La mayoría de los legisladores de California nunca se oponen a su partido. Estos pocos sí

CalMatters found that California state legislators almost never break ranks with their party — on average, they've voted against their party majority less than one percent of the time since twenty twenty-three. But a handful of moderates have bucked the trend, and the political cost is steep. Greg Wallis, a Republican assemblymember from the Rancho Mirage area, breaks with his party about eight percent of the time, including this year as the sole Republican voting for bills protecting abortion providers, trans healthcare, and LGBTQ insurance coverage. Wallis won his seat by just eighty-five votes in twenty twenty-two — one of the narrowest margins in state history — so his district demands independence over party loyalty. Jasmeet Bains, a Democratic physician from Bakersfield, held an even more precarious balance, voting against her party less than two percent of the time. This year, she ran for Congress and lost her primary partly because of those moderate votes, especially her opposition to Governor Newsom's oil company profit-limit bill in twenty twenty-three. She was the only Democrat to break ranks on that measure, and it drew a public rebuke from the governor's staff at the time. CalMatters says the trend could get worse. This year's primaries saw hard-liners on both sides — Trump's MAGA movement nearly swept Republican races, while progressive Democrats ousted moderates on the left. For legislators caught in the middle, voting their conscience can invite a primary challenge they may not survive.

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