to build bridges. “There’s probably members of the California delegation that haven’t even talked to each other,” he said.