California Can Finally Have Nice Things

Now that the legislature has progressive supermajorities, California can finally have nice things:

None of this legislation would have been politically possible in prior years. “Dems had a very slim assembly supermajority before, but 2018 victories significantly expanded it, giving us more breathing room,” says David Atkins, Region 10 Director of the California Democratic Party.

He cites a combination of factors in this shift. First, Republican incumbents lost to Democratic challengers in places like SD 14, which is centered in Fresno and Bakersfield, and AD 38 in the hilly suburbs above Los Angeles. Some of this reflects changes in voting patterns. Orange County, the historic GOP bastion where Ronald Reagan’s political career began, now has more registered Democrats than Republicans.