CA politics could switch up

The south is most populous, but most of the political power is based in the north

California is politically lopsided: Most of the people live in the south, but most of the political power is based in the north.

For the last several years, the majority of politicians elected statewide have been northern Californians — including the governor, lieutenant governor, schools superintendent and both U.S. senators.

That could change after November’s election, because a striking number of statewide races this year pit a NorCal candidate against SoCal candidate, testing the political power and competing priorities of the Golden State’s two most populous regions. But don’t count on it. Northern California is likely to continue to dominate for reasons that largely boil down to this: People in the Bay Area just vote a lot more than those in Los Angeles. Economic and demographic changes overlap with voting trends, together situating California’s political nucleus in the heavily Democratic region in and around San Francisco.

“There is some built-in disadvantage for statewide candidates coming from the Los Angeles area,” said Mark Baldassare, president of the Public Policy Institute of California.

“The voter turnout and participation is disappointing in L.A., compared to the rest of the state.”

Even though Los Angeles is the state’s most populous county, it has the lowest turnout rate for registered voters. Of the 58 counties, L.A.’s turnout was dead last in the 2014 election and secondto-last in the June primary. Participation is so abysmal in Los Angeles County that voters there actually cast fewer ballots than voters in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area — even though Los Angeles County has 1.2 million more people registered to vote.

Turnout is better in other populous SoCal counties such as Orange and San Diego, but still not as strong as in the Bay Area.

“It’s a tale of two economies.