On Election Day, the Republican Party saw a national win with Donald Trump elected as the 47th president of the United States, but on the Central Coast, the Democratic Party swept the state legislative races.
The Central Coast spoke and it was overwhelmingly blue across six races, which included two U.S. representative seats, two state senate seats and two state assembly seats.
“To us, as a party, to represent our values and to defend our people in California, I think we can count on that in San Luis Obispo County. We can count on that. We can count on that in Sacramento as well,” said Tom Fulks, Chairman of the San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party.
All six winners were incumbents.
Jimmy Panetta defeated Jason Anderson for the U.S. Representative District 19 seat.
Salud Carbajal defeated Thomas Cole for the U.S. Representative District 24 seat.
In the State Senate, John Laird defeated Tony Virrueta for District 17, while Monique Limon bested Elijah Mack for District 21.
In the State Assembly, Dawn Addis won against Dalila Epperson for District 30, while Gregg Hart defeated Sari Domingues for District 37.
Ranelle Baldwin, President of the San Luis Obispo Lincoln Club and State Scholarship Chair of the California Federation of Republican Women, says it makes sense based on the history of these races.
“It's not been the first cycle that we've been definitely left-leaning," she said. "I would say the red side of things are outnumbered in our community, but you know, in all things we want balance. ”
With the redistricting that took place ahead of the 2022 election, the District 30 State Assembly boundaries shifted farther north, encompassing areas of Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. Baldwin believes that played into the results in both 2022 and 2024.
"When they did that redistricting, it definitely pulled a lot of the north cities into that district and it made it more left-leaning,” she said.
With the redistricting that took effect for the 2022 election, Addis took over a position that was previously Republican for the past three terms, and the blue wave was complete in San Luis Obispo County.
“We're now dominated by the Democratic Party in terms of our statewide representation and in our Congressional representation," Fulks concluded.
