“California’s establishment Republicans are making their final stand,” Politico reports.

“After decades of decline and a devastating 2018 election that gutted an already decimated state party, the GOP’s more moderate wing is gearing up for a state convention this weekend that some argue is their last opportunity to avert total collapse.”

“A battle over the state party chairmanship offers two competing visions for the future. One tightly embraces President Donald Trump, while the other focuses more on the nuts and bolts of party-building and organizing.”

“A company owned by Keith Schiller, President Donald Trump’s former longtime bodyguard, has received $225,000 from the Republican National Committee for security consulting since he left his job as White House director of Oval Office operations in September 2017,” CNBC reports.

“Schiller was originally hired by the RNC to help select a site for the 2020 convention. But once the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, was announced in July, Schiller’s firm was kept on to ‘work on other security needs for the committee.'”

Washington Post: “Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, with thunderous applause and gushing accolades from Republicans, offered a reminder that, for all their policy differences and frustrations, the GOP is still very much the party of Trump.”

USA Today: Republicans across the country cheer Trump’s speech.

“Kelli Ward, the bomb-throwing conservative former state senator and loyalist to President Trump, upended the race to lead the Arizona Republican Party by beating the establishment favorite and incumbent GOP chairman, Jonathan Lines,” the Arizona Republic reports.

“In doing so, Republicans from across the state on Saturday chose a more right-wing vision headed into the 2020 election cycle where Arizona is poised to reach battleground status.”

“President Trump’s political team and top Republican officials have reached a landmark agreement to reshape the party’s fundraising apparatus and close the financial gap that devastated them in the midterms,” Politico reports.

“With the deal, Republicans hope to create a rival to ActBlue, the Democratic online fundraising behemoth that plowed over $700 million in small-dollar donations into Democratic coffers in the 2018 campaign.”

“The visuals of new House should send a shiver through anyone who cares about future of Republican Party. One side looks like America and our future, the other looks like board meeting of a 1950’s corporation. A basic law of politics: be for the future not past.”

— GOP strategist Stuart Stevens, on Twitter.

Maine state Rep. Don Marean told the Bangor Daily News that he was quitting the Republican party to become an independent but did not offer an explanation for his choice to leave the GOP.

Washington Post: “Many mainstream Republicans are increasingly alarmed by Trump’s behavior and willing to battle with him in ways that would have seemed strained two years ago, when Trump had the party tightly in his grip after his stunning victory and its members largely fell into lockstep behind him.”

“Two years later, Trump’s presidency is under siege following Republican losses in the 2018 elections. An ongoing government shutdown, volatile financial markets, the special counsel probe, right-wing discontent over Trump’s failure to secure funding for a border wall, and empowered House Democrats all loom before the president, who has been isolated and lashing out at his critics. The collision of threats has frayed the bonds between Trump and some top Republicans even as the president retains strong support in polls of party voters.”

“Republicans who support President Donald Trump are bracing for an onslaught of congressional investigations and court battles that could paralyze the White House over the next year,” McClatchy reports.

“But they also see windows – albeit small ones – of opportunity where Trump might be able to shift the narrative from the doom and gloom.”

“California’s Republican Party is in deep trouble, and in interviews with both outgoing and returning state House Republicans, none could offer a specific message or path forward,” McClatchy reports.

“The California GOP got walloped in 2018, losing all seven closely contested congressional seats and all statewide elections. It also got pummeled in State Assembly and local elections.”

“State Republican officials readily concede the party faces huge problems. Some — though not all — say state party Chairman Jim Brulte’s warnings long ago about the need to appeal to minority groups should have been heeded.”