A Deal for Assembly Speaker – CalMatters

After five months of jockeying behind the scenes and another six-hour meeting behind closed doors, California Assembly Democrats today agreed to a lengthy transition that will see Robert Rivas succeed Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon next summer.

Stepping out of a Sacramento Convention Center ballroom, Rivas, a Democrat from Hollister, said the Democratic caucus voted unanimously to keep Rendon, a Democrat from Lakewood, as speaker until the end of June, when to which Rivas should finally assume the influential role of overseeing the lower house of the legislature.

“We have such a big caucus here in the State Assembly. Glad we had the opportunity to come out of there united,” Rivas said. “It was a matter of unity. It was about getting our caucus together, planning for the future.

Rivas initially challenged Rendon for the presidency, one of the most powerful positions on the state Capitol, in late May, but was stalled in a tense six-hour caucus meeting in which Rendon refused to resign and Rivas was unable to muster enough support to force him out.

Rendon has served as president since early 2016, the longest reign since the 1990s, when California voters embraced term limits. It will end in 2024.

Assembly Democrats are now expected to vote on Dec. 5, the first day of the new legislative session, to formally adopt the transition plan. Because they hold a supermajority of seats in the chamber, they don’t need Republican votes to elect a president.

Rivas, who was first elected in 2018, would become president June 30 – at the end of the state budget process and more than a year after Rivas first announced he had enough support to lead the Assembly.

Although he was flanked by dozens of colleagues, who descended an escalator together to applaud as the meeting ended tonight, Rivas was notably not joined by Rendon, who did not appear publicly after the vote. .

“I will continue to work for Californians who need it most and I will continue to put power in the hands of my members, especially those who are underrepresented,” Rendon said in a statement. “I look forward to working with Assemblyman Rivas in anticipation of a smooth transition in 2023. Now is the time to work together for California.”

The two faced off throughout the summer and fall in a battle for influence in the Assembly caucus, particularly among candidates for an unusually high number of open seats this election.

Rivas took the extraordinary step of creating a political action committee, outside the Democratic Party apparatus, which raised funds from 19 of his fellow House members and directed approximately $900,000 into more than a dozen races across the state. The committee, essentially a competitor to the traditional Democratic Assembly campaign account controlled by Rendon, has heightened tension with many of Rendon’s supporters.

But the caucus – which numbered 63 at the meeting on Thursday, according to a spokesman for Rendon, including some whose races remain too close to be called two days after voting ended – aimed to project unity as a resolution to the drama finally emerged tonight.

Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, a Democrat from Sacramento who was a key Rendon ally, stood alongside an emotional Rivas as the designated speaker recounted his rise from the son of farmworkers to the top of California politics.

“Time heals wounds,” McCarty said. “We have a job to do.”

Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat from Woodland Hills who backed Rivas, said many supported the compromise because they didn’t want the presidential fight to be a distraction in the new legislative session, which will be held in conjunction with a special session convened by Governor Gavin. Newsom is considering a “windfall tax” on oil companies to help struggling Californians.

“We have to put our internal politics behind us and get to the political work,” Gabriel said. “That was a big motivator for a lot of people.”

CalMatters reporter Ben Christopher contributed to this story.