Politics of California
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The politics of the U.S. state of California are complex and involve a number of entrenched interests.
Political issues
There have been several events, many dubbed "constitutional crises" by their opponents, over the last twenty years. Examples: The passage of term limits for the California legislature and elected constitutional officers (which was hotly argued state-wide, and debated in the Supreme Court of California); a test of the ratification process for the Supreme Court (in which a liberal chief justice, Rose Bird, and two liberal associate Justices, Joseph Grodin and Cruz Reynoso, were ousted); a full-fledged tax revolt, "Proposition 13," which resulted in the freezing of real estate tax rates at 1% of the property's last sale price; and a test of the state recall provision (in which Governor Gray Davis was recalled in a 2003 special election). Various anti-tax organizations remain well-funded and active.
Northern California's inland areas and Southern California (outside of Los Angeles) tend to be conservative, mostly Republican areas. Los Angeles and the Northern California coast tend to be liberal, mostly Democratic areas. As most of the population is in Los Angeles and the northern coast, California as a whole tends to be liberal.
However, it should be noted that, until 1992, California was a Republican stronghold in Presidential elections since the 1950s, during which they won California in every election except the election of 1964. (Jimmy Carter, nevertheless, came close to winning the state in 1976.) It is also worth mentioning that in these years, the GOP regularly nominated Californians as presidential candidates: Richard Nixon in 1960, 1968, and 1972, and Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984. The immigration of Chicanos, who tend to vote Democratic, and the flight of middle-class Republicans away to Rocky Mountains' states in the 1980s and 1990s shifted the balance in favor of the Democratic Party.
Among the state's divisive issues are water and water rights, resulting in the California Water Wars. Lacking reliable dry season rainfall, water is limited and available surface sources are extensively exploited through dams, canals, and pipelines. The principle water sources are mountain runoff from wet season rains and higher altitude snowpack (70%), wells (limited by salt-water incursion and overuse), and some Colorado River water supplying southern California (strictly limited by treaties with the other western states and Mexico). Waste water reclamation in California is already routine (for irrigation and industrial use). City-dwellers' property taxes pay for most water projects, but 75% of the water is used by farmers. This causes periodic water-rights initiatives and tax revolts in the cities, especially during droughts, when city water is rationed so farmers can keep fruit trees and vineyards alive. Also, most water is in the north of the State, while most people are in the south. This causes many north vs. south disputes, the most famous being the Peripheral Canal, a proposed project to divert water from the Sacramento River, bypassing the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta (near the San Francisco Bay Area) to connect with an existing canal carrying water toward Southern California (Los Angeles). Since the lack of a peripheral canal requires careful system management to keep salinity low at the existing canal inlet, opponents fear that the ability to bypass the delta would result in increased salinity of the delta, with consequential environmental effects, believed to be harmful to both delta agriculture and Pacific Coast fisheries.
Land use is also divisive. High land prices mean that ordinary people keep a large proportion of their net worth in land. This leads them to agitate strongly about issues that can affect the prices of their home or investments. The most vicious local political battles concern local school boards (good local schools substantially raise local housing prices) and local land-use policies. In built-up areas it is extremely difficult to site new airports, dumps, or jails. Graft and developer influence on local politics might be rife, since many cities routinely employ eminent domain to make land available for development. A multi-city political battle was fought for several years in Orange County concerning the decommissioning of the huge El Toro Marine airbase. Orange County needs a new airport (pilot unions voted the existing airport, John Wayne, the least safe in the U.S.), but the noise could reduce land prices throughout the southern part of the county, including wealthy, politically-powerful Irvine.
Gun control is another divisive issue. In the cities, California has one of the U.S.'s most serious gang problems, and in some farming regions, some of the highest murder rates. The state also contains many individuals who desire to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families and property. The legislature has passed restrictive gun-control laws. Private purchase of "assault" weapons (generally, semi-automatic rifles that look like military rifles) is a felony. The law does not prohibit sales of semi-automatic hunting-style civilian weapons, which might be intended to be a distinction without a real difference. Pistols may be purchased and kept in one's home or place of business, but it is illegal to carry weapons or ammunition outside these areas without a concealed weapons permit, except in a locked area (car trunk) to licensed practice ranges or other legitimate uses (hunting, repair, collection, etc.) Except in a handful of rural counties, most people find it impossible to get concealed weapons permits since they are issued at the arbitrary discretion of the local law enforcement officials. California is not a "shall issue" state for concealed weapons permits. (ref. section 12000 of the [California Penal Code])
A reference is California, Its Government and Politics by Michael J. Ross.
Bi-partisan
After the 2000 year census, the legislature was obliged to set new district boundaries, both for the state Assembly and Senate and for Federal Congressional Districts. The Republican and Democratic parties came to an agreement with each other that ultimately greatly reduced the power of voters of the state. It was mutually decided that the status quo in terms of balance of power would be preserved. With this goal, districts were assigned to voters in such a way that they were dominated by one or the other party, with few districts that could be considered competitive.
In only a few cases did this require extremely convoluted boundaries, but the results are easily seen by examining the [results of the 2004 election], where a win by less than 55 percent of the vote is quite rare (five out of eighty Assembly districts, two out of 39 Senate district seats).
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed placing the redistricting process in the hands of retired judges, which was on the November ballot as an initiative in a special election (called by the Governor on June 14, 2005), Proposition 77. The special election was held on November 8, 2005. However, the initiative was overwhelmingly defeated, with 59.5% No votes. All intiatives, including those proposed by the Governor's allies and several independent initiatives, failed.
The Federal House of Representatives districts are less competitive than the state districts with only three out of 53 congressional districts being won with less than 60 percent majority.
A gerrymandered Congressional District, the 11th CD of CA, drawn to favor Republican Richard Pombo. The 10th CD is immediately north in Contra Costa and Solano Counties
The 38th Congressional District, drawn to so strongly favor a Democrat that there was no Republican challenger in 2004
Considering the 10th CD in the San Francisco Bay Area, in earlier elections the almost evenly divided district was a focus of national attention, owing to its balanced electorate with a slight Republican edge in registration and a Republican advantage in electoral participation. The district had been held since its creation in 1990 by a Republican, Congressman Bill Baker, a former State Assembly member, for whom the district was designed. After several weak challenges to the seat by Democrats, the election was hotly contested in 1996 by a newcomer to politics, Ellen Tauscher, a candidate with sufficient funds of her own to be competitive against the incumbent. Receiving a great amount of grass roots support from local Democratic clubs and votes from moderate Republican women, her defeat of Congressman Baker was considered a great victory for what many consider a 'middle of the road' Democrat. Her district is now 'safe' (she won reelection with 65.8 percent of the vote in 2004) and the recent congressional election drew no national attention to California.
As desired by the two major parties, there was no change of political party in any of the district elected offices at either the State or Federal level - no member of the State Assembly, State Senator, or U. S. Representative was not of the same party as their predecessor.
Congressional representation
Many leading members of Congress are from California. Among the Republicans representing California in the House in the 109th Congress are Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier from the 26th District, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas from the 22nd District, Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis from the 41st District, Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter from the 52nd District, Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo from the 11th District. Among the Democrats are Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi from the 8th District, Education and the Workforce Committee ranking member George Miller from the 7th District, and Intelligence Committee ranking member Jane Harman from the 36th District.
Political parties
The two major political parties in California that currently have representation in the State Legislature and U.S. Congress are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. However, there are five other parties that qualify for official ballot status: American Independent Party, Green Party, Libertarian Party, Natural Law Party and Peace & Freedom Party.
Electoral system
San Francisco Bay Area. 
California does not currently use a form of proportional representation in its elections, but some municipalities such as San Francisco and Berkeley have opted to use a system of preferential voting, currently used in Australia and Ireland, more popularly known in the United States as instant runoff voting or ranked choice voting.
Local elections in California at the county and city level are officially non-partisan and political party affiliations are not included on local election ballots.
See also
- Government of California
- Elections in California
- U.S. presidential election, 2004, in California
- California special election, 2005
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