Politics in the San Francisco Bay Area

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Politics in the San Francisco Bay Area is widely regarded as one of the most liberal in the country. According to the California Secretary of State, the Democratic Party holds a voter registration advantage in every congressional district, State Senate district, State Assembly district, State Board of Equalization district, County Board of Supervisors district, all nine counties, and all of the 101 incorporated municipalities in the Bay Area. The Republican Party holds a voter registration advantage in one congressional sub-district (the portion of the 9th in Contra Costa County) and unincorporated Solano County. [1]

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Since 1960, the nine-county Bay Area has voted for Republican presidential candidates only twice: in 1972 for Richard Nixon and in 1980 for Ronald Reagan, both Californians. The last county to vote for a Republican presidential candidate was Napa County in 1988 for George H. W. Bush.

County-level statistics

All nine counties in the Bay Area currently have a voter registration advantage in favor of the Democratic Party.

County
Population (2020) [2] 2024 election results [3] Median household income (2018) [4] Per capita income (2011) [5] Voter Registration (2023) [6]
DemocraticIndependentRepublican
Alameda 1,682,29674.6%—21.0% Harris$92,574$33,888563,864222,019102,953
Contra Costa 1,165,98367.3%-29.4% Harris$93,712$36,274379,524153,822127,752
Marin 262,32580.6%-16.7% Harris$110,217$49,439106,92133,10220,721
Napa 138,01465.9%-31.1% Harris$84,753$32,17042,49116,98817,731
San Francisco 878,39280.3%-15.5% Harris$104,552$44,905318,286122,62434,890
San Mateo 764,65973.5%-23.2% Harris$113,776$44,331244,946104,64660,259
Santa Clara 1,936,27868.0%-28.1% Harris$116,178$39,365525,176280,493167,840
Solano 453,55160.0%-37.0% Harris$77,609$27,785129,59357,89558,542
Sonoma 488,86271.4%-25.2% Harris$76,753$30,868171,74453,57852,658
Median——$96,265$37,851———
Total7,770,36070.1%–24.2% Harris——2,482,5451,342,167643,346

Congressional districts

Every Congressional district in the Bay Area is currently represented by a Democrat. According to the Cook Partisan Voting Index (CPVI), congressional districts the Bay Area tends to favor Democratic candidates by roughly 40 to 50 percentage points, considerably above the mean for California and the nation overall. All congressional districts in the region voted for Democrat Kamala Harris over Republican Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential Election.

DistrictLocationRepresentativeCook PVI [9] 2024 election results [10] Median household income (2025) [11]
2nd Marin County and the North Coast Jared Huffman D+2470.9%–25.7% Harris$97,004
4th Lake and Napa, most of Yolo, and parts of Solano and Sonoma Mike Thompson D+1764.0%–32.8% Harris$98,067
8th Parts of Solano and Contra Costa around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta John Garamendi D+2470.1%-26.6% Harris$95,876
10th Most of Contra Costa: Concord, Southern Antioch, Walnut Creek and parts of Alameda, California Mark DeSaulnier D+1865.2%-31.4% Harris$151,546
11th San Francisco Nancy Pelosi D+3681.4%–14.1% Harris$142,524
12th Berkeley, Oakland, and San Leandro Lateefah Simon D+3984.5% 10.6% Harris$111,408
14th Hayward, Union City, and the Tri-Valley Eric Swalwell D+2065.8%-30.3% Harris$137,402
15th Most of San Mateo County and southern San Francisco Kevin Mullin D+2772.2%-24.3% Harris$151,494
16th From Pacifica to the southern edge of San Jose through Menlo Park and western Silicon Valley Sam Liccardo D+2672.5%-23.9% Harris$181,659
17th South of Fremont and northern Silicon Valley Ro Khanna D+2566.7%-28.8% Harris$181,913
18th San Jose and Morgan Hill Zoe Lofgren D+2363.2%-33.7% Harris$103,010
Median——D+1972%–25% Harris$69,316

During the Base Realignment and Closures (BRACs) of the 1990s, almost all the military installations in the region were closed. [12] [13] The only remaining major active duty military installations are Travis Air Force Base [14] and Coast Guard Island.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ "Report of Registration" (PDF). California Secretary of State. February 20, 2024. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
  2. ↑ "County Population Totals and Components of Change: 2020-2024". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  3. ↑ "California 2024 Presidential Election per County" (PDF). sos.ca.gov. Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  4. ↑ "California Median household income (in 2018 dollars), 2014-2018 by County". www.indexmundi.com. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  5. ↑ "2011 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates". 2011 American Community Survey. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Report of Registration" (PDF). California Secretary of State. Oct 3, 2023. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  7. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B02001. U.S. Census website. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 California Secretary of State. Report of Registration as of February 10, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress" (PDF). Cook Political Report. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-05. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  10. ↑ "California Presidential Election Results by Congressional District" (PDF). Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  11. ↑ "My Congressional District". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  12. ↑ Kevin Starr (February 27, 2005). "Keep California the 'Gibraltar of the Pacific'". San Diego Union Tribune . Retrieved May 16, 2011.
  13. ↑ Jane Gross (March 14, 1993). "Spared 2 Base Closings, Californians Lobby On". The New York Times . Retrieved May 16, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Base-closing plan spares Beale, Travis". Sacramento Business Journal. May 13, 2005. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
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