In a Legislature built on party discipline, breaking ranks is a rare and risky move for California lawmakers — but a handful of legislators, several with ties to the Inland Empire and Southern California, are proving willing to do it anyway.
According to an analysis by CalMatters Digital Democracy of voting records dating back to 2023, the state’s lawmakers vote against their own party’s majority position less than 1% of the time on average. Straying from the pack is rare enough that it stands out when it happens — and it often comes from legislators representing swing districts where the political middle still matters.
Topping the list of independent voters is Assemblymember Greg Wallis, a Republican representing the Rancho Mirage area, who broke from his party 8% of the time — a reflection of just how competitive his district is. Wallis first won his seat in 2022 by a mere 85 votes, one of the tightest margins in California history.
This year, Wallis was the only Republican to support a bill aimed at preventing the arrest of abortion providers or gender-affirming care providers. He was also the sole GOP vote in favor of a measure barring tech companies from handing over user data to law enforcement targeting protesters or others exercising First Amendment rights. Wallis additionally backed a priority bill from the Legislature’s LGBTQ Caucus intended to protect insurance coverage for gay and transgender Californians — again, the only Republican to do so.
“Republicans, Democrats, independents — nobody has a monopoly on good ideas,” Wallis said. “I was elected to represent the 500,000 constituents of Assembly District 47, so our approach has always been to judge each bill on its merits, not simply on which party supports or opposes it.”
Independent voting, already uncommon, could become even rarer in California and across the country as the electorate grows more polarized. A moderate lawmaker who casts a vote that defies the party line risks giving hardline primary challengers ammunition come election season.
This year’s primaries illustrate exactly what’s at stake for centrists. President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement has all but consumed the Republican Party, with MAGA loyalists scoring near-unanimous primary wins over more moderate GOP incumbents. On the other side, Democratic socialists and progressive challengers notched their own victories, ousting moderate Democrats in races around the country.
California lawmakers, too, have strong incentives to toe the party line. Party leadership controls valuable committee assignments, leadership posts and campaign resources that legislators depend on for reelection.
A moderate faces a reckoning
Breaking with her party may have contributed to Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains’ primary defeat in June. Bains, a moderate Democrat and family physician representing the Bakersfield area, ran for Congress this year and lost to progressive college professor Randy Villegas.
Bains ranks second among Democrats for voting against her party’s majority, doing so just under 2% of the time since she was elected to the Legislature in 2022.
Her moderate, nuanced positions — particularly on fossil fuels and health care — gave Villegas lines of attack that resonated with more left-leaning voters. Villegas will now face moderate Republican Rep. David Valadao in November, after both advanced through the state’s top-two primary system.
In an interview, Bains said she always voted based on what she believed was best for her constituents, even when it angered fellow Democrats, and that she has no regrets.
“It wasn’t for a party,” she said. “It was for them — it was for my community.”
Bains is perhaps best known as the lone Democrat who voted against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2023 bill aimed at capping oil company profits. She argued the measure would harm the oil industry, a cornerstone of Kern County’s economy.
That vote drew a public rebuke from Newsom’s now-indicted former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, who wrote on social media that Bains would “probably remain alone and confused.” Then-Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon also disciplined Bains, temporarily removing her from a committee assignment.
Wallis said his Republican colleagues tend to be understanding when he crosses over to support a Democratic bill, though they don’t let him off entirely without some good-natured ribbing. He said his favorite candy bar is Twix — and after voting for a Democratic bill, he sometimes finds a Twix package on his desk with only the left-side bar still inside.
Modesto Republican Assemblymember Juan Alanis ranks just behind Wallis on the list of party dissenters, breaking from most of his GOP colleagues 7% of the time.
Alanis said his colleagues understand that his district has only a slight Republican registration edge over Democrats, which gives him some latitude to occasionally vote against the party line. Still, he acknowledged that conservative primary challengers could one day use those votes against him.
Even so, he said he intends to keep voting according to his district and his conscience. If a right-wing challenger wants to make an issue of it, he said, “so be it.”
Voting no produces outliers
Other lawmakers stand out simply because they’re more willing to vote “no” than their colleagues.
Abstaining is a common tactic California legislators use to signal discomfort with a bill while avoiding an outright “no” that might anger powerful interest groups or fellow lawmakers. As CalMatters has previously reported, Democrats vote “no” less than 1% of the time. Republicans vote “no” far more often — typically around 20% of the time — but they also abstain more frequently than Democrats do.
San Diego Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio rarely skips votes. He simply votes against them. Last year, he cast more “no” votes than any other member of the Legislature.
DeMaio, who has often publicly clashed with his own party, has no qualms about voting “no” even when most Republicans vote “yes.” He ranks third among dissenters, breaking from his party’s majority position 5.5% of the time.
Notably, DeMaio broke with his party this year by voting against legislation granting pay and pension increases to the state’s public safety workers.
DeMaio said he votes against bills he believes will raise costs for California taxpayers, regardless of whether that angers wealthy or powerful groups — including the unions pushing the pay and pension legislation.
“I’m simply not going to be influenced by the power of a group,” DeMaio said. “If they support a bill that’s bad policy, I’ll vote against it.”
It helps that DeMaio runs a substantial grassroots conservative fundraising operation, which insulates him from relying on campaign donations from deep-pocketed interest groups.
On the Democratic side, Assemblymember Anamarie Ávila Farías, who represents the Concord area, also votes “no” more often than most of her Democratic colleagues. Last year, she cast more no votes than any other member of the Assembly Democratic Caucus.
She also leads Democrats in breaking from her party, having done so 2.16% of the time — largely thanks to those occasional no votes.
This year, she was the only Democrat to vote against a measure that would have given Californians the right to sue companies for forming harmful monopolies. Several moderate Democratic colleagues had expressed concern that the bill could be exploited by opportunistic law firms to shake down struggling businesses in an already high-cost state — but unlike Ávila Farías, those lawmakers chose simply not to vote rather than vote no outright.
Ávila Farías said her constituents sent her to Sacramento to make tough calls, and she’s comfortable voting “no” when she believes a proposal isn’t in their best interest or could raise costs for Californians, even when her colleagues hold back.
“It’s a lot harder to undo something than it is to stand firm and raise the flag,” she said. “I’m guided more by facts, data, execution and unintended consequences than by party ideology.”
Original source: CalMatters
