California at an inflection point: White House or rebuilding period

CHICAGO — As Vice President Kamala Harris officially accepts the Democratic nomination this week in Chicago, her home state of California is at an inflection point.

In Congress, generational turnover has stripped the state of decades of seniority just as the executive branch could either get a hometown champion — or an antagonistic president who could cause disproportionate harm to deep-blue California.

If Harris loses, the state will face a power vacuum unlike anything it’s seen in recent memory, whereas a victory would give California unprecedented influence. As the first Democrat from her state to claim the White House — only Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon have done it as Republicans — Harris would be signing off on policy issues central to the state’s lifeblood: housing, water, wildfires and artificial intelligence.

“I see a President Harris addressing these issues with the right kind of touch,” said Rep. Mark Takano , a Democrat from Southern California.

Sen. Alex Padilla said a Harris loss could pose “huge risks” to the state. He rattled off a litany of areas where California is uniquely vulnerable to a second Trump term, from immigration to climate change. If she wins, “We will have somebody in the Oval Office who actually understands California,” Padilla said in an interview this week at the Democratic National Convention. “Not just California’s issues, but California’s leadership.”

California’s seniority in Washington has been slowly eroding over the last decade as the state’s political class began its succession process — and has only accelerated with the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein last September, the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last October and the exit of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi from leadership last year.

Former California Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, said that during his tenure he leaned heavily on the state’s congressional stalwarts like Pelosi, Feinstein and former Rep. Howard Berman to make sure his asks to Washington were answered. By the end of Davis’ tenure in 2003, that particular congressional trio had a combined 47 years of Hill experience.

Now — aside from Pelosi’s continued presence on the Hill — California’s leading representatives have far less experience and accumulated seniority. Many current veterans holding seats on key committees — including Reps. Grace Napolitano , Tony Cardenas , Anna Eshoo and Barbara Lee — will be gone before inauguration day.

“What we’re trying to do is mentor the newbies,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren , the elected chair of the delegation who’s been in office for 30 years. “There’s a lot of experience in the delegation. We want to be able to transfer our knowledge to the newcomers, to the benefit of the state, and that’s intentional and active and ongoing.”

Golden State Democrats are quick to hype their remaining Californians in leadership ranks, particularly Reps. Pete Aguilar and Ted Lieu . Aguilar is the House Caucus chair — the third-ranking leadership post — who has put particular focus on winning back the majority via competitive races in California. Lieu serves as vice-chair of the caucus and is a standby on cable TV and social media for his jibes at the GOP.

But they were both elected in 2015. Padilla, the state’s senior senator, was appointed in 2021 and elected to his first full term last cycle. Rep. Adam Schiff , who is poised to become California’s junior senator, has more than two decades in the House under his belt, but would start anew in the seniority rankings should he win in November.

Davis said he was confident the younger crop of Californians would be able to deliver for the state — not least because “they have a very good mentor in Nancy Pelosi.”

“Nancy’s still in the House, and we wanted her still in the House,” he said. “There’s enough sharing of information with the people now in power and the people about to be in power. I have no doubt that California and America will be well-served.”

Harris herself was never — until recently — a favorite daughter of California, moving so swiftly through the ranks of state politics that neither older nor newer generations got to know her well. She spent less than four years in the Senate, with half of that time occupied by her 2019 presidential primary run and the 2020 veepstakes that landed her on the ticket with President Joe Biden. By comparison her predecessor, Barbara Boxer, held the seat for a quarter century.

During her time in California, including as attorney general, Harris’ brand of cautious pragmatism and her prosecutorial pedigree didn’t endear her to the state’s ascendant progressives.

But officials and voters have warmed to her since Harris assumed the leadership mantle from Biden, with her numbers in California rising. She garnered a 58 percent approval rating in a Berkeley/IGS poll earlier this month, well ahead of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 48 percent and much improved from a low of 35 percent in 2022.

While her time in Congress was brief, the former California senator still has ties to the delegation: California Democrats say she was a regular attendee of their weekly meetings, compared to Feinstein, who rarely attended. As vice president she cast a record number of tie-breaking votes in the Senate. Delegation members said Harris was supposed to have them over to her Washington residence before the House canceled votes a week early for August recess.

“Dianne, there was sort of a more of a distance and she was kind of up on a pedestal,” Takano said. “Sen. Harris was more approachable and she interacted with us more.”

Harris acknowledges the California Democratic roster is shifting. She reflected on Pelosi’s legacy at a recent fundraiser in San Francisco, a homecoming event attended by a who’s who of dignitaries including Newsom.

“There is so much about the future of our country that has relied on leaders like Nancy Pelosi that have the grit, the determination, the brilliance to know what’s possible and to make it so,” Harris said at the event, noting Pelosi’s singular role in muscling through the Affordable Care Act under President Barack Obama.

Harris also recognized several members of the next generation: Newsom, whose own term as governor is up in early 2027, as well as San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who once interned for her attorney general campaign; Rep. Jared Huffman ; and “soon-to-be Congress member” Lateefah Simon, a former mentee of Harris who is running to succeed Lee in Oakland.

And California Democrats acknowledge they still need to develop their junior ranks as the new delegation shapes up — especially if the state has one of their own in the White House.

The state’s national leaders say they’re not banking on California being a top priority of a Harris administration, even if she is elected this fall — and they’re aware of the need to continue developing more power centers beyond Pelosi. Sen. Laphonza Butler , who is a close friend and was a supporter of Harris during her 2020 run, repeated that Harris would be the president of the United States — not California.

Still, when Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass considered the implications of a Harris win — or loss — her thoughts immediately turned closer to home.

Harris is “absolutely the best chance” for the state to keep its clout in Washington, Bass said, not to mention the stakes for Los Angeles itself. “We’re facing crazy climate events that we never anticipated before in Los Angeles. Knowing that there will be an administration that understands the significance of that [and] all of the transportation issues that we have coming up for the Olympics...”

She cut herself off to put it more bluntly: “I’ll tell you this way — the alternative is unthinkable.”