informed voter

It is essential to be an informed voter

Understanding the fundamentals, knowing who the representatives are, recognizing the most pressing issues, locating candidate positions on the topic, and calculating the value of the vote are all components of the concept. As a result, it will be critical to focus on the history of the first district and the state of California, voting for state senators and representatives in presidential and congressional elections, and determining if the first district of California is Republican or Democrat. The discussion will also center on identification of relativity of political parties, the first district of California having long traditional support for one party, identifying how the representative and senator came to power, rate of the representative and the senator by interest groups, and determining if they are liberal or conservative.

History of First District and the State of California

It is imperative to note that the first district of California is a congressional region of the state. It is represented by Doug LaMalfa, a Republican. The district includes the northeast area of California and contains counties, such as Modoc, Butte, Shasta, Plumas, Tehama, Sierra, Siskiyou, and Glenn. Before the state of California adopted redistricting by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission in 2011, the first district comprised even the northeast coast region (Thomas 43). It was also made of Humboldt, Del Norte, Napa and Lake Mendocino counties together with sections of Yolo and Sonoma counties. A significant part of this place currently belongs to the fifth district and the current first district consists of an area that was part of the second district.

As a result, the formation of districts added Democratic political areas, for example, Yolo County for Republicans. In 2004, John Kerry won by 59.7% of the total votes. In 2008, Barack Obama took the district during the presidential election by 65.6% (Thomas 43). Before then, in 2000 Mike Thompson won the re-election to the House by overpowering Lawrence Wiesner and Kelvin Bastian during the general election. Since 2002, Mike Thompson won the re-election until 2012 when it was held in the United States House of Representative where Doug LaMalfa was pronounced the winner.

Political History of California State

Since 1849, the state of California has had thirty-eight governors, with eighteen of them being Republicans and the rest - Democrats. In the past three decades, there have been several events which have occurred in the political history of State of California (Thomas 43). This entails the time of passage of terms limits for Legislature of this state and election of constitutional officers. This event was widely debated in the state and Supreme Court of California. The other noticeable thing that has taken place was testing ratification for the Supreme Court in which the liberal chief justice and two associates were ousted. At the same time, the state encountered a fledged tax revolt that resulted in freezing of the real state rate of taxes by 1% (Thomas 43). Another event worth noting here encompasses testing the state recall provision where the Gray Davis who served as the governor got recalled in a special election. The occurrence happened back in 2003. The final political incident experience in the state was the failure to pass a budget in 2008 until three months later. The passage happened after constitutional deadlines had elapsed.

Voting by the state Senators and Representatives

It is worth noting that the United States Constitution does not allow any representative, senator or any other person who holds an office of profit or trust in the United States to be appointed as an elector (Schreiber 73).

Political Stand of First District of California: Republican or Democrat

According to the recently completed general election of November 2016, the first district of California witnessed the re-election of Doug LaMalfa who is a member of the Republican Party (Schreiber 73). Furthermore, most of the individuals who were elected as the House of Representatives are Republicans. As such, it implies that only a few members of the district are Democrats. Doug LaMalfa has been re-elected since 2006 which means that the state of California has not been a lock for the Democrats. However, it is critical to understand that the district is considerably affected by the general state political stand. Since 1992, the state of California has always voted for Republicans. This can even be determined by focusing on the last presidential election where the population of this state voted for Donald Trump rather than Hillary Clinton.

Relativity of Political Parties

Based on the information mentioned previously, it is evident to mention that the Republicans dominate in the first district of California. The Dominion took a shift a few years ago at the time when the district appeared to be a stronghold for the Democrats (Schreiber 73). This conclusion can be drawn by looking at how the population of the state has been voting for the last ten years. People have always favored the Republican Party.

Long Traditional Support for One Party in the First District of California

It is fundamental to indicate that the first district in the state of California has a long-standing history of supporting a single party, which is the Democratic Party. However, in the recent years, there has been a considerable change of things as the district now supports Republicans which can be deduced from the last two consecutive elections (Schreiber 73). First, there has been significant support for Republicans in the election of the United States House of Representatives since 2012. As such, it can be argued that the political landscape of the first district of California has been transitioning gradually over time withdrawing support from Democrats and the Republican Party.

How the Representative and Senator Come to Power

How the Representative Came to Power

The House of Representative in the first district of California is currently presented by Doug LaMalfa who was elected through the Republican ticket and has been in power since 2012 (Evans 163). He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in agribusiness from Cal Poly Luis Obispo and was elected for the first time as the founding father of the California Rice Commission. Also, during his early political journey, Doug served in the Domestic Promotion of the United States Rice Federation. Ever since he has been the manager and owner of Doug LaMalfa Partnership that is charged with the responsibility of taking care of the family farm (Evans 163). He entered the House of Representatives for the second district in 2002 and 2008. Later, he was considered as one of the important supporters of the Protection Marriage Law that focused on banning same-sex marriage in the state. Later, the bill was turned down by the court. Additionally, he is the author of ACA 22 that is aimed at protecting property belonging to private parties from abuse by the government. At the same time, he wrote the Forest Fire Protection Act in 2004 that entailed allowing landowners the freedom to make their rural lands safe from fire without necessarily having intervention from the forest management.

At the time of his tenure, Doug considerably opposed Fabian’s bill intended to require organizations in the specific proportion to offer health insurance to workers. Also, at the time, he managed to pass AB 1645 successfully (Evans 163). This is an act that prevents seizing a firearm in cases of emergency or natural disaster. The law turned out to be the first pro-gun legislation that was passed by the Congress for ten years. Later, he was named as the California Rifle and Pistol Association’s Legislator of the year in 2007. As the representative at Senate, he went to the high-speed rail, demonstrating a lack of sufficient funds for the project (Evans 163). Similarly, Doug opposed a bill that aimed at overseeing the incorporation of the history of homosexuals in education. Also, in his manifesto, he stipulated the policies the government should uphold to aid the generation of power energy that would, as a result, create jobs and increase stability of the state economically.

When Doug was elected as the House of Representatives, he promoted the production of natural gas and oil in regions with large reservoirs (Thomas 43). The plan was to increase energy in an environmentally friendly manner through the expansion of coal, gas, and oil exploration. This would be achieved by opening new lands and eliminating restrictions.

How the Senator Came to Power

Ted Gaines is currently the senator of California and represents the first senate district. He has been in office since 2011 after winning out Dave Cox. Before this, Ted was Californian State Assemblyman and represented the 4th assembly district which is located in the suburbs of Placer County (Thomas 43). He succeeded Tim Leslie in the assembly. Also, he formed a committee in 2008 that aimed at running against Congressman John Doolittle. He was known for many scandals, and Republicans worried he would not win re-election. In 2014, he ran for California Insurance Commissioner against Dave Jones, a Democrat incumbent.

Rate of Representative the Senator by Interest Groups

According to ACU, Doug LaMalfa’s rate stood at 88% in 2013 on conservativeness. On the other hand, ACLU rated him zero percent for both civil and liberty rights in 2015. At the same time, he was rated 92% by FRC on issues related to family, marriage, and children. Finally, the senator’s ratings were 92% according to ACU for state legislation and fiscal conservation.

Classification of the Representative and Senators as Liberal or Conservative

By focusing on these ratings, it is evident that the Doug LaMalfa as the member of the House of Representatives is a conservative individual, taking into account the fact that he gets low to no rating on issues that are sensitive like, for example, abortion. It implies that in the eye of the public concerned with such matters, he cannot be highly recommended. For the senator, he can be considered a liberal person. This can be deduced by looking at the high rating given on sensitive issues. Further, some of his ratings go as high as 100%.

Works Cited

Evans, Andy. “High-Speed Rail in California May Be Inevitable: Where Does That Leave Opponents.” Colo. Tech. LJ 12 (2014): 163.

Schreiber, Darren, et al. ”Red brain, blue brain: Evaluative processes differ in Democrats and Republicans.” PLoS One 8.2 (2013): e52970.

Thomas, Sue. ”Voting Patterns in the California Assembly: Role and Gender.” Women & Politics 9.4 (2009): 43-56.