Monique Limón
Monique Limón (Democratic Party) is a member of the California State Senate, representing District 21. She assumed office on December 2, 2024. Her current term ends on December 4, 2028.
Limón became California Senate president pro tempore on Nov. 17, 2025.[1] She was the first Latina elected as president pro tempore.[1] According to Noozhawk, "Limón, as Senate president, along with the Assembly speaker and the governor largely shape the state budget, and also hold considerable sway over committee assignments and the flow of legislation in the Senate."[2]
Limón was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California.[3] She received a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree from Columbia University.[3] After Limón completed her education, she worked for 14 years in higher education at UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara City College.[4]
According to Limón, her work in higher education inspired her to pursue elected office: “When you work with students and families, you quickly learn that so much of what happens outside of the classroom has an impact in the classroom. That exposed me to broader policies and created an interest in how else I could help students reach their academic goals.”[5] In 2010, Limón was elected at large to serve on the Santa Barbara Unified School District Board of Education.[6] She won re-election in 2014 after running unopposed.
In 2016, Limón was elected to represent District 37 in the California Assembly after running without major party opposition. She won re-election in the district by 60 percentage points in 2018. In 2020, Limón was elected to represent District 19 in the state Senate, defeating Gary Michaels (R) 64.5% to 35.5%. She won re-election in District 21 by 26 percentage points in 2024. According to Spectrum News 1, Limón’s work in the California Legislature has focused on “pay transparency legislation, consumer protections, and efforts to regulate the oil industry.”[7]
On June 9, 2025, the state Senate’s Democratic caucus voted unanimously to elect Limón as president pro tempore.[8] On her priorities as president pro tempore, Limón said, “Looking to the future, we must work to address critical issues impacting our state — from mitigating the impacts of severe weather and protecting our environment, to maintaining access to health care, to supporting the needs of our working families, children and underserved communities.”[2]
Biography
Monique Limón lives in Goleta, California. Limón earned a degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a master's degree from Columbia University. Her career experience includes working as a college advisor with Santa Barbara City College and the University of California at Santa Barbara. Limón served on the board of the Santa Barbara Unified School District and as an assistant director of the McNair Scholars Program at the University of California at Santa Barbara.[9]
Committee assignments
2025-2026
Limón was assigned to the following committees:
- Climate Change Policies Committee
- Banking and Financial Institutions Committee
- Senate Human Services Committee
- Senate Transportation Committee
- Senate Health Committee
- Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee
- Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee
- Natural Resources and Water Committee, Chair
- Emergency Management Committee
- Rules Committee
2023-2024
Limón was assigned to the following committees:
- Banking and Financial Institutions Committee, Chair
- Senate Health Committee
- Natural Resources and Water Committee
- Senate Transportation Committee
- Fisheries and Aquaculture Committee
- Rules Committee
- Emergency Management Committee
2021-2022
Limón was assigned to the following committees:
- Natural Resources and Water Committee
- Emergency Management Committee
- Banking and Financial Institutions Committee, Chair
- Senate Health Committee
2019-2020
Limón was assigned to the following committees:
- Fisheries and Aquaculture Committee
- Budget Committee
- Natural Resources Committee
- Housing and Community Development Committee
- Banking and Finance Committee, Chair
- Health Committee
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| California committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Banking and Finance |
| • Budget |
| • Health |
| • Housing and Community Development |
| • Natural Resources |
| • Fisheries and Aquaculture |
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: California State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for California State Senate District 21
Incumbent Monique Limón defeated Elijah Mack in the general election for California State Senate District 21 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Monique Limón (D) | 63.3 | 260,656 |
Elijah Mack (R)  | 36.7 | 151,365 | ||
| Total votes: 412,021 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for California State Senate District 21
Incumbent Monique Limón and Elijah Mack advanced from the primary for California State Senate District 21 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Monique Limón (D) | 61.9 | 127,979 |
| ✔ | Elijah Mack (R) | 38.1 | 78,816 | |
| Total votes: 206,795 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Limón in this election.
2020
See also: California State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for California State Senate District 19
Monique Limón defeated Gary Michaels in the general election for California State Senate District 19 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Monique Limón (D) | 64.5 | 272,442 |
 | Gary Michaels (R) | 35.5 | 150,089 | |
| Total votes: 422,531 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for California State Senate District 19
Monique Limón and Gary Michaels defeated Anastasia Stone in the primary for California State Senate District 19 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Monique Limón (D) | 61.1 | 152,745 |
| ✔ | | Gary Michaels (R) | 33.0 | 82,466 |
| Anastasia Stone (Unaffiliated) | 5.9 | 14,734 | ||
| Total votes: 249,945 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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2018
General election
General election for California State Assembly District 37
Incumbent Monique Limón defeated David Norrdin in the general election for California State Assembly District 37 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Monique Limón (D) | 80.4 | 129,535 |
| David Norrdin (D) | 19.6 | 31,522 | ||
| Total votes: 161,057 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for California State Assembly District 37
Incumbent Monique Limón and David Norrdin defeated Sofia Collin in the primary for California State Assembly District 37 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Monique Limón (D) | 84.3 | 69,382 |
| ✔ | David Norrdin (D) | 9.1 | 7,487 | |
| Sofia Collin (D) | 6.6 | 5,409 | ||
| Total votes: 82,278 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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2016
Elections for the California State Assembly took place in 2016. The primary election was held on June 7, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was February 25, 2016, for candidates filing with signatures. The deadline for candidates using a filing fee to qualify was March 11, 2016.[10] Incumbent Das Williams (D) did not seek re-election.
S. Monique Limon defeated Edward Fuller in the California State Assembly District 37 general election.[11][12]
| California State Assembly, District 37 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  S. Monique Limon |
64.08% | 128,344 | |
| Independent | Edward Fuller | 35.92% | 71,944 | |
| Total Votes | 200,288 | |||
| Source: California Secretary of State | ||||
S. Monique Limon and Edward Fuller were unopposed in the California State Assembly District 37 Blanket primary.[13][14]
| California State Assembly, District 37 Blanket Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Democratic | S. Monique Limon | |
| Independent | Edward Fuller | |
2014
The election in Santa Barbara Unified featured two seats up for general election on November 4, 2014. There was no primary election.
Two at-large incumbents, Kate Parker and S. Monique Limón, ran unopposed and won re-election.
Results
This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. At-large incumbents Kate Parker and S. Monique Limón won re-election by default.[15]
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Monique Limón did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Monique Limón did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of California scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
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In 2024, the California State Legislature was in session from January 3 to August 31. A special session in the Assembly was from August 31, 2024 to October 14, 2024 and another special session started on December 2, 2024.
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2023
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In 2023, the California State Legislature was in session from January 1 to September 14.
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2022
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In 2022, the California State Legislature was in session from January 3 to August 31.
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2021
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In 2021, the California State Legislature was in session from December 7 to September 10.
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2020
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In 2020, the California State Legislature was in session from January 6 to August 31.
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2019
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In 2019, the California State Legislature was in session from January 7 through September 13.
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2018
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In 2018, the California State Legislature was in session from January 3, 2018 through August 31, 2018.
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2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the California State Legislature was in session from December 5, 2016 through September 15, 2017.
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2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
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In 2016, the California State Legislature was in session from January 4 through August 31. The formal session ended on August 31, but constitutionally the session adjourned sine die on November 30.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate California State Senate District 21 |
Officeholder California State Senate District 21 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Santa Barbara Independent, "Santa Barbara’s Monique Limón Officially Becomes First Latina Madame Prez of California’s State Senate," November 19, 2025
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Noozhawk, "Santa Barbara’s Monique Limón to Lead State Senate Starting in 2026," June 9, 2025
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Monique Limón 2024 Campaign Website, "Home," accessed December 30, 2025
- ↑ Monique Limón Official Website, "Biography," accessed December 30, 2025
- ↑ Governing, "California’s Next Senate Leader Faces a Challenging Budget Season," August 4, 2025
- ↑ The Santa Barbara Independent, "Santa Barbara Votes 2010," November 2, 2010
- ↑ Spectrum News 1, "In Focus SoCal: 1-on-1 with state Sen. Monique Limón," August 25, 2025
- ↑ KCRA 3, "California Senate Democrats vote for Monique Limón to be their next leader," June 9, 2025
- ↑ Senator Monique Limón, "Biography," accessed December 27, 2020
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Key Dates and Deadlines," accessed April 18, 2017
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Certified List of Candidates for the November 8, 2016, General Election," accessed September 7, 2016
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "2016 General Election results," accessed December 23, 2016
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Certified List of Candidates for Voter-Nominated Offices," accessed April 4, 2016
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Statement of Vote," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ California Election Code, "Section 10229," accessed October 13, 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Scott Wilk (R) |
California State Senate District 21 2024-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by Hannah-Beth Jackson (D) |
California State Senate District 19 2020-2024 |
Succeeded by Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R) |
| Preceded by - |
California State Assembly District 37 2016-2020 |
Succeeded by Steve Bennett (D) |
| Preceded by - |
Santa Barbara Unified Board of Education At-large |
Succeeded by - |
