Too many Democrats? The downsides of political dominance in California

Assemblymember Gail Pellerin celebrates after being sworn in during the Legislature's opening session in 2022.

By Taryn LunaStaff Writer

Oct. 31, 2024 3 AM PT

Democrats hold 93 of 120 seats in the California Legislature.
The party’s prowess is exposing the downsides of extreme one-party rule.
Democratic lawmakers quietly question whether it’s time to temper their dominance.

SACRAMENTO — Twelve years ago Democrats won a surprising two-thirds supermajority in the state Legislature, giving themselves the strength to pass any bill without the need for a single Republican vote in California.

Yet, even as they celebrated the first feat of its kind in nearly 80 years, leaders were mindful of their new power.

“The concern is if it’s so easy to get a majority, it’s easy to become complacent and not do thoughtful legislating,” said then-Assembly Speaker John Pérez. “Sometimes people that you loved had stupid ideas that had no business being law.”

Now Democrats hold 93 of 120 seats in the California Legislature, casually dubbed a “super supermajority,” and the party’s prowess in California is exposing the downsides of extreme one-party rule.

With the election less than a week away, concerns about losing seats have been replaced by whispers among Democrats about whether it’s time to temper their dominance.

When lawmakers no longer need to unite together, they find themselves more divided.

“I certainly don’t think it’s good for democracy overall and in the end it’s not going to be good for the Democratic caucus,” state Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa), who terms out of office this year, said about the large number of Democrats in the Legislature.

Ideological debates that once took place between Democrats and Republicans — over education, housing, the environment, workers and dozens of other issues — have shifted to within the party: Often pitting liberals against moderates.

It’s sometimes a struggle, particularly among a diverse group of 62 Democrats in the Assembly, to reach a consensus about the best path forward for California.

There’s also more infighting between the houses, adding to an element of chaos in tough negotiations over high-profile policies, such as mandating storage requirements for oil refiners, a ballot initiative on crime that fizzled and early attempts to reduce the state budget deficit this year. But for good or bad, there’s enough Democrats to pass simple majority vote bills through the Legislature with little debate about the merits.

Dodd said he isn’t a fan of “group think,” which can take over without enough careful analysis and debate because there are so many voices and not enough time for them all to be heard.

“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking,” Dodd said, quoting U.S. Gen. George S. Patton.

Instead of policy conversations between the two parties during public committee hearings or debates on the floor, the talks increasingly take place among Democrats in private caucus meetings or in closed-door, three-party negotiations among representatives for the governor, Senate pro tempore and the Assembly speaker.

“I think this is a natural consequence of a supermajority,” said Jessica A. Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School. “It is easier to do business in a quiet and less transparent place. The caveat here is that we’re not doing business, we’re representing the public.”

Levinson was careful to point out that isn’t necessarily nefarious, but not the best way to stress test policies. The Legislature passed nearly 300 more bills in 2023 and 2024 than a decade earlier, according to tallies by Chris Micheli, a law professor and lobbyist who closely tracks legislative actions.

Jim DeBoo, who worked for Pérez as the director of Assembly Democrats in 2012 and also served as chief of staff to Gov. Gavin Newsom 10 years later, said the large supermajority has allowed Democrats in the Legislature to “supercharge their agenda.”

“It’s very meaningful for the legislative leaders and their allies but places an immense amount of pressure on the governor to balance what’s best for California,” DeBoo said.

The super supermajority also presents upsides for a governor: It’s often easier for Newsom to find support for his policies. The more Democrats in the Legislature argue among themselves, the less likely they are to work together against his proposals.

Newsom clashed with Democrats this year too.

Lawmakers pushed back on a plan to place an initiative on the ballot to crack down on retail theft and fentanyl dealers in an effort to compete against Proposition 36, a tougher anti-crime measure from county district attorneys.

The governor, Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) announced the proposal in July and were forced to reverse course and called it off the next day.

“There was quite a bit of discussion and for various reasons not everyone was going to follow, not a majority, and then the governor pulled that,” said Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton). “It wasn’t just moderate Democrats, it was also progressives. So you can now form blocs, actually, with unlikely partners.”

Newsom sought to reach an agreement at the end of the legislative session in August between the Assembly and Senate on a bill to require oil refiners to store more gasoline in order to prevent shortages that drive up prices at the pump.

The Senate agreed but Rivas, who had warned that his caucus needed time to get behind a deal, ultimately refused to take the bill up for a vote in the final days of session, as the two houses squabbled between each other.

Newsom called a special session and Democrats passed his proposal in October. Twenty Democrats in the Assembly and eight in the Senate did not vote in support of the bill.

Kevin de León, a member of the Los Angeles City Council and a former leader of the state Senate, said “politics is no less political” with more Democrats.

“With these dynamics the perception of a mega super majority confronts hard reality — membership is at a historic high and simultaneously it’s even more challenging to manage,” De León said.

The plight of state Sen. Josh Newman has also showed that Democrats are vulnerable, even in a supermajority.

The Fullerton Democrat helped the party clench a supermajority in 2016 when he beat a GOP incumbent.

Eager to foil Democrats’ hold on the Capitol, the GOP led a successful recall effort against Newman two years later after he voted to increase gas taxes for road repairs, legislation pushed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown.

Newman won the seat back in 2020, returning slightly more moderate and cautious about supporting some liberal policies. As a result, now he’s under attack from a progressive labor union in the 2024 election.

AFSCME 3299, which represents University of California workers, waged an unusual campaign before the primary this year to support several Democrats in a race against the incumbent senator. Newman had declined to back the union’s bill in 2023 to place an amendment on the ballot to increase the pay and rights of its members.

The union’s efforts fell flat when Newman finished first and Republican Steven Choi placed second in the primary. In an even more rare situation, the union has continued to pour money, more than $1 million in total, into television ads and mail attacking Newman in the tight battle against a Republican for the Orange County seat in the Nov. 5 election.

Labor typically supports progressive Democrats in elections. The super supermajority has allowed the union to make an example out of Newman for being too moderate without risking the party’s hold on the Legislature.

Business also takes sides. The California Chamber of Commerce and powerful business groups often support moderate candidates in Democrat on Democrat battles. This year alone, Democrats are fighting each other for three seats in the Senate and eight in the Assembly.

Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California, said some candidates try to “cloak themselves in blue” in an election because they know it’s harder to win in the state as a Republican.

“The same corporations fueling an anti-worker, anti-immigrant, anti-woman MAGA agenda at the federal level wield their influence through corporate Democrats in the state legislature,” Orr said.

Democrats could be poised to grow their numbers in November.

McGuire in the Senate is defending Newman in Orange County, seeking to oust a Republican in Joshua Tree and pick up an open seat in the Santa Clarita Valley. The Assembly is defending at least two sitting Democrats from serious Republican challenges in the Central Valley and Santa Clarita and trying to take out three GOP incumbents in Palm Springs, the Sacramento suburbs and Orange County. Rivas is also battling to put a Democrat in an open seat in San Diego.

Despite the effort to increase their ranks, a review of bills passed in 2023 and 2024 show Democrats rarely exercise their voting powers.

Democrats passed bills that require support from two thirds of lawmakers without any Republican support to raise taxes on licensed firearms dealers and pesticide sales, increase a tax on managed-care organizations, cap business tax credits as well as limit deductions in a budget deficit and a handful of other policies. But the vast majority of the two-thirds bills are approved with the backing of GOP lawmakers.

The California Legislature also last overrode a gubernatorial veto in 1980.

For a leader, former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) said the motivation to increase the size of a caucus is often boiled down to a simple desire to win. Even if it causes headaches.

Electoral outcomes are a sign of a leader’s power.

“There’s an element of tribalism in it, in elections anyway,” Rendon said. “It’s just on a very basic level: My guy versus your guy.”