Politics in the San Francisco Bay Area

Politics in the San Francisco Bay Area is widely regarded as one of the most liberal in the country. According to the California Secretary of State, the Democratic Party holds a voter registration advantage in every congressional district, State Senate district, State Assembly district, State Board of Equalization district, County Board of Supervisors district, all nine counties, and all of the 101 incorporated municipalities in the Bay Area. The Republican Party holds a voter registration advantage in one congressional sub-district (the portion of the 9th in Contra Costa County) and unincorporated Solano County.[1]

Since 1960, the nine-county Bay Area has voted for Republican presidential candidates only twice: in 1972 for Richard Nixon and in 1980 for Ronald Reagan, both Californians. The last county to vote for a Republican presidential candidate was Napa County in 1988 for George H. W. Bush.

County-level statistics

All nine counties in the Bay Area currently have a voter registration advantage in favor of the Democratic Party.

County
Population (2020)[2] 2016 election results[3] Median household income (2018)[4] Per capita income (2011)[5] Voter Registration (2013)[6]
Democratic Independent Republican
Alameda 1,666,793 78.7%–14.7% Clinton $92,574 $33,888 461,007 158,958 114,802
Contra Costa 1,150,215 68.6%–24.9% Clinton $93,712 $36,274 263,258 113,358 131,608
Marin 259,666 78.1%–15.5% Clinton $110,217 $49,439 83,853 35,251 28,116
Napa 139,417 63%–28.4% Clinton $84,753 $32,170 33,182 15,248 19,142
San Francisco 883,305 84.5%–9.3% Clinton $104,552 $44,905 276,855 154,691 42,922
San Mateo 769,545 75.7%–18.4% Clinton $113,776 $44,331 185,134 92,158 69,925
Santa Clara 1,937,570 72.7%–20.6% Clinton $116,178 $39,365 372,979 237,357 177,268
Solano 446,610 61.6%– 31.3% Clinton $77,609 $27,785 102,177 46,246 52,633
Sonoma 499,942 69.4%–22.2% Clinton $76,753 $30,868 134,896 55,666 56,428
Median — 73.6%–21.1% Clinton $96,265 $37,851 — — —
Total 7,753,063 — — — 1,913,341 908,933 692,844

Congressional districts

Every Congressional district in the Bay Area is currently represented by a Democrat. According to the Cook Partisan Voting Index (CPVI), congressional districts the Bay Area tends to favor Democratic candidates by roughly 40 to 50 percentage points, considerably above the mean for California and the nation overall. All congressional districts in the region voted for Democrat Barack Obama over Republican John McCain in the 2008 Presidential Election.

District Location Representative Cook PVI[9] 2012 election results[10] Median household income (2011)[11]
2nd Marin County and the North Coast Jared Huffman D+22 69.0%–27.0% Obama $80,051
3rd Fairfield, Vacaville, and the Sacramento Valley Kevin Kiley D+5 54.3%–43.1% Obama $73,191
5th Santa Rosa, Napa County, Vallejo, and Martinez Tom McClintock D+21 69.7%–27.4% Obama $85,856
9th Antioch and most of San Joaquin County Josh Harder D+8 57.8%–40.1% Obama $72,237
11th Most of Contra Costa County Nancy Pelosi D+21 67.5%–29.9% Obama $103,580
12th Most of San Francisco Barbara Lee D+37 84.0%–12.5% Obama $127,290
13th Berkeley, Oakland, and San Leandro John Duarte D+40 87.5%–9.0% Obama $91,514
14th Most of San Mateo County and southern San Francisco Eric Swalwell D+27 74.2%–23.6% Obama $125,980
15th Hayward, Union City, and the Tri-Valley Kevin Mullin D+20 68.0%–29.8% Obama $125,018
17th Fremont and northern Silicon Valley Ro Khanna D+25 71.9%–25.5% Obama $147,671
18th Menlo Park and western Silicon Valley Zoe Lofgren D+23 68.2%–28.9% Obama $149,375
19th San Jose and Morgan Hill Jimmy Panetta D+24 71.2%–26.5% Obama $107,240
Median — — D+19 69.3%–27.2% Obama $69,316

During the Base Realignment and Closures (BRACs) of the 1990s, almost all the military installations in the region were closed.[12][13] The only remaining major active duty military installations are Travis Air Force Base[14] and Coast Guard Island.

References

  1. ^ "Report of Registration" (PDF). California Secretary of State. February 20, 2024. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
  2. ^ "Population of Counties in California (2020)". World Population Review. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  3. ^ "California 2016 Presidential And State Election Results". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  4. ^ "California Median household income (in 2018 dollars), 2014-2018 by County". www.indexmundi.com. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  5. ^ "2011 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates". 2011 American Community Survey. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  6. ^ "Report of Registration". California Secretary of State. February 10, 2013. Retrieved January 20, 2014.[permanent dead link‍]
  7. ^ U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B02001. U.S. Census website. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k California Secretary of State. Report of Registration as of February 10, 2017.
  9. ^ "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress" (PDF). Cook Political Report. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  10. ^ "2012 California Presidential Election Results by County" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 9, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  11. ^ "My Congressional District". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  12. ^ Kevin Starr (February 27, 2005). "Keep California the 'Gibraltar of the Pacific'". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
  13. ^ Jane Gross (March 14, 1993). "Spared 2 Base Closings, Californians Lobby On". The New York Times. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
  14. ^ "Base-closing plan spares Beale, Travis". Sacramento Business Journal. May 13, 2005. Retrieved May 16, 2011.