Monique Limón

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Monique Limón
Democratic Party
California State Senate District 21
Tenure
2024 - Present
Term ends
2028
Years in position
1
Predecessor: Scott Wilk (R)
Prior offices:
Santa Barbara Unified Board of Education At-large
California State Senate District 19
Years in office: 2020 - 2024
Predecessor: Hannah-Beth Jackson (D)
Successor: Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R)
California State Assembly District 37
Years in office: 2016 - 2020
Successor: Steve Bennett (D)
Compensation
Base salary
$132,703/year
Per diem
$236/day
Elections and appointments
Last election
November 5, 2024
Education
Graduate
Columbia University
Personal
Profession
Academic Advisor
Contact
Official website
Official Facebook
Official X
Official Instagram
Campaign website
Campaign Facebook
Campaign X
Personal Facebook
Personal YouTube
Personal LinkedIn

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:

2023-2024

Limón was assigned to the following committees:

2021-2022

Limón was assigned to the following committees:

2019-2020

Limón was assigned to the following committees:

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

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
✔
Image of Monique Limón
Monique Limón (D)
 
63.3
 
260,656
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Elijah Mack (R) Candidate Connection
 
36.7
 
151,365

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 412,021
Candidate Connection = 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
✔
Image of Monique Limón
Monique Limón (D)
 
61.9
 
127,979
✔
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Elijah Mack (R) Candidate Connection
 
38.1
 
78,816

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 206,795
Candidate Connection = 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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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
✔
Image of Monique Limón
Monique Limón (D)
 
64.5
 
272,442
Image of Gary Michaels
Gary Michaels (R) Candidate Connection
 
35.5
 
150,089

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

Total votes: 422,531
Candidate Connection = 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
✔
Image of Monique Limón
Monique Limón (D)
 
61.1
 
152,745
✔
Image of Gary Michaels
Gary Michaels (R) Candidate Connection
 
33.0
 
82,466
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Anastasia Stone (Unaffiliated) Candidate Connection
 
5.9
 
14,734

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

Total votes: 249,945
Candidate Connection = 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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2018

See also: California State Assembly elections, 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
✔
Image of Monique Limón
Monique Limón (D)
 
80.4
 
129,535
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
David Norrdin (D)
 
19.6
 
31,522

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 161,057
Candidate Connection = 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.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

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
✔
Image of Monique Limón
Monique Limón (D)
 
84.3
 
69,382
✔
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
David Norrdin (D)
 
9.1
 
7,487
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Sofia Collin (D)
 
6.6
 
5,409

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.

Total votes: 82,278
Candidate Connection = 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.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2016

See also: California State Assembly elections, 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 Green check mark transparent.png 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 Green check mark transparent.png S. Monique Limon
    Independent Green check mark transparent.png Edward Fuller

2014

See also: Santa Barbara Unified School District elections (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.

Monique Limón campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024California State Senate District 21Won general$1,548,964 $1,277,287
2020California State Senate District 19Won general$975,051 N/A**
Grand total$2,524,015 $1,277,287
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Election Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards, State legislative scorecards in California

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 scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2025.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2024.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2023.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2022.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2021.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2020.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2019.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2018.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2017.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2016.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2015.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2014.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2013.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the California State Legislature in 2012.

See also

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External links

Candidate

California State Senate District 21
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    Officeholder

    California State Senate District 21
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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ 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. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Noozhawk, "Santa Barbara’s Monique Limón to Lead State Senate Starting in 2026," June 9, 2025
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Monique Limón 2024 Campaign Website, "Home," accessed December 30, 2025
    4. ↑ Monique Limón Official Website, "Biography," accessed December 30, 2025
    5. ↑ Governing, "California’s Next Senate Leader Faces a Challenging Budget Season," August 4, 2025
    6. ↑ The Santa Barbara Independent, "Santa Barbara Votes 2010," November 2, 2010
    7. ↑ Spectrum News 1, "In Focus SoCal: 1-on-1 with state Sen. Monique Limón," August 25, 2025
    8. ↑ KCRA 3, "California Senate Democrats vote for Monique Limón to be their next leader," June 9, 2025
    9. ↑ Senator Monique Limón, "Biography," accessed December 27, 2020
    10. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Key Dates and Deadlines," accessed April 18, 2017
    11. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Certified List of Candidates for the November 8, 2016, General Election," accessed September 7, 2016
    12. ↑ California Secretary of State, "2016 General Election results," accessed December 23, 2016
    13. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Certified List of Candidates for Voter-Nominated Offices," accessed April 4, 2016
    14. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Statement of Vote," accessed August 22, 2016
    15. ↑ 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
    -


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