Without our watch and fight, Democracy could wither and die. Let's keep fighting. We are watching the Save Act which passed the House, but Senate vote is not planned at the moment. 

Despite Democratic trifecta California is not as progressive as we could be. Money and lobbyists play too big a play in our state chambers. However there are many factors that progressive legislations are hard to pass. Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission and Term Limits are helping our state chambers to look like our state.

Gender: 2024 was the historic year for women to achieve gender parity in State Senate, 21 women out of 40. This happened partly because Republicans are strategically seeking women (5 out of 10 Senate), 20s-30s (6 out of 30) and people of color (4 Asian + 8 Latino out of 30) as candidates. In Assembly 37 out of 80 are women while Republicans have 6 out of 20. Gender disparity is closing. However at the Federal level only 15 House of Representatives are women out of 52 seats, and both US Senators are male. Without term limit it will take a long time to fix the disparity.

Age: Majority of CA legislatures are in their 40s and 50s. Term limits are shifting the trend, but Dems are not moving as fast as Republicans.

20s and 30s in various population

CA General 28%

CA Leg 16.7%
Democrat Leg 15.5%
Republican Leg 20%

Race & Ethnicity: While we are getting more diverse, Hispanic are under represented while White are over represented in our legislative chambers. These are self identification and Latino/a could be also white.

Race/Ethnicity State Leg Dems Rep. State
African American 10 (7.5%) 10 0 5%
Asian 13 (10.8%) 9 4 15%
Hispanic/Latino 41 (34.1%) 33 8 40%
White not Latino 50 (41.6%) 33 17 34%
Multi/Other 6 (5%) 5 1 6%

CA Voters: Since the Motor Voter Program started in 2018, voter registration is up but about 20% of our population, 4.7 millions Californians are estimated eligible but not registered as of 2024. Public Policy Institute of California reported who are the unregistered voters and infrequent voters.

The voter turnout is yet to be improved especially in midterms and down ballot. Civic education and engagement are essential to improve both voter registration and voter turnout.