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.[5] Some municipalities, such as San Francisco and Berkeley, have opted to use instant-runoff voting for local elections.[6]
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.
Many of California's governmental agencies, institutions, and programs have been established in the Constitution of California. Additionally, the state constitution establishes mandatory funding levels for some agencies, programs and institutions. This issue came to the forefront when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Legislature attempted to cut spending to close the state's multibillion-dollar budget deficits during the 2000s. Consequently, affected agencies with support from special interest groups, successfully pressed the California Supreme Court to order the restoration of funding to a number of agencies and programs which had been cut.
There have been several events, many[9] dubbed "constitutional crises" by their opponents, over the last thirty-two years including:
the passage of term limits for the California legislature and elected constitutional officers, which was hotly argued statewide, and debated in the Supreme Court of California;[10]
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;[11]
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 (plus a modest 2% maximum annual inflator);[12]
a failure to pass a budget until almost three months after the constitutional deadline (2008).[14]
Water and water rights have been notable issues due to California's limited water supply. Various parts of the state have vied for water rights. In the California Water Wars, the city of Los Angeles conflicted with farmers from Eastern California over water rights. Most water is in the north of the State, while agriculture, the largest user of stored water in California, is most prevalent in the central and southern areas. There have been various proposals to transport additional water to the south, such as the Peripheral Canal, but these proposals have failed.
Since it is the most populous state, California has the largest Congressional delegation of any state, with 52 representatives and two senators. In the 118th Congress, 40 of California's seats are held by Democrats and 12 are held by Republicans. There are as follows:
California is currently represented by Democratic senator Alex Padilla, serving since 2021, and Laphonza Butler, serving since 2023 following the death of Dianne Feinstein.
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