California Legislature becomes even more Democratic

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(The Center Square) – As some California Republicans leave office in a month, the Legislature is shaping up to be even more blue in 2027.

Ballots continued to be counted from the Nov. 3 election into Thursday afternoon, with some races uncertain as Republican lawmakers seeking reelection trail by less than 1%. Others lost by a significant margin.

As of 3:03 p.m. Thursday, 16 Democrats won seats in the California Senate, while only four Republican candidates won. In the much larger California State Assembly, 64 Democrats were elected compared to 16 Republicans. That allows the Democratic Party to expand its supermajority in the Legislature.

Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, was trailing his Democratic opponent Chris Duncan by a margin of 0.8%, with Duncan garnering 50.4% of the vote against Strickland’s 49.6% as of 1:22 p.m. on Thursday, according to numbers from the California Secretary of State's Office.

Strickland, who was elected to his current term in a special election in February 2025, could not be reached for comment before publication time on Thursday.

Another prominent Republican who was behind his Democratic opponent is Assembly Minority Floor Leader Josh Hoover, R-Folsom. Hoover was trailing Amy Slavensky 47.5% to 52.5%, although he told The Center Square on Thursday afternoon that his numbers could pick up before ballots are finished being counted.

“I am truly humbled by the support we have received so far in this election,” Hoover told The Center Square. “For the last four years I have fought to change the status quo and restore common sense in Sacramento. I’ve been down like this before in previous races before coming back to win. There are many more ballots left to count, and it’s important that we allow elections officials to finish the job.”

Others who could find a victory more challenging include Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez, R-Indio, who garnered 40.9% of the vote in his district versus Democrat Ida S. Obeso-Martinez’s 59.1%

Assemblymember Leticia Castillo, R-Corona, also is significantly behind her opponent. Approximately 39.4% of voters in her district voted to send her back to Sacramento, while 60.6% of voters supported Democrat Clarissa Cervantes.

Assemblymember Greg Wallis, R-Rancho Mirage, was also losing his reelection bid on Thursday. He only got 44% of the vote, while Democrat Leila Namvar got 56% of the vote.

Gonzalez, Castillo and Wallis did not respond to The Center Square's request for comment.

Other longtime lawmakers will hit their term limits later this year, making them ineligible to run for reelection. Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield and one of the last political holdouts from the California Republican Party’s Tea Party era, is one of those lawmakers. She ran for the Board of Equalization’s District 1 and lost against Democrat Nelson Esparza, according to election results from the Board of Equalization race.

Grove did not respond to The Center Square before publication time.

Sen. Brian Jones, R-Santee, who was previously the Senate minority leader, also termed out this year, as well as Assemblymember Diane Dixon, R-Newport Beach; Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Merced County, and Assemblymember Mike Gipson, D-Gardena.

Gipson, as well as fellow Democrat Sen. Thomas Umberg, D-Santa Ana, also ran for seats on the Board of Equalization and won. Gipson won his seat with 58.8% of the vote over another Democrat, Samuel P. Sukaton, and Umberg won his race against Republican Denis Bilodeau.

Four state politicians ran for higher office this fall, winning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, won the seat held by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat who's retiring in January from Congress. State Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Santa Rosa, the former Senate majority leader; Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Fremont, and Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, are all heading to Washington, D.C. in 2027 as freshmen House members.

None of the lawmakers headed to D.C. responded to The Center Square before publication time on Thursday.

The only lawmaker who could have run for reelection and decided not to was Assemblymember Stan Ellis, R-Bakersfield, who said he was frustrated with the lack of efficiency in how the Legislature works in Sacramento.

“The first several months of the year, you show up on the floor at 9 o’clock, and they don’t gavel down until 10, 10:30 because nobody shows up,” Ellis told The Center Square on Thursday. “Then they do resolutions on Butterfly Day and Rice Day and LGBTQ. Then later in the year, we start getting some bills, and 90% of them are bills we don’t even need.”

Ellis said he wasn’t surprised to see so many Republicans lose their seats in the midterm elections, considering the blue wave the rest of the country saw. He added that the Democrats expanding their supermajority in the Legislature could affect the rising cost of living in California.

“In a few years, taxes are going to go up, and they’re not going to be able to blame Trump anymore because he’s going to be gone,” Ellis said. “I’ve thought about moving everything I have out of California. I’m really worried about the state of affairs.”

As of 3:03 p.m. on Thursday, 100% of precincts had partially reported their results, and ballots were still being counted throughout the state.