SACRAMENTO — California’s state Democrats are shaking up management, with the Senate Democratic Caucus pledging unanimous help to Sen. Monique Limón (D-Goleta), who will take over as Senate president professional tem in early 2026.
Limón, who was elected to the state Senate in 2020, is chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus and the Senate banking committee. The 45-year-old Central Coast native served within the Meeting for 4 years earlier than her Senate marketing campaign and labored in increased schooling at UC Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara County Faculty Board earlier than coming into politics.
She highlighted the significance of the second, noting that the caucus, amid ICE raids led by the Trump administration focusing on minorities in Los Angeles and throughout the state, elected her — the primary girl of coloration to carry the place.
The unsure instances, she mentioned, have been “a reminder of why management at the moment, tomorrow and sooner or later issues, as a result of management thinks about and influences the route in all moments, however, particularly, in these very difficult moments. And for me, it’s unbelievably humbling to be right here.”
Just lately, Limón has been vocal on the Sable Offshore Pipeline venture, which goals to restore and reopen a pipeline off the coast of Santa Barbara County that spilled 21,000 gallons of crude oil in 2015. This yr she wrote a measure, Senate Invoice 542, in response to the venture that might require extra neighborhood enter on reopening pipelines and higher security pointers to search out weak factors that would result in one other spill.
“Nobody has fought tougher to make faculty extra reasonably priced than Monique Limón,” mentioned present Senate President Professional Tem Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), who additionally applauded her work on wildfire restoration. “She is a tireless voice for the Central Coast in rural components of this nice state.”
McGuire took management of the Senate in a unanimous vote by Democrats with former speaker and gubernatorial candidate Toni Atkins’ blessing in February. He pledged to guard the state’s progressive beliefs forward of a problematic state funds that continued to bubble over, with the Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress supporting cuts in federal help to the state for heathcare for low-income Californians, schooling and analysis and different important packages.
The Sonoma County Democrat’s takeover was a part of a wider change — each legislative homes have been led by lawmakers from Northern California this yr, leaving Southern California legislators with restricted management. Limón’s district covers Santa Barbara County and components of Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties.
McGuire phrases out of workplace subsequent yr and could also be planning a run for insurance coverage commissioner in 2026 however wouldn’t verify his plans regardless of amassing greater than $220,000 in contributions to date this yr.
