In a Legislature defined by party discipline, breaking ranks is a rare act — and a risky one.
A new CalMatters Digital Democracy analysis of voting records shows that California lawmakers side against their own party less than 1% of the time on average, a testament to just how tightly the state Capitol operates along party lines. Still, a small handful of legislators — including one whose district stretches through the Coachella Valley — are willing to step outside the fold when they feel it’s warranted.
Topping that short list is Assemblymember Greg Wallis, a Rancho Mirage Republican who represents one of the most competitive districts in the state. Wallis broke from his party on 8% of his votes, the highest rate of any lawmaker in Sacramento. That independent streak traces back to his 2022 election, which he won by a razor-thin 85 votes — one of the closest legislative races in California history.
This year alone, Wallis was the only Republican in the Assembly to support a bill barring arrests of abortion providers and gender-affirming care providers. He was also the sole GOP vote for legislation preventing tech companies from handing over user data to law enforcement targeting protesters, and the only Republican backing an LGBTQ Caucus-sponsored bill protecting insurance coverage for gay and transgender residents.
“Republicans, Democrats, independents — nobody has a monopoly on good ideas,” Wallis said. “I was elected to represent all 500,000 constituents in the 47th Assembly District, so our approach has always been to evaluate every bill on its merits, not on which party is pushing it.”
Political observers warn that such independence may become increasingly scarce, both in California and nationally, as primary elections grow more polarized. A single vote against the party line can become fodder for a more ideologically rigid challenger. This year’s primary season underscored the risk: Trump-aligned Republicans ousted several moderate incumbents nationwide, while progressive challengers knocked off centrist Democrats in a number of races.
In Sacramento, the incentives to stay in line are strong. Legislative leadership controls committee assignments, campaign support and other resources lawmakers rely on to keep their seats — making defection a costly gamble.
A Bakersfield moderate pays the price
That risk became reality for Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, a moderate Democrat and physician representing the Bakersfield region. Bains ranks second among Democrats in willingness to break from her party, doing so just under 2% of the time since taking office in 2022 — but that record may have cost her politically.
Bains ran for Congress this year and lost in the primary to progressive academic Randy Villegas, who used her more centrist voting record — particularly on oil industry regulation and health care — to draw a contrast with more progressive voters. Villegas now advances to a November matchup against moderate Republican Rep. David Valadao.
Bains, in an interview, said she has no regrets about voting her conscience rather than following the party.
“It wasn’t for a party,” she said. “It was for them; it was for my community.”
Her most notable break from Democratic orthodoxy came in 2023, when she was the lone Democrat to oppose Gov. Gavin Newsom’s bill targeting oil company profits, arguing it would hurt Kern County’s oil-dependent economy. The vote drew a sharp public rebuke from Newsom’s then-chief of staff, Dana Williamson — who has since been indicted — and led then-Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon to temporarily strip Bains of a committee assignment.
Wallis said his fellow Republicans take a lighter approach when he crosses party lines, often razzing him rather than punishing him. His favorite candy, a Twix bar, has become something of an inside joke — after he casts a Democratic-friendly vote, he said, colleagues sometimes leave just the left side of a Twix on his desk.
Modesto Republican Assemblymember Juan Alanis isn’t far behind Wallis, breaking from GOP colleagues 7% of the time. Alanis said his district’s nearly even partisan split gives him leeway with fellow Republicans, though he acknowledges a future primary challenger could try to use his votes against him.
“If a right-wing challenger wants to make an issue of that, then so be it,” Alanis said, adding that he intends to keep voting according to his district and his own judgment.
When ‘no’ becomes the outlier
Some lawmakers stand out simply because they’re more willing to vote “no” outright, rather than quietly abstaining — a common tactic in Sacramento for lawmakers who want to avoid angering powerful interests without casting a hard vote against them.
CalMatters has previously reported that Democrats rarely vote “no,” doing so less than 1% of the time, while Republicans oppose bills roughly 20% of the time but also abstain more frequently.
San Diego Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio is an exception to that pattern — he doesn’t shy away from casting “no” votes, and last year recorded more of them than any other legislator. DeMaio ranks third among all lawmakers in bucking his own party, doing so 5.5% of the time.
This year, DeMaio broke from the bulk of his Republican colleagues by voting against legislation granting pay raises and pension increases to state public safety workers. He said his votes are guided by concern over rising costs for taxpayers, regardless of how much political muscle a group might have behind a bill.
“I’m simply not going to be swayed by how powerful a group is,” DeMaio said. “If they’re backing a bill that is bad policy, I’m going to vote no.” He noted that his robust grassroots fundraising network gives him financial independence from special interests that might otherwise sway his votes.
On the Democratic side, Assemblymember Anamarie Ávila Farías of Concord stands out for a similar reason. She cast more “no” votes than any other Democrat last year and leads her caucus in overall deviation from the party line, breaking ranks 2.16% of the time.
This year, she was the only Democrat to vote against a bill that would allow Californians to sue companies over harmful monopolistic practices. While several moderate Democrats shared concerns that the legislation could invite predatory lawsuits against struggling businesses, most simply abstained rather than vote no.
Ávila Farías said she was elected to make tough calls, not avoid them.
“It’s much harder to undo something than to stand firm and raise the flag,” she said. “I’m more governed by the facts, the data, the execution and the unintended consequences than by party ideology.”
Methodology note: To determine how often lawmakers voted against their party, CalMatters analyzed voting records since 2023, comparing each lawmaker’s votes to their party’s majority position on each bill. Instances where a lawmaker voted yes when the majority voted no or abstained, or voted no when the majority voted yes, were counted as deviations. These were averaged across all years since 2023 to produce each lawmaker’s overall rate of breaking from the party line.
Original source: CalMatters
