Why California?
Progressive Californians anxious to speed up our collective progress as a nation often look outside our state to get active.
While real gains can be made from investment in swing states, too much is at stake when it comes to California to turn away from our own backyard.
The nation looks to the Golden State to set the Gold Standard for bold, inclusive leadership and groundbreaking progressive policy solutions. That’s the political future we’re about building at Close the Gap California.
But today, we’re falling short of our potential on both fronts.
Our state lags behind its western neighbors on gender parity, and over 40 million Californians pay the price. Less than a decade ago, not even a quarter of our legislators were women. Following the 2022 election cycle, now 50 of California’s 120 legislators are female, and 32/120 are women of color. Even with this impressive increase, California still only ranks 11th in the nation, below all of these states:
- Nevada
- Colorado
- Arizona
- Washington
- Vermont
- New Mexico
- Rhode Island
- Maine
- Oregon
- Maryland
So while California has a Democratic supermajority on paper, we don’t have a supermajority that truly reflects its people or that we can count on to consistently prioritize the needs of our most challenged communities. Trailblazing progressive policies — often authored by women — all too often fall short of the votes they need to change lives and set a national example for governance in the post-Trump era.
At Close the Gap California, we are grounded in the conviction that recruiting talented progressive women with authentic ties to our very own communities can reshape our collective political future. This conviction is rooted in two core truths:
1. California’s MASSIVE SCALE presents equally massive OPPORTUNITY and CHALLENGE — let’s rise to them both.
California’s economy is the fourth largest in the world and our population makes up one-tenth of the country. The majority of those experiencing poverty in our state are women and children, disproportionately in communities of color.
Research confirms that the presence of more women in a governing body leads to more comprehensive policies that notably address the needs of women, children, and low-income communities. And, as in every state, our State Legislature is the venue where the lion’s share of priorities and investment that impacts these communities most are set.
What’s more, as just one of 15 states in the nation to have term limits in place, California produces open legislative seats at predictable intervals. Term limits give us the ability to efficiently target the seats women have the best chance of winning, far in advance. And more than 90 of California’s 120 legislative seats will come open between 2022 and 2028, clearing the way for new challengers.
This is an opportunity
if we can flood the Legislature with progressive women who will amplify our state’s record of enacting innovative policy solutions on behalf of the most vulnerable.
Future CTG Recruits hold tremendous promise to improve a vast number of lives and indeed a significant subsection of the nation’s.
But opportunity is lost when the sheer scale of California’s numbers acts as a barrier to new, reflective leadership at the state level.
This is the challenge
With California’s massive population of 40 million people, the cost and voter universe of a campaign for our state house can be larger than a congressional run in other states. Running a state legislative campaign in California is complex and expensive enough to warrant a specialized “advance team” like Close the Gap to recruit and develop promising women candidates, but it’s not often a high-profile enough venue to attract the resources that many congressional campaigns can access.
In 2020, only 38% of candidates for State Legislature in California were women, and that was a record high.
Despite facing numerous disadvantages as candidates, women — including women of color — win just as often as their white male counterparts when they run.
But women need to be asked to run in districts they can win, and guided early on how, where, and when to compete at this scale. CTG’s recruiting strategy focuses women on this specific opportunity for leadership and gives them the tools they need to rise to it.
2. As CALIFORNIA goes, so goes the NATION- look to women to smash business as usual and raise the bar.
National policy solutions are often first developed and refined at the state level. And that’s particularly true in California, where we reliably influence the national stage. Or as USC Professor Manuel Pastor puts it, “California is America, fast forward.”
California has a long history of advancing groundbreaking legislation when it comes to climate justice, immigration policy, breast cancer research, protection for access and rights to reproductive health care, aging with dignity, equal pay, family leave, and more. Many of California’s policies have gone on to serve as national models, and they have often been authored by women.
California women who hone their craft at the state level also have a track record of ascending to positions of national leadership. 20 out of all 49 California Congresswomen who have ever served, first served in the Legislature (including Karen Bass, Jackie Speier, Barbara Lee and Sydney Kamlager).
CTG Recruits are positioned to lead on issues of equity in California, and to set the national bar for progressive policy.
When you consider the little-known fact that California nearly triples the national average for percentage of women of color serving in its state house, we hope you conclude that we need to keep identifying and developing the next generations, as a matter of national importance.
With women of color totaling just 7.5 percent of all state legislators across the country, California is a vital pipeline for women leaders of color.
As the nation continues to look to California as a beacon of inclusive leadership and groundbreaking policy solutions, let’s give it to them by investing in our own backyard.
That’s what we’re doing every day at Close the Gap.
And with 90+ legislative seats opening in our state between 2022 and 2028 due to our term limits law, California has a truly golden opportunity NOW to transform our own leadership and future generations’, all the way to the White House.
Interested in why we focus entirely on the State Legislature?
Close the Gap California is committed to building on progressive women’s historic momentum by recruiting them statewide and achieving gender parity in California by 2028. Join us!
About Close the Gap California
Close the Gap California (CTG) is a statewide campaign to close the gender gap in the California Legislature by 2028. By recruiting accomplished, progressive women in targeted districts and preparing them to launch competitive campaigns, CTG has been changing the face of the Legislature one cycle at a time since launch in 2013.
Twenty CTG Recruits (14 of them women of color) are serving in Sacramento today. CTG Recruits are committed to reproductive freedom, public education funding, and combating poverty.
