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District Attorney election in San Francisco, California (2019)

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San Francisco elections, 2019
Mayor
District Attorney
Other races
District 5 seat of the board of supervisors, city attorney, public defender, sheriff, treasurer, and one community college district seat
General election: November 5, 2019
Last election: 2018
Next election: 2020

Chesa Boudin defeated Leif Dautch, Suzy Loftus, and Nancy Tung in the nonpartisan election for District Attorney of San Francisco on November 5, 2019. Boudin had 35.7% of the first-choice vote, followed by Loftus with 31.1%, Tung with 19.3%, and Dautch with 13.9%.[1]

Under San Francisco's system of ranked-choice voting, voters may select multiple candidates, ranking their preferences from among their selections. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the last-place candidate is eliminated and their voters' votes are allocated to their next preferred candidate. This process is repeated until one candidate has a majority. Dautch was eliminated in the first round, followed by Tung in the second round. Boudin won in the third round by a margin of 1.66 percentage points, or 2,825 votes.[2]

Incumbent George Gascón, who was first appointed to the office by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom (D) in 2011, declined to seek re-election, leaving the seat open for the first time since 1909.[3] The race attracted national attention, including endorsements from 2020 presidential candidates Bernie Sanders (I) and Kamala Harris (D), who was Gascón's predecessor in the office. Following Gascón's October 4, 2019, announcement that he would resign before the completion of his term, Mayor London Breed appointed Loftus to the office on an interim basis.[4]

Boudin, who had, at the time of the election, five years' experience in the city Public Defender's Office, said that his work as a public defender as well as his upbringing as a child of incarcerated parents would help him bring a focus on rehabilitation of criminals to the district attorney's office.[5] Boudin identified his top policy priority as eliminating the system of cash bail.[6] His endorsers included presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I), Our Revolution, and the city affiliate of the Green Party.

Dautch had, at the time of the election, served seven years as a state deputy attorney general and spent nearly two years as president of the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Commission.[7][6] Dautch said that his focus would be on addressing issues related to homelessness and mental health, including by converting the city's juvenile hall, which the Board of Supervisors voted to close earlier in 2019, into a mental health center.[5] Dautch's endorsers included California State Treasurer Fiona Ma (D) and the San Francisco Deputy Sheriff's Association.

Loftus, who was sworn in as interim district attorney on October 19, 2019, served four years as president of the San Francisco Police Commission and earlier headed the district attorney's policy arm under Kamala Harris (D).[8][9] Loftus said that her experience with law enforcement would help her discern which cases warranted prosecution and which warranted diversion into rehabilitation programs.[5] Among her endorsers were Mayor Breed, the city branch of the Democratic Party, Sens. Kamala Harris (D) and Dianne Feinstein (D), and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

Tung, a longtime prosecutor who worked in San Francisco before joining the Alameda County district attorney's office following disagreements with Gascón's priorities, said that she would focus on combating organized crime.[5] Among Tung's other policy priorities were combating hate crimes and increasing the amount of data made publicly available about the demographic makeup of victims of crime.[6] Tung's endorsers included Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley and the Asian American Action Fund.

Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung each completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection Survey. Click here to read their responses.

Although the election was officially nonpartisan, all four candidates were members of the Democratic Party.[5] The district attorney is San Francisco's top prosecutor, responsible for overseeing criminal prosecutions and proposing policy related to law enforcement. District attorneys are elected to four-year terms, and there are no term limits.[6] In San Francisco, ranked-choice voting is used in elections for district attorney.[10]

Click here for more on the mayoral election and here for more on other city elections.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for San Francisco District Attorney

The ranked-choice voting election was won by Chesa Boudin in round 3 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 193,196
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.


Campaign finance

The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the San Francisco Ethics Commission covering all funds raised and spent in 2019 through October 19. In addition to the above figures, three candidates reported entering 2019 with funds already in their campaign accounts:

  • Dautch had $99,614.94 as of January 1, 2019.
  • Loftus had $124,924,98 as of January 1, 2019.
  • Tung had $26,679.16 as of January 1, 2019.

Noteworthy endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

This section lists noteworthy endorsements issued in this election, including those made by high-profile individuals and organizations, cross-party endorsements, and endorsements made by newspaper editorial boards. It also includes a bulleted list of links to official lists of endorsements for any candidates who published that information on their campaign websites. Please note that this list is not exhaustive. If you are aware of endorsements that should be included, please click here.

Noteworthy District Attorney endorsements
Endorsement Boudin[11] Dautch[12] Loftus[13] Tung[14]
Newspapers and editorials
The Bay Area Reporter
✔
San Francisco Bay Guardian
✔
San Francisco Bay View
✔
San Francisco Chronicle
✔
Sing Tao Daily San Francisco
✔
Elected officials
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
✔
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.)
✔
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
✔
Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.)
✔
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.)
✔
Former Rep. John Burton (D-Calif.)
✔
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.)
✔
Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis (D-Calif.)
✔
Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib (D-Wash.)
✔
California State Treasurer Fiona Ma (D)
✔
California Controller Betty Yee (D)
✔
Former California State Assembly Speaker John Perez (D)
✔
San Francisco Mayor London Breed
✔
Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos (D)
✔
Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley
✔
Chicago District Attorney Kim Foxx (D)
✔
Philadelphia District Attorney Lawrence Krasner (D)
✔
Endorsement Boudin[11] Dautch[12] Loftus[13] Tung[14]
Individuals
Queens County, New York District Attorney candidate Tiffany Caban (D)
✔
San Francisco Democratic Party Chairman David Campos
✔
Former San Francisco Police Chief Tony Ribera
✔
Organizations
Asian American Action Fund—California
✔
Democratic Party of San Francisco
✔
EMILY's List
✔
Green Party of San Francisco
✔
Our Revolution
✔
Peace Officers Research Association of California
✔
Planned Parenthood Northern California Action Fund
✔
Progressive Democrats of America—California
✔
San Francisco Deputy Sheriff's Association
✔
San Francisco Sheriff’s Managers and Supervisors Association
✔
Teamsters Joint Council 7
✔
United Educators of San Francisco
✔

Campaign themes

Candidate Conversation

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Candidate survey

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Ballotpedia invites candidates to participate in its annual survey.
Click here to fill out the survey.

Chesa Boudin

Candidate Connection

Chesa Boudin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Boudin's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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I want to make San Francisco safer and more just for everyone and here are three ways I’m going to do it:

First, we need to break the cycle of recidivism and treat the causes of crime at the roots. Right now, more than 2/3 of people who are arrested and prosecuted come back into the system within a few years. 75 percent of people booked into county jail are a person suffering from serious drug addiction, mental illness or both. If we treat the root cause of crime and prioritize treatment over jail and conviction rates, we can actually prevent crime and make our city safer. This also includes offering more diversion opportunities to help people move forward with their lives rather than holding them back.

Second, we need to enforce the law equally. We must end the rampant racism that plague every step of the process today. We also cannot have small, privileged groups whether politicians, police officers, landlords, or corporations be above the law. All of us must follow the law and the consequences for failing to do so should be the same no matter the color of our skin, job title, or size of our wallet.

Third, we need to prioritize victim’s rights. That means promoting restorative justice opportunities as often as possible and ensuring that every victim of every crime in this city can participate in the process and have their voice heard.

These broader goals will be accomplished through a range of policies and initiatives including:
Establishing a Wrongful Convictions unit;
Ensuring that the attorneys and victims services staff are culturally and linguistically fluent in the languages and cultures of the communities we serve;
Creating an online dashboard with real time data about every aspect of case management and outcomes to increase transparency, accountability, and to improve policy making;
Focusing on reducing recidivism rates rather than increasing conviction rates;

Partnering with public health officials to treat every arrest as an opportunity to pair people with needed services.
When I was just fourteen months old, both of my biological parents were incarcerated for driving the getaway car in a robbery that tragically took the lives of three men. My mother spent twenty-two years in prison. My father may never get out. I know the destructive impacts of mass incarceration -- I had to go through a metal detector and steel gates just to touch my parents. Although I was lucky enough to end up in a stable, loving family, I watched other friends with incarcerated parents end up in prison themselves.

That’s why I’ve worked my entire life to reform the criminal justice system. In high school I spoke out in support of other children with incarcerated parents. In college at Yale I did research on racial bias and collateral consequences for immigrants in the prison system and studied abroad to learn Spanish. After a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford, I went to Yale Law school where I defended people against deportation and sued employers for wage theft and unlawful working conditions. After law school I clerked for two federal judges in California and then began working as a public defender in San Francisco to fight to end mass incarceration. As a public defender, I’ve handled hundreds of felony cases and tried dozens of cases to jury verdict. I’ve led the litigation effort to end money bail in California and helped launch the first-ever immigration unit at the Public Defender’s Office.

Throughout my life and legal career, I’ve consistently fought for underdogs. I’ve organized against war, advocated for social justice, and worked to end mass incarceration. I’m running for DA so I can continue my life’s work in pursuing equal justice for all.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Leif Dautch

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Leif Dautch completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Dautch's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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My top three issues are homelessness, police accountability, and car break-ins.

We have a humanitarian and public health crisis playing out on our streets, and I see it every day working in the Tenderloin. First, I will transform our nearly-empty Juvenile Hall into a Mental Health Justice Center for youth and adults battling mental illness on our streets. Second, I will prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place by prosecuting landlords who fraudulently evict tenants.

We also must hold police officers who engage in misconduct accountable. I vow to complete my investigation of any officer-involved shooting within 6 months and hold a town hall explaining my decision to charge, or not charge, the officer. Third, I will follow the lead of some jurisdictions around the country by exploring all possible charges, not just murder-or-nothing.

Finally, in 2017, there were 31,000 reported car break-ins in the city, but the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office only took one of those cases to trial in the entire year! I will launch an Auto Burglary Task Force, paid for through a DMV grant program, with multiple prosecutors and investigators building big cases against the organized rings committing these crimes.
I have been passionate about criminal justice my entire life, and it started with my mom. When I was growing up, my mom worked night shifts as a nurse at a juvenile detention facility along the central coast of California. She’d get home from work as my sister and I were getting ready for school and tell us about the kids she was working with.

My mom was so moved by those kids that she convinced us to become foster parents. We took in a dozen kids over the course of a decade, not all at once, eventually adopting two kids: my younger brother Ian, and my little sister Elissa. I saw firsthand the effects of trauma, of poverty, the cycles of crime, but I also saw amazing people like my mom working within the justice system to ensure that a one-time mistake did not turn into a life of crime.

It’s that childhood exposure to the justice system that set me on this path. A path that took me from a small organic farm in rural California to Yale, to Harvard Law, to clerking on the Ninth Circuit here in San Francisco, to working on President Obama’s campaign, to serving as the President of the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Commission, and for the past 7 years, working as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of California where I’ve prosecuted more than 400 criminal cases, from trials to arguing in the California Supreme Court, and help supervise a team of prosecutors.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Suzy Loftus

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Suzy Loftus completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Loftus' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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I have served in San Francisco law enforcement for over a decade as a prosecutor, police commissioner, and award-winning community and youth advocate. I'm a native of San Francisco and mother of three daughters; my passion for justice stems from my experience growing up in San Francisco raised by a single, immigrant mother.

I've served my hometown in a wide range of ways: as a prosecutor in San Francisco, working alongside then-District Attorney Kamala Harris; General Counsel at the California Department of Justice, again with Kamala Harris; as a non-profit executive serving the youth of Bayview-Hunters Point; as President of the San Francisco Police Commission; as Counsel for the San Francisco Sheriff's Department; and now as the Interim District Attorney of San Francisco.

I live with my husband, Tom Loftus, my mother Maureen Roche, and my three incredible daughters, in San Francisco's Outer Sunset neighborhood.
  • Everyone in San Francisco has the right to feel safe in their community, and I believe that we can maintain our progressive values while still holding people accountable and making San Francisco a safer place to live.
  • I'm going to get serious about dealing with the epidemic of car break-ins that have plagued this city.
  • We're going to tackle the homelessness crisis and the public safety problems that it brings by getting people with mental health issues off our streets and into care.
I am passionate about making sure that safety and justice are the guiding principles of San Francisco law enforcement. To this end, I think that involving local communities in our justice system should be an essential part of the law enforcement policy process. I am also interested in looking into ways that we can create "smart justice" by relying on more than just jails and prisons. Working collaboratively with other city leaders, I want the DA's office to encourage prison alternatives like mental health treatment and addiction treatment, as well as expanding diversion programs to prevent crime. Finally, I am deeply passionate about maintaining women's safety and ensuring that the backlog of rape kits is finally examined.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Nancy Tung

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Nancy Tung completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tung's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

For 18 years, Nancy Tung has been a prosecutor in San Francisco and Alameda Counties, and for the Attorney General of the State of California. She has handled thousands of cases in State and Federal courts, from domestic violence to public corruption to police misconduct. Nancy has the most courtroom experience of any candidate for District Attorney. She worked as a prosecutor in the San Francisco District Attorney's Office for over a decade, prosecuting domestic violence cases, protecting consumers, and upholding public integrity by prosecuting police misconduct, fraud, and embezzlement. She also mentored dozens of San Francisco prosecutors, and is a statewide leader on legal ethics and consumer protection issues. Today, Nancy leads statewide teams of attorneys in complex investigations and prosecutions, including whistleblower cases and large multi-national companies in technology, energy, and pharmaceutical sectors. Nance has lived in San Francisco for as long as she's been a public servant. As a San Francisco mother and a person deeply involved in our community, she know we can shape our criminal justice system to be fairer without sacrificing public safety. Nancy has always been a civic-minded person, and never seriously thought about running for public office until recently. 'Politics as usual' has done much to undermine people's trust in our government and to keep independent-minded candidates out of elected office. Nancy is running because we need an experienced, independent District Attorney to protect our community, rebuild relationships between the Office and law enforcement partners, and be unconditionally accountable to only the People of this City, not politicians and outside interest groups.
  • Prosecuting Street Crimes that Impact Everyone: San Francisco is failing to address a whole range of street level crimes, including property crimes, drug dealing, and car break ins on the mistaken theory that they are minor offenses. But ignoring these crimes means we can't step in to help the victims of these crimes or prevent them from happening again.
  • Intervening Early to Stop the Cycle of Crime: San Francisco is failing to intervene early to divert people out of the criminal justice system. The District Attorney regularly fails to prosecute property and drug crimes, not only diminishing our quality of life, but also missing an opportunity for positive intervention. We must prosecute these crimes through the lens of criminal justice reform, as an entry point for intervention and rehabilitation, to stop repeat offenses, and as a barrier against falling deeper into the criminal justice system.
  • Fixing the Broken District Attorney's Office: The District Attorney's Office is broken and public trust in the office has been diminished. The San Francisco District Attorney's Office has a proud history of recruiting and retaining a diverse staff. Yet in recent years, women, people of color, and other talented attorneys have left the Office. It is time for a renewed commitment to recruiting, training, and retaining professionals who reflect the diversity of San Francisco.
Our criminal justice system faces serious problems that we must confront and fix. We can see every day that what is happening on our streets and in the District Attorney's Office isn't working. My plan to fix our criminal justice system is a new vision to turn our progressive ideals into effective action.||I am committed to making our communities safer and making our criminal justice system fairer. My platform is grounded in safety, accountability, fairness, and justice. It is a roadmap to restore the public's trust. As your District Attorney, I will lead San Francisco into a new era of criminal justice reform that is effective, proactive, transparent, and represents our values.
After law school, Nancy Tung spent a year at a small private firm in L.A., but quickly realized public service was her true calling. In 2001, she moved to San Francisco to serve as a Deputy Attorney General and never looked back. As a prosecutor for the State of California, she protected the public in state and federal court. Her work from that time included partnering with local District Attorneys to return internationally kidnapped children to their families.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Debates and forums

October 28, 2019 debate

On October 28, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung participated in a debate hosted by Mission Local and the San Francisco Public Press. The four discussed Loftus' appointment as interim district attorney and officer-involved shootings.

  • Listen to a recording of the debate here.
  • Read the Mission Local roundup of the debate here.

October 25, 2019 candidate forum

On October 25, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, and Tung participated in a candidate forum at the Bayview Opera House hosted by Coleman Advocates.

  • Click here to submit a recording or media rundown of this forum.

October 7, 2019 debate

On October 7, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung participated in a debate at Mission High School. The four discussed Loftus' appointment as interim district attorney, officer-involved shootings, and immigration policy.

  • Read the Mission Local roundup of the debate here.

October 3, 2019 debate

On October 3, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung participated in a debate at Italian Community Services.

  • Click here to submit a recording or media rundown of this debate.

September 30, 2019 debate

On September 30, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung participated in a debate hosted by KQED. Listen to a recording of the debate here.

September 27, 2019 debate

On September 27, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung participated in a debate hosted by KRON4. The candidates discussed homelessness, drug use, and traffic deaths.

  • Read the KRON4 roundup of the debate here.

September 10, 2019 debate

On September 10, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung participated in a debate at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay. The candidates discussed hate crimes, homelessness, and violent crime.

  • View a full recording of the debate here.
  • Read The Jewish News of Northern California's rundown of the debate here.

September 9, 2019 debate

On September 9, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung participated in a debate hosted by the Bar Association of San Francisco and the University of San Francisco School of Law. View a full recording of the debate here.

August 27, 2019 debate

On August 27, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung participated in a debate hosted by the Potrero Hill Democratic Club.

  • Click here to submit a recording or media rundown of this debate.

August 22, 2019 debate

On August 22, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung participated in a debate hosted by the Reentry Council of the City and County of San Francisco.

  • Click here to submit a recording or media rundown of this debate.

August 7, 2019 debate

On August 7, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung participated in a debate hosted by Stop Crime SF. View a full recording of the debate here.

August 6, 2019 debate

On August 6, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung participated in a debate at the UC Hastings College of Law. The candidates discussed sentencing, violent crime, the decision to close the city's juvenile hall, and bail.

  • Read The Davis Vanguard's roundup of the debate here.
  • Read the Bay Area Reporter roundup of the debate here.
  • Read the San Francisco Examiner roundup of the debate here.

July 29, 2019 debate

On July 29, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung participated in a debate hosted by the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance. View a full recording of the debate here.

July 17, 2019 candidate forum

On July 17, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung participated in a candidate forum hosted by the Planning Association for the Richmond. They discussed topics including addiction, homelessness, and break-ins.

  • Read the Richmond Review rundown of the forum here.

May 15, 2019, candidate forum

On May 15, 2019, Boudin, Dautch, Loftus, and Tung participated in a candidate forum hosted by the San Francisco Latino Democratic Club. They discussed topics including bail, plans to close the city's juvenile hall, and responses to officer-involved shootings.

  • Read the Mission Local roundup of the forum here.
  • Read a New York Times article including coverage of the forum here.

Ranked-choice voting

See also: Ranked-choice voting

In San Francisco, ranked-choice voting is used in all elections for mayor, assessor-recorder, city attorney, district attorney, public defender, sheriff, treasurer, and the board of supervisors.[15] In a ranked-choice voting system, voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. If a candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated. First-choice votes cast for the failed candidate are eliminated, lifting the second-preference choices indicated on those ballots. A new tally is conducted to determine whether any candidate has won a majority of the adjusted votes. The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority. This system is sometimes referred to as an instant runoff voting system.[16][17]

About the city

See also: San Francisco, California

San Francisco is a city in California. It is consolidated with the County of San Francisco, which means that the city and county share a government and their boundaries are coterminous. As of 2010, its population was 805,235.

City government

See also: Mayor-council government

The city of San Francisco uses a strong mayor and city council system. In this form of municipal government, the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body and the mayor serves as the city's chief executive.[18]

Demographics

The following table displays demographic data provided by the United States Census Bureau.

Demographic Data for San Francisco, California
San Francisco California
Population 805,235 37,253,956
Land area (sq mi) 46 155,857
Race and ethnicity**
White 46.4% 59.7%
Black/African American 5.2% 5.8%
Asian 34.4% 14.5%
Native American 0.4% 0.8%
Pacific Islander 0.4% 0.4%
Other (single race) 7.7% 14%
Multiple 5.6% 4.9%
Hispanic/Latino 15.2% 39%
Education
High school graduation rate 88.5% 83.3%
College graduation rate 58.1% 33.9%
Income
Median household income $112,449 $75,235
Persons below poverty level 10.3% 13.4%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2010). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2014-2019).
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.


State profile

See also: California and California elections, 2019
USA California location map.svg

Partisan data

The information in this section was current as of May 7, 2019

Presidential voting pattern

Congressional delegation

State executives

  • Democrats held 11 and Republicans held one of California's 22 state executive offices. Elections for the other offices are nonpartisan.
  • California's governor was Democrat Gavin Newsom.

State legislature

California Party Control: 1992-2025
Twenty years with Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Governor R R R R R R R D D D D D R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
Senate D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
Assembly D D D S R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

California quick stats
  • Became a state in 1850
  • 31st state admitted to the United States
  • As of 2018, California was the most populous state in the country.
  • Members of the California State Senate: 40
  • Members of the California State Assembly: 80
  • U.S. senators: 2
  • U.S. representatives: 53
More California coverage on Ballotpedia:


Demographic data for California
 CaliforniaU.S.
Total population:38,993,940316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):155,7793,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:61.8%73.6%
Black/African American:5.9%12.6%
Asian:13.7%5.1%
Native American:0.7%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0.4%0.2%
Two or more:4.5%3%
Hispanic/Latino:38.4%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:81.8%86.7%
College graduation rate:31.4%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$61,818$53,889
Persons below poverty level:18.2%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in California.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

There are no Pivot Counties in California. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton (D) won California with 61.7 percent of the vote. Donald Trump (R) received 31.6 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, California voted Republican 53.33 percent of the time and Democratic 43.33 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, California voted Democratic all five times. In 2016, California had 55 electoral votes, which was the most of any state. The 55 electoral votes were 10.2 percent of all 538 available electoral votes and were 20.4 percent of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election.

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state Assembly districts in California. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.[19][20]

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 58 out of 80 state Assembly districts in California with an average margin of victory of 38.4 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 66 out of 80 state Assembly districts in California with an average margin of victory of 40.3 points. Clinton won 11 districts controlled by Republicans heading into the 2018 elections.
In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 22 out of 80 state Assembly districts in California with an average margin of victory of 12.2 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 14 out of 80 state Assembly districts in California with an average margin of victory of 13 points.


See also

San Francisco, California California Municipal government Other local coverage
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External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ San Francisco Department of Elections, "November 5, 2019 Election Results - Detailed Reports," accessed November 11, 2019
  2. ↑ San Francisco Department of Elections, "RCV Short Report," November 10, 2019
  3. ↑ San Francisco Chronicle, "Candidates jump into SF district attorney race early to get a head start," February 18, 2019
  4. ↑ ABC 7 News, "Suzy Loftus appointed interim San Francisco District Attorney," October 5, 2019
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 KQED, "SF District Attorney's Race Heats Up After Controversial Appointment by Mayor," October 8, 2019
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 SF Weekly, "Why Is the District Attorney’s Race So Important?" September 4, 2019
  7. ↑ LinkedIn, "Leif Dautch," accessed October 30, 2019
  8. ↑ SFist, "Suzy Loftus Sworn In As Interim San Francisco DA, Despite Backlash," October 20, 2019
  9. ↑ The Appeal, "Interim San Francisco D.A. Suzy Loftus Is Running for Office as a Reformer. But Critics Say She Didn't Do Enough to Reform the SFPD." October 4, 2019
  10. ↑ San Francisco Department of Elections, "Ranked-Choice Voting," accessed November 4, 2019
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chesa Boudin for District Attorney 2019, "Endorsements," accessed October 30, 2019
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Leif Dautch for San Francisco District Attorney, "Endorsements," accessed October 30, 2019
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Vote Suzy Loftus for San Francisco DA, "Endorsements," accessed October 30, 2019
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Nancy Tung for District Attorney 2019, "Endorsements," accessed October 30, 2019
  15. ↑ San Francisco Department of Elections, "Ranked-Choice Voting," accessed November 4, 2019
  16. ↑ FairVote, "Electoral Systems," accessed July 7, 2017
  17. ↑ MinneapolisMN.gov, "Frequently Asked Questions about Ranked-Choice Voting," accessed July 7, 2017
  18. ↑ City of San Francisco, "Government," accessed September 3, 2014
  19. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts," July 9, 2013
  20. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2016 presidential results for congressional and legislative districts," February 6, 2017
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