Brian Dahle

Last updated

Megan Ray
(m. 1999)
Brian Dahle
Senator-dahle.jpg
Member of the California State Senate
from the 1st district
Assumed office
June 12, 2019
Children3
Website

Brian Dwain Dahle [1] (born September 20, 1965) is an American politician and farmer who has served as a member of the California State Senate from the 1st district since 2019. [2] A member of the Republican Party, Dahle served as a member of the California State Assembly from the 1st district from 2012 to 2019, and as Assembly minority leader from 2017 to 2018. Before his election to the state legislature, Dahle served on the Lassen County Board of Supervisors from 1997 to 2012. [3]

Contents

On June 4, 2019, Dahle won a special election to fill the State Senate seat vacated by Ted Gaines, who resigned after his election to the California State Board of Equalization. [4] After Dahle joined the State Senate, his wife Megan Dahle was elected to his vacated Assembly seat.

Dahle was the Republican nominee for governor of California in 2022. He was defeated by incumbent Democrat Gavin Newsom. [5]

Early life and education

Descended from Tule Lake homesteaders and the son and grandson of farmers, Dahle was born in Redding and grew up in rural Lassen County. [6] His grandfather was a World War I veteran who won his family farm in Bieber in a lottery during the Great Depression. [7]

Dahle grew up poor with an alcoholic father and graduated from Big Valley High School in Bieber. [8] Unable to afford college, he tried his hand at farming, but lost money in the attempt. To pay back debts, he took a job at a lumber mill, and later at hydroelectric plants. [7] He also worked in construction for several years, including in a gold mine, and eventually began a seed business, which he owns to this day. [9]

Career

Lassen County Board of Supervisors

Dahle won his first election to the Lassen County Board of Supervisors in 1996, beating a popular teacher. [9] He was reelected in 2000, 2004, and 2008. He represented District 4 on the board.[ citation needed ]

Dahle served one-year terms as chairman of the board in 1998, 2002, 2007, and 2012. He left his seat early on November 27, 2012, in order to take office in the Assembly the following week.[ citation needed ]

California State Assembly

Dahle was first elected to the California State Assembly for the 1st district with 65% of the vote in November 2012, [10] and reelected in 2014, 2016, and 2018. He was appointed vice chair of the Assembly Environmental and Toxic Materials Committee, the Revenue and Taxation Committee, and the Natural Resources Committee. He also served as a member of the following committees: Agriculture; Water, Parks and Wildlife; Privacy and Consumer Protection; Utilities and Commerce; Fisheries and Aquaculture; Insurance; and Business and Professions.[ citation needed ]

In 2018, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon appointed Dahle to the Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response, which works to improve services for Capitol staff. In the Assembly, Dahle was known for writing and passing a number of bipartisan bills under Governor Jerry Brown.[ citation needed ]

Dahle's Republican colleagues elected him minority leader on August 24, 2017. He served in that role from September 16, 2017, to November 8, 2018.[ citation needed ]

Dahle resigned from the Assembly on June 12, 2019, after winning a special election to the California State Senate. His wife Megan Dahle was elected to succeed him in the Assembly in a special election.[ citation needed ]

California State Senate

After Ted Gaines resigned, Dahle won a special election to replace him in the California State Senate and took office on June 12, 2019. [2] He was reelected in 2020 with 57.7% of the vote.[ citation needed ]

Dahle serves as vice chair of the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee. He also serves on the following committees: Banking and Financial Institutions; Budget and Fiscal Review; Education; Environmental Quality; and Transportation.[ citation needed ]

Caucus memberships

2022 California gubernatorial election

Dahle was the Republican nominee for governor of California in the 2022 election. [11] He placed second in the nonpartisan blanket primary, with 17.5% of the vote. [12]

In September 2022, incumbent Democratic governor Gavin Newsom agreed to face off against Dahle in a single gubernatorial debate, sometime in late October. [13] On October 23, Dahle and Newsom participated in a televised debate, hosted by KQED in San Francisco. [14]

Political positions

Dahle favors a suspension of the California gas tax to address high fuel prices, building more charging stations for electric vehicles, building the proposed Sites Reservoir project, and increasing oil production in California. He also supports rolling back parts of Proposition 47, but opposes jailing marijuana users. [15] He has worked to stop medical patients from getting surprise medical bills from health care providers that are outside their insurance network. [9] To reduce homelessness in California, Dahle supports building more affordable housing and tackling drug abuse. He has criticized Newsom's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and supports streamlining the path to obtaining U.S. citizenship. [16]

Dahle has voted against bills intended to increase access to abortion and has said that abortion's legality will not change in California after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling. [17] He voted for a bill aimed at reducing the cost of contraceptives in California. [9]

Dahle describes himself as a supporter of the Second Amendment. He has voted against SB 1327, legislation that allows private citizens to sue those who illegally sell assault weapons or .50 BMG rifles in California, but supports making it a felony to steal a firearm, and has voted for a bill that would make it easier to confiscate guns from convicted felons. [9]

Controversies

In June 2022, Dahle placed the winning bid for a goat named Cedar at the Shasta District Fair auction. However, the goat's owners, including a 9-year-old girl, decided not to proceed with the sale. Dahle agreed to forgo the purchase and supported an alternative resolution, but Shasta District Fair officials pursued the matter and involved law enforcement, resulting in Cedar being seized and slaughtered, despite ongoing efforts by the owners to reach a different outcome. This incident later became the subject of a federal lawsuit. Fair officials tried to hide the identity of the bidder that bought the pet goat and had it slaughtered, but public records showed that the winning bid was placed by State Senator Dahle. [18] The Senator relinquished ownership of the goat and did not have it slaughtered. However, the Shasta District Fair auction claimed ownership of the goat, leading the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office to seize it and had it killed. [19]

Personal life

Dahle is married to Megan Dahle, who holds his former State Assembly seat. [20] They have three children together. [7] [9]

Electoral history

California State Assembly

2012

California State Assembly election, 2012
Primary election
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Brian Dahle41,38434.2
Republican Rick Bosetti 34,45728.5
Democratic Robert Meacher31,12025.8
Green David Edwards7,3816.1
Libertarian Charley Hooper6,5035.4
Total votes120,845 100.0
General election
Republican Brian Dahle 116,098 65.6
Republican Rick Bosetti 60,92034.4
Total votes177,018 100.0
Republican hold

2014

California's 1st State Assembly district election, 2014
Primary election
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Brian Dahle (incumbent)65,46669.5
Democratic Brigham Sawyer Smith28,68830.5
Total votes94,154 100.0
General election
Republican Brian Dahle (incumbent) 104,103 70.2
Democratic Brigham Sawyer Smith44,11929.8
Total votes148,222 100.0
Republican hold

2016

California's 1st State Assembly district election, 2016
Primary election
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Brian Dahle (incumbent)103,50099.6
Libertarian Donn Coenen (write-in)4460.4
Total votes103,946 100.0
General election
Republican Brian Dahle (incumbent) 148,657 73.8
Libertarian Donn Coenen52,87126.2
Total votes201,528 100.0
Republican hold

2018

California's 1st State Assembly district election, 2018
Primary election
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Brian Dahle (incumbent)82,91664.1
Democratic Caleen Sisk30,90223.9
Democratic Peter Van Peborgh11,4468.9
No party preference Jenny O'Connell-Nowain3,9873.1
No party preference Jerome B.C. Venus (write-in)90.0
Total votes129,260 100.0
General election
Republican Brian Dahle (incumbent) 125,227 63.0
Democratic Caleen Sisk73,44937.0
Total votes198,676 100.0
Republican hold

California State Senate

2019 (special)

2019 California's 1st State Senate district special election
Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Ted Gaines [21]
Primary election
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Brian Dahle57,72529.6
Republican Kevin Kiley 54,29027.9
Democratic Silke Pflueger49,16425.2
Republican Rex Hime18,0509.3
Democratic Steve Baird10,8555.6
Republican Theodore Dziuba4,6722.4
Total votes194,756 100.0
General election
Republican Brian Dahle 70,556 53.1
Republican Kevin Kiley 62,25946.9
Total votes132,815 100.0
Republican hold

California Governor

2022

2022 California Gubernatorial Primary results [22]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Gavin Newsom (incumbent) 3,945,728 55.9
Republican Brian Dahle 1,252,800 17.7
No party preference Michael Shellenberger 290,2864.1
Republican Jenny Rae Le Roux246,6653.5
Republican Anthony Trimino246,3223.5
Republican Shawn Collins173,0832.5
Green Luis J. Rodriguez 124,6721.8
Republican Leo S. Zacky94,5211.3
Republican Major Williams92,5801.3
Republican Robert C. Newman II82,8491.2
Democratic Joel Ventresca66,8850.9
Republican David Lozano66,5420.9
Republican Ronald A. Anderson53,5540.8
No party preference Reinette Senum53,0150.8
Democratic Armando Perez-Serrato45,4740.6
Republican Ron Jones38,3370.5
Republican Daniel R. Mercuri36,3960.5
Green Heather Collins29,6900.4
Democratic Anthony Fanara25,0860.4
Republican Cristian Raul Morales22,3040.3
Republican Lonnie Sortor21,0440.3
No party preference Frederic C. Schultz17,5020.2
No party preference Woodrow Sanders III16,2040.2
No party preference James G. Hanink10,1100.1
No party preference Serge Fiankan6,2010.1
No party preference Bradley Zink5,9970.1
American Independent Jeff Scott (write-in)130.0
Republican Gurinder Bhangoo (write-in)80.0
Total votes7,063,868 100.0
2022 California gubernatorial election [23] [24]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic Gavin Newsom (incumbent) 6,470,104 59.18% −2.77
Republican Brian Dahle4,462,91440.82%+2.77
Total votes10,933,018 100.00% N/A
Turnout 10,933,01850.80%−12.48
Registered electors 21,940,274

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References

  1. "JoinCalifornia - Brian D. Dahle". joincalifornia.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Dahle takes oath of office for California Senate District 1". Tahoe Daily Tribune. Associated Press. June 14, 2019.
  3. "Welcome - Senator Brian Dahle". dahle.cssrc.us. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  4. Willon, Phil (June 5, 2019). "In two California Senate special elections, Gonzalez and Dahle are the winners". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  5. Sabes, Adam; Spady, Aubrie (November 8, 2022). "California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom wins re-election, defeating Brian Dahle: Gov. Gavin Newsom is in his first term as governor of California". Fox News . Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  6. Hooker, Brad (June 6, 2019). "Six questions for the legislature's top farmer". Agri-Pulse.com. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  7. 1 2 3 Platcha, Ari (September 23, 2022). "He earned trust in Sacramento, but Californians still don't know Newsom challenger Brian Dahle". The Sacramento Bee.
  8. Natividad, Ivan (October 25, 2014). "State assembly contest still not much of a race". The Union.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Beam, Adam (July 5, 2022). "'Something different': California GOP's bid for governor". Associated Press.
  10. "How California Voted". Newspapers.com. The Sacramento Bee. November 8, 2012. p. A4. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
  11. Joe Garofoli (February 7, 2022). "Republican state Sen. Brian Dahle to announce challenge to Gavin Newsom". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  12. Shafer, Scott (June 7, 2022). "Democrat Gavin Newsom to face Republican Brian Dahle in California race for governor". NPR.
  13. Luna, Taryn (September 16, 2022). "California Politics: Newsom commits to a gubernatorial debate". Los Angeles Times.
  14. Luna, Taryn; Wiley, Hannah (October 23, 2022). "Newsom trades barbs with Dahle in California's only 2022 gubernatorial debate". Los Angeles Times.
  15. Alvarado, Kitty (June 22, 2022). "Economist says Biden's gas tax holiday could boost local economy". KPBS.
  16. The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board (May 15, 2022). "2022 election: Q&A with Brian Dahle, California gubernatorial candidate". The San Diego Union Tribune.
  17. Bollag, Sophia (June 24, 2022). "These California candidates oppose abortion rights or won't say where they stand". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  18. "A 9-year-old girl didn't want her goat slaughtered. California fair officials sent deputies after it". LATimes.com .
  19. https://krcrtv.com/news/local/shasta-county-paying-hundreds-of-thousands-in-settlement-over-illegally-seized-goat
  20. Yoon-Hendricks, Alexandra (November 6, 2019). "Republican Megan Dahle defeats Democrat Elizabeth Betancourt for Assembly District 1 seat". The Sacramento Bee.
  21. Padilla, Alex (February 1, 2019). "Notice to Qualified Candidates" (PDF). State of California.
  22. "California June 7, 2022 Primary Statement of Vote" (PDF). Retrieved July 16, 2022.
  23. "General Election - Statement of the Vote, November 8, 2022" (PDF). California Secretary of State. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  24. "NOVEMBER 8, 2022, GENERAL ELECTION - VOTER PARTICIPATION STATISTICS BY COUNTY" (PDF). Secretary of State of California . Archived (PDF) from the original on December 19, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
California Assembly
Preceded byMinority Leader of the California Assembly
2017–2018
Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Republican nominee for Governor of California
2022
Most recent