In Lena Gonzalez’s Senate election win, some cheer a milestone for women

Lena Gonzalez’s election to the California Senate is being hailed as a milestone by advocates for women in politics, adding historical flair to a predictable win for a Democratic candidate in Los Angeles County.

“It’s a resounding victory,” said Valery McGinty, president of Fund Her, a political action committee that raises money to elect progressive women to California state offices.

McGinty was speaking Wednesday about Gonzalez’s 69%-31% margin of victory the night before over Republican Jack Guerrero in the 33rd Senate District special-election runoff — and what it means for the composition of the state Legislature.

Once Gonzalez, a Long Beach city councilwoman, is sworn in to the Senate (probably next week), women will for the first time hold more than 30% of seats in the two houses in Sacramento. Most of those women are Democrats; 11 of the 14 women in the 40-member state Senate and 21 of the 23 women in the 80-member Assembly.

A daughter of a Mexico-born mother and a U.S.-born father, Gonzalez will be the fifth Latina in the state Senate, which had zero Latinas before the November 2018 victories by Susan Rubio of Baldwin Park, Maria Elena Durazo of Los Angeles, Ana Caballero of Salinas and Melissa Hurtado of Sanger. All are Democrats.

McGinty said it’s important that Gonzalez, 38 years old and a mother of three, will be an additional voice for equal pay and other issues of particular interest to women.

Gonzalez replaces Democrat Ricardo Lara, who had two years left in his Senate term when he was elected California Insurance Commissioner last November.

Thinking about the rapid rise of Hispanic women in the state capitol gave her “chills,” Gonzalez said in a phone interview Wednesday.

“In the state of California, we’re always the lowest on the totem pole when it comes to pay equity (and) work conditions. It’s great to have the representation in Sacramento,” Gonzalez said, promising to run “a very pro-woman agenda” and help to elect more women to local and state offices.

The win by Gonzalez, in the district that covers most of Long Beach and smaller cities along the 710 Freeway, is meaningful because it solidifies Democrats’ two-thirds supermajority in the California Legislature and because it continues the upward trend for women there, said Justin Levitt, a political science professor at Cal State Long Beach.

Levitt said the growing role of women — especially Latinas — in state politics is an upshot of a “systematic” effort by Democrats to increase their numbers on city councils and school boards.

Gonzalez is in her second term representing the 1st District on the Long Beach City Council. The city is expected to hold a special election in November to replace her, but hasn’t announced details.

She said she planned to travel to Sacramento Thursday and Friday for training on ethics and such niceties as how to cast votes on the Senate floor. Joining the Senate in mid-term, she won’t be able to introduce her own legislation for a few months. Gonzalez’s first major vote could be on the state budget; the deadline for passage is June 15.

In the current Senate, she will be the only member with a tech-industry background, and she looks forward to joining the Legislature’s Technology and Innovation Caucus, Gonzalez said. She’ll also be in the Latino Caucus, which is being jokingly referred to as the “Latina Caucus” because it’s mostly women.

Guerrero, the Cudahy city councilman whom Gonzalez defeated Tuesday, sounded less interested in discussing the rise of women in Sacramento.

“Diversity is a nice feature of the Legislature to the extent that it reflects the broader population, but what matters most is the interests of the people of California,” Guerrero said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Blaming his defeat on Gonzalez’s edge in fundraising, Guerrero said he’s afraid the result means “the status quo gets to be perpetuated a little longer” in a state he says faces a fiscal crisis.

Analysts expected the Democrat’s victory in a district where voter registration ran 54.7% Democratic and 11.5% Republican.

But Guerrero said his percentage of the vote “exceeded expectations.” He concluded: “That means the message is starting to get out there.” The 45-year-old, who lost races for Assembly in 2012 and state treasurer in 2018, didn’t rule out future runs for office.

L.A. County election officials have counted 38,178 votes. That’s 8.8% of registered voters in the 33rd Senate District. The turnout percentage will rise as more mail-in and provisional ballots are counted.

The county is scheduled to certify the results June 14.

With her victory not in doubt, Gonzalez said she expects to be sworn into office June 12 or 13.