2020 California Elections
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The California state elections in 2020 were held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Unlike previous election cycles, the primary elections were held on
Super Tuesday Super Tuesday is the United States presidential primary election day in February or March when the greatest number of U.S. states hold primary elections and caucuses. Approximately one-third of all delegates to the presidential nominatin ...
, March 3, 2020. In addition to the U.S. presidential race, California voters elected all of California's seats to the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
, all of the seats of the State Assembly, and all odd-numbered seats of the
State Senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...
. Neither of the state's two
U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...
seats were up for election in 2020. Pursuant to Proposition 14 passed in 2010, California uses a
nonpartisan blanket primary A nonpartisan primary, top-two primary, or jungle primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of political party. This distinguishes them from partisan primaries, w ...
for almost all races, with the presidential primary races being the notable exception. Under the nonpartisan blanket primary system, all the candidates for the same elected office, regardless of respective political party, run against each other at once during the primary. The candidates receiving the most and second-most votes in the primary election then become the contestants in the general election.


President of the United States

California, a stronghold for the Democratic Party, has 55 electoral votes in the
Electoral College An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...
.
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
won with 63% of the popular vote. On December 14, 2020, California cast its electoral votes for Joe Biden.


United States House of Representatives

There are 53 U.S. Representatives in California that were all up for election. The Democratic Party won 42 seats while the Republican Party won 11 seats. Three districts were gained by the Republican Party: the 21st, 39th, and 48th.


State senate

The 20 California State Senators in the odd-numbered districts were up for election. Out of the contested seats, Democrats won 17 and Republicans won 3. The resulting composition was 31 Democrats and 9 Republicans. Two districts were gained by the Democratic Party: the 29th and 37th.


State Assembly

All 80 representatives in the California State Assembly were up for election. The resulting composition was 60 Democrats, 19 Republicans, and one
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
. The Republican Party gained the 38th district.


Propositions

Since the passage of a November 2011 law, only propositions placed on the ballot by the state legislature may appear on the primary ballot, and all qualifying measures placed via petition are automatically moved to the general election ballot.


Primary election

*
Proposition 13 Proposition 13 (officially named the People's Initiative to Limit Property Taxation) is an amendment of the Constitution of California enacted during 1978, by means of the initiative process, to cap property taxes and limit property reassessmen ...
: Public Preschool, K-12, and College Health and Safety Bond Act of 2020 (Assembly Bill 48) - Failed : Prop 13 was a $15 billion bond measure to fund seismic retrofitting and other capital improvements on various California public preschool, K-12, and college campuses. Supporters argued that these improvements would make public schools safer and healthier. Opponents said that the actual total cost of the bonds plus interest would exceed $27 billion, more expensive than using funds directly from the regular state budget. It failed by a margin of 6 percentage points.


General election

* Proposition 14 ** ''Stem Cell Research, Treatments, and Cures Initiative''. Initiative Statute. This will authorize $5.5 billion in bonds to help fund various grants issued by the
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is a state agency that supports research and education in the fields of stem cell and gene therapies. It was created in 2004 after 59% of California voters approved California Proposition ...
, specifically for stem cell and other medical research, medical training, and the construction of new research facilities. It passed by a small margin of 2 percentage points. * Proposition 15 **''Schools and Local Communities Funding Act''. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. This will increases funding for K-12 public schools, community colleges, and local governments by amending portions of 1978's Proposition 13, requiring commercial and industrial properties to be taxed based on current market value instead of their purchase price. Exempts those owners with a combined value of $3 million or less, small businesses from personal property taxes, and $500,000 worth of personal property of non-small businesses. This initiative failed by a margin of four percentage points. * Proposition 16 ** '' Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5''. This mandatory proposition, placed by the state legislature and the governor, will repeal 1996's Proposition 209. Proposition 209 prohibits the state from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race,
sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...
,
color Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...
,
ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...
, or
national origin National origin is the nation where a person was born, or where that person's ancestors came from. It also includes the diaspora of multi-ethnic states and societies that have a shared sense of common identity identical to that of a nation whil ...
in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. This initiative was rejected by a margin of 14 percentage points. * Proposition 17 ** ''Assembly Constitutional Amendment 6''. This mandatory proposition, placed by the state legislature and the governor, will amend the state constitution to allow people with felonies who are on parole to vote. This margin passed by a margin of 17 percentage points. * Proposition 18 ** ''Assembly Constitutional Amendment 4''. This mandatory proposition, placed by the state legislature and the governor, will amend the state constitution to allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary and special elections if they will turn 18 by the subsequent general election. This initiative failed by a margin of 12 percentage points. * Proposition 19 ** ''Assembly Constitutional Amendment 11''. This mandatory proposition, placed by the state legislature and the governor, will amend the state constitution, specifically portions of 1978's Proposition 13 by allowing homeowners who are over 55 years old or severely disabled to transfer their property tax base from their old home to their new one, regardless of the new residence's property value or location. The property tax base can be transferred up to three times instead of one. The proposition will require that inherited homes that are not used as principal residences be reassessed at market value when transferred. Revenue generated from these provisions will be allocated to wildfire agencies and counties. It passed by a margin of 2 percentage points. * Proposition 20 ** ''Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act''. Initiative Statute. This proposition will, among others, expand the list of crimes that do not allow early parole, recategorizes particular misdemeanor crimes as instead ones that are chargeable as either misdemeanors or felonies, and require the collection DNA samples from anybody convicted of particular misdemeanors. California voters decisively rejected this initiative by a margin of 23 percentage points. * Proposition 21 ** ''Rent Affordability''. Initiative Statute. Would allow local governments to establish rent control on residential properties that have been occupied for over 15 years. Would also allow landlords who own no more than two homes to exempt themselves from these new policies. This would essentially repeal some of the provisions in the 1995 Costa–Hawkins Rental Housing Act. California voters rejected this initiative by a margin of 20 percentage points. * Proposition 22 ** ''Protect-App-Based Drivers and Services Act''. Initiative Statute. This proposition will define all app-based transportation (rideshare) and delivery drivers as ''independent contractors'' for the purposes of labor and wage laws. This would override 2019's Assembly Bill 5, which implemented a three-part test to determine whether such a driver should be classified as an independent contractor or an employee. This measure passed by a margin of 17 percentage points. * Proposition 23 ** ''Protect the Lives of Dialysis Patients Act''. Initiative Statute. This proposition will require chronic dialysis clinics to have at least one on-site licensed physician while patients are being treated, report dialysis-related infection data to both the state health department and the federal
CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and is headquartered in Atlanta, ...
, gain approval from the state health department before closing a clinic, and to not discriminate against patients based on their source of payment for care, among others. California voters decisively rejected this initiative by 27 percentage points. * Proposition 24 ** ''Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act''. Initiative Statute. This propositions will expand provisions first implemented by the
California Consumer Privacy Act The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a state statute intended to enhance privacy rights and consumer protection for residents of the state of California in the United States. The bill was passed by the California State Legislature and si ...
. Among other additions, the proposition will allow customers to direct businesses from sharing their personal information and to make corrections to inaccurate personal information without any penalty. In addition, businesses will need to obtain permission before collecting data from consumers younger than 16, or permission from a parent or guardian before collecting data from consumers younger than 13. It will also establish a new state department called the California Privacy Protection Agency to enforce the consumer privacy laws. This measure was approved by a margin of 12 percentage points. * Proposition 25 ** ''Referendum to Overturn a 2018 Law That Replaced Money Bail System with A System Based on Public Safety Risk''. A referendum (placed on the ballot via petition) on Senate Bill 10 passed by the state legislature in 2018 that replaces the state's current cash bail system with a risk assessment-based bail system. A majority of Californians voted no on this measure, which means that the previous system of cash bail will remain in place. It failed by a margin of 13 percentage points.


References


Further reading

*


External links

* Statewide Election Results from the California Secretary of State's Elections Division *
2020 Primary Election
*
2020 General Election
{{California elections
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...