Politics of California

Politics of a U. S. state

2020 Democratic 6006518 11110639 395,108 California
2016 Democratic 4483814 8753792 1,005,843 California
2012 Democratic 4839958 7854285 361,572 California
2008 Democratic 5011781 8274473 296,829 California
2004 Democratic 5509826 6745485 166,548 California
2000 Democratic 4567429 5861203 537,224 California
1996 Democratic 3828380 5119835 1,071,269 California
1992 Democratic 3630574 5121325 2,379,822 California
1988 Republican 5054917 4702233 129,914 California
1984 Republican 5467009 3922519 115,895 California
1980 Republican 4524858 3083661 978,544 California
1976 Republican 3882244 3742284 242,589 California
1972 Republican 4602096 3475847 289,919 California
1968 Republican 3467664 3244318 539,605 California
1964 Democratic 2879108 4171877 6,601 California
1960 Republican 3259722 3224099 22,757 California
1956 Republican 3027668 2420135 18,552 California
1952 Republican 2897310 2197548 46,991 California
1948 Democratic 1895269 1913134 213,135 California
1944 Democratic 1512965 1988564 19,346 California
1940 Democratic 1351419 1877618 39,754 California
1936 Democratic 836431 1766836 35,615 California
1932 Democratic 847902 1324157 95,907 California
1928 Republican 1162323 614365 19,968 California
1924 Republican 733250 105514 443,136 California
1920 Republican 624992 229191 89,867 California
1916 Democratic 462516 466289 70,798 California
1912 Progressive 3914 283436 390,594 California
1908 Republican 214398 127492 44,707 California
1904 Republican 205226 89404 37,248 California
1900 Republican 164755 124985 13,264 California
1896 Republican 146688 144766 6,965 California
1892 Democratic 118027 118174 33,408 California
1888 Republican 124816 117729 8,794 California
1884 Republican 102369 89288 5,331 California
1880 Democratic 80282 80426 3,510 California
1876 Republican 79258 76460 66 California
1872 Republican 54007 40717 1,061 California
1868 Republican 54588 54068 0 California
1864 Republican 62053 43837 0 California
1860 Republican 38733 37999 43,095 California
1856 Democratic 20704 53342 36,209 California

The politics of the U. S. state of California form part of the politics of the United States. The politics are defined by the Constitution of California.

California's government consists of three branches: the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The California State Legislature is bicameral. The lower house, the California State Assembly, has 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, has 40 members. The executive branch is led by the Governor of California. The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court of California, the California Courts of Appeal, and the California superior courts.

California currently uses the nonpartisan blanket primary in its elections, where candidates regardless of party, including multiple nominees from a single party, contest the ballot and the candidates with the two highest numbers of votes are entered into a general election. Some municipalities, such as San Francisco and Berkeley, have opted to use instant runoff voting for local elections.

As of 2023, 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. There are four other parties that qualify for official ballot status: the American Independent Party, Green Party, Libertarian Party, and Peace and Freedom Party. There are also other minor parties in California that are not ballot qualified including the American Solidarity Party, National Party and Reform Party. California voter registration statistics as ofJanuary 5, 2024 Party Registered voters Percentage Democratic 10,323,214 46.76 Republican 5,332,858 24.16 No party preference 4,845,113 21.95 American Independent 835,277 3.78 Libertarian 242,770 1.10 Others 160,328 0.73 Peace and Freedom 133,914 0.61 Green 102,599 0.46 Unknown 101,339 0.46 Total Registered Voters 22,077,412 82.84 Total Eligible Voters 26,649,323 100.00

The first presidential election the state participated in was 1852. For the next few decades after the Civil War, California was a Republican leaning but a very competitive state in presidential elections, as in voted for the nationwide winner all but thrice between statehood and 1912, with the exceptions of 1880, 1884, and 1912. Beginning with the 1916 election, the state shifted into a bellwether. Between 1916 and 1948, it voted for the nationwide winner every time, and was critical to Democratic victories in 1916 and 1948, as well. Franklin Roosevelt carried all but one county in the state in 1932, and in 1936 all counties. Roosevelt's third and fourth presidential elections saw him win by smaller margins. In 1948, the state narrowly voted for Truman. Beginning with the 1952 presidential election, California became a Republican leaning battleground state. The Republican candidate won California in every presidential election in the next 36 years except the election of 1964, often by a margin similar to the national one. In these years, the GOP nominated two Californians as presidential candidates during four presidential elections: Richard Nixon in 1960 and 1972, and Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984. Beginning with the 1992 presidential election, California has become increasingly Democratic. The state has voted Democratic in every presidential election since then, usually by lopsided margins, and starting in 2008, Democrats have consistently gotten at least 60% of the vote. Voting patterns since 1992 have remained consistent by and large, with Democratic presidential candidates carrying the coastal counties and Republicans the inland counties, though Democrats have gained in many Southern counties as well. At the state level, California has had more mixed voting tendencies until more recently. Six of the state's first seven governors were Democrats; during subsequent decades, control of the governorship frequently shifted between the two parties. In the 20th century, 13 of the state's 20 governors were Republicans, but Democrats have held the governorship since 2011. The 2018 election marked the first time Democrats won more than two consecutive gubernatorial elections in the state's history. Northern California's inland areas and the Central Valley are mostly Republican areas. Historically, parts of Southern California, such as Orange County and Riverside County were Republican bastions, however, they have continued to trend Democratic in recent decades, with all five congressional districts flipping Democrat in 2018. Coastal California, including the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento, is mostly Democratic leaning. In the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, Democrats won all of California's coastal counties except for Del Norte. As most of the population is in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area, California as a whole tends to be liberal.

Guide to the California Political Publication and Ephemera Collection. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.