California's 1st State Senate district

California's 1st State Senate district
Current senator	Brian Dahle R–Bieber
Population (2010)  • Voting age  • Citizen voting age	935,336[1] 728,887[1] 672,832[1]
Demographics	79.41% White 1.84% Black 10.73% Latino 4.59% Asian 2.52% Native American 0.27% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 0.27% other 0.37[1]% remainder of multiracial
Registered voters	618,334[2]
Registration	42.07% Republican 30.27% Democratic 19.85% No party preference

California's 1st State Senate District is one of 40 California State Senate districts. Republican Brian Dahle represents the district, having won the seat in a June 2019 special election after Republican Ted Gaines of El Dorado Hills resigned to become a member of the California Board of Equalization in January 2019.^[3][4][5]

District profile[]

The district stretches along the eastern edge of the state from the Oregon border to the Lake Tahoe area. It wraps around the Sacramento Valley along the northern Sierra Nevada, extending westward into the eastern Sacramento suburbs. While the district is primarily rural, a substantial minority of the population is concentrated in the suburban southwestern portion.

Election results from statewide races[]

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Year	Office	Results
2020	President	Trump 53.8 – 43.8%
2018	Governor	Cox 59.9 – 40.1%
	Senator	de Leon 55.7 - 44.3%
2016	President	Trump 54.3 – 38.6%
	Senator	Harris 62.9 – 37.1%
2014	Governor	Kashkari 55.0 – 45.0%
2012	President	Romney 57.3 – 39.9%
	Senator	Emken 57.9 – 42.1%
2010	Governor	Whitman 52.4 – 42.5%
	Senator	Fiorina 57.4 – 36.2%
2008	President	McCain 52.1 – 45.8%
2006	Governor	Schwarzenegger 71.0 – 24.0%
	Senator	Mountjoy 48.8 – 46.0%
2004	President	Bush 60.2 – 38.6%
	Senator	Jones 54.2 – 42.2%
2003	Recall	Yes 69.0 – 31.0%
		Schwarzenegger 59.9 – 18.5%
2002	Governor	Simon 57.2 – 31.8%
2000	President	Bush 57.6 – 36.3%
	Senator	Campbell 50.5 – 41.0%
1998	Governor	Lungren 51.5 – 44.9%
	Senator	Fong 51.1 – 44.0%
1996	President	Dole 50.8 – 37.1%
1994	Governor	Wilson 65.3 – 28.7%
	Senator	Huffington 55.1 – 35.8%
1992	President	Bush 39.2 – 34.9%
	Senator	Herschensohn 50.5 – 36.9%
	Senator	Seymour 45.3 – 45.2%

List of Senators[]

Due to redistricting, the 1st district has been moved around different parts of the state. The current iteration resulted from the 2011 redistricting by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission.

Senators	Party	Years served	Counties represented	Notes
	Democratic	January 8, 1883 - January 5, 1885	San Diego, San Bernardino
	Republican	January 5, 1885 - January 3, 1887
	Democratic	January 3, 1887 - January 7, 1889	Del Norte, Humboldt
	Republican	January 7, 1889 - January 4, 1897
James N. Gillett		January 4, 1897 - January 1, 1901
		January 1, 1901 - January 7, 1907
			Del Norte, Humboldt, Trinity, Tehama
		January 7, 1907 - January 4, 1909
		January 4, 1909 - January 6, 1913
William Kehoe		January 6, 1913 - January 3, 1921
H. C. Nelson		January 3, 1921 - January 2, 1933
Harold J. Powers		January 2, 1933 - October 5, 1954	Lassen, Modoc, Plumas
Dale C. Williams	Democratic	December 29, 1953 - May 12, 1955		Sworn in after winning special election.[6] Died in office from a heart condition.[7]
Stanley Arnold		January 5, 1956 - July 16, 1965		Sworn in after winning special election.[8] Resigns to become a Judge for the Lassen County Superior Court.
Randolph Collier	Republican	January 2, 1967 - November 30, 1976	Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Trinity
		December 6, 1976 - November 30, 1984	Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Placer, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Yuba	Changed his party to Independent while in office in 1984.
	Independent
John T. Doolittle	Republican	December 3, 1984 - January 2, 1991	El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Trinity, Yolo, Yuba	Resigned from office to be sworn in the 4th Congressional district.
Tim Leslie		May 16, 1991 - November 30, 2000	Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sierra, Yuba	Sworn in after winning special election.[9]
Rico Oller		December 4, 2000 - November 30, 2004
Dave Cox		December 6, 2004 - July 13, 2010	Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Sierra	Died in office.
Ted Gaines		January 6, 2011 – January 7, 2019		Sworn in after winning special election. Also resigned in 2019 to become a member of the California State Board of Equalization
			Alpine, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Shasta, Siskiyou
Brian Dahle		June 12, 2019 – present		Sworn in after winning special election.[10]

Election results 1992 - present[]

2020[]

2020 California State Senate election

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Dahle (incumbent)	200,537	57.7
	Democratic	Pamela Dawn Swartz	125,585	36.1
	No party preference	Linda Kelleher	21,557	6.2
Total votes			347,679	100.0
General election
	Republican	Brian Dahle (incumbent)	326,836	59.7
	Democratic	Pamela Dawn Swartz	220,563	40.3
Total votes			547,399	100.0
	Republican hold

2019 (special)[]

2019 California's 1st State Senate district special election
Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Ted Gaines^[11]

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Dahle	57,725	29.6
	Republican	Kevin Kiley	54,290	27.9
	Democratic	Silke Pflueger	49,164	25.2
	Republican	Rex Hime	18,050	9.3
	Democratic	Steve Baird	10,855	5.6
	Republican	Theodore Dziuba	4,672	2.4
Total votes			194,756	100.0
General election
	Republican	Brian Dahle	70,556	53.1
	Republican	Kevin Kiley	62,259	46.9
Total votes			132,815	100.0
	Republican hold

2016[]

2016 California State Senate election

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ted Gaines (incumbent)	140,739	49.4
	Democratic	Rob Rowen	104,262	36.6
	Republican	Steven Baird	39,958	14.1
Total votes			284,959	100.0
General election
	Republican	Ted Gaines (incumbent)	287,314	64.0
	Democratic	Rob Rowen	161,502	36.0
Total votes			448,816	100.0
	Republican hold

2012[]

2012 California State Senate election

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ted Gaines (incumbent)	110,168	48.2
	Democratic	Julie Griffith-Flatter	68,947	30.2
	Republican	Les Baugh	37,442	16.4
	No party preference	"Bo" Bogdan I. Ambrozewicz	11,923	5.2
Total votes			228,480	100.0
General election
	Republican	Ted Gaines (incumbent)	263,256	63.7
	Democratic	Julie Griffith-Flatter	150,111	36.3
Total votes			413,367	100.0
	Republican hold

2011 (special)[]

2011 California's 1st State Senate district special election
Vacancy resulting from the death of Dave Cox

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ted Gaines	91,083	62.9
	Democratic	Ken Cooley	53,747	37.1
	Republican	Joseph McCray, Sr. (write-in)	28	0.0
Total votes			144,858	100.0
	Republican hold

2008[]

2008 California State Senate election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dave Cox (incumbent)	267,426	62.3
	Democratic	Anselmo Chavez	162,044	37.7
Total votes			429,470	100.0
	Republican hold

2004[]

2004 California State Senate election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dave Cox	261,607	62.8
	Democratic	Kristine Lang McDonald	141,462	34.1
	Libertarian	Roberto Leibman	13,292	3.1
Total votes			416,361	100.0
	Republican hold

2000[]

2000 California State Senate election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rico Oller	220,427	57.8
	Democratic	Thomas A. Romero	144,997	38.0
	Libertarian	John Petersen	16,075	4.2
Total votes			381,499	100.0
	Republican hold

1996[]

1996 California State Senate election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tim Leslie (incumbent)	215,931	63.2
	Democratic	Thomas "Tom" Romero	125,894	36.8
	No party	Lamar Norton Latimer (write-in)	55	0.0
Total votes			341,880	100.0
	Republican hold

1992[]

1992 California State Senate election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tim Leslie (incumbent)	189,095	54.8
	Democratic	Thomas A. Romero	123,563	35.8
	Green	Kent Warner Smith	32,717	9.5
Total votes			345,375	100.0
	Republican hold

See also[]

• California State Senate
• California State Senate districts
• Districts in California

References[]

External links[]

• District map from the California Citizens Redistricting Commission