Santa Clara County, California - Government and Politics

Government and Politics

Santa Clara County vote
by party in presidential elections
Year GOP DEM Others
2012 27.2% 174,843 70.2% 450,817 2.5% 16,290
2008 28.6% 190,039 69.5% 462,241 1.8% 12,255
2004 34.6% 209,094 63.9% 386,100 1.4% 8,622
2000 34.4% 188,750 60.7% 332,490 4.9% 26,889
1996 32.2% 168,291 56.9% 297,639 11.0% 57,361
1992 28.4% 170,870 49.2% 296,265 22.4% 134,920
1988 47.0% 254,442 51.3% 277,810 1.7% 9,276
1984 54.8% 288,638 43.7% 229,865 1.5% 8,136
1980 48.0% 229,048 35.0% 166,995 17.0% 80,960
1976 49.5% 219,188 46.9% 208,023 3.6% 15,927
1972 51.9% 237,334 45.6% 208,506 2.5% 11,453
1968 45.6% 163,446 48.4% 173,511 6.0% 21,410
1964 36.6% 117,420 63.1% 202,249 0.3% 858
1960 52.7% 131,735 47.1% 117,667 0.3% 690
1956 59.1% 105,657 40.6% 72,528 0.4% 633
1952 59.7% 91,940 39.7% 61,035 0.6% 932
1948 53.3% 52,982 42.1% 41,905 4.6% 4,615
1944 47.0% 39,409 52.4% 43,869 0.6% 499
1940 49.2% 40,100 49.6% 40,449 1.2% 947
1936 40.4% 26,498 58.5% 38,346 1.1% 732
1932 47.5% 27,353 49.1% 28,272 3.3% 1,906
1928 63.8% 31,710 35.4% 17,589 0.8% 395
1924 58.0% 20,056 7.4% 2,560 34.6% 11,952
1920 68.1% 19,565 22.6% 6,485 9.1% 2,682

Santa Clara County has five elected Supervisors, elected within their districts.

Santa Clara is a strongly Democratic county in presidential and congressional elections. The last Republican to win a majority in the county was Ronald Reagan in 1984. As of November 2012, all of the cities, towns, and the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County have more registered Democrats than Republicans. In the 2008 US Presidential Election, Democratic nominee Barack Obama carried every city and town in the county, as well as the unincorporated areas.

In the House of Representatives, all of California’s 15th and 16th districts, as well as some of the 11th and 14th districts, are in the county and are all held by Democrats: Jerry McNerney in the 11th, Anna Eshoo in the 14th, Mike Honda in the 15th, and Zoe Lofgren in the 16th.

In the State Assembly, all of the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th districts, as well as parts of the 20th, 21st, 27th, and 28th districts are in the county. The districts are all held by Democrats; in order of district number they are Bob Wieckowski, Rich Gordon, Paul Fong, Nora Campos, Jim Beall, Bill Monning, and Luis Alejo.

In the State Senate, all of the 13th as well as parts of the 10th, 11th, and 15th districts are in the county. The 10th, 11th, and 13th districts are held by Democrats, Ellen Corbett, Joe Simitian, and Elaine Alquist, respectively. The 15th is held by Republican Sam Blakeslee.

Following the passage of Proposition 8, Santa Clara County joined San Francisco and Los Angeles in a lawsuit, becoming, along with San Francisco and Los Angeles, the first governmental entities in the world to sue for same sex marriage. The county is among one of three counties in California to establish a separate department to deal with corrections pursuant to California Government Code §23013, the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections, along with Napa County and Madera County.

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