Legislator Age Statistics

November 24, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Of the 800+ California state legislators elected to their first terms since 1950, here are some age-related statistics.

The big takeaways are…

  • Sebastian Ridley-Thomas was the second-youngest member in 60 years.
  • When Ian Calderon was elected, he was the youngest member since Tom McClintock in 1982.
  • Cindy Montañez was the youngest modern woman to serve in the California Legislature (but not the youngest ever).
  • Cheryl R. Brown was the oldest new member of the Legislature in more than a decade.

 

Youngest Age When Assuming Office

Legislator Gender First Year Age
1 McCarthy, John F. M 1950 25 years, 37 weeks
2 Lewis, John R. M 1981 26 years, 5 weeks
3 Ridley-Thomas, Sebastian M 2013 26 years, 17 weeks
4 McClintock, Tom M 1982 26 years, 22 weeks
5 Costa, Jim M 1978 26 years, 34 weeks
6 Imbrecht, Charles R. M 1976 26 years, 45 weeks
7 Quimby, John P. M 1963 26 years, 47 weeks
8 Calderon, Ian M 2012 27 years, 7 weeks
9 Ingalls, Walter M. M 1973 27 years, 12 weeks
10 Lempert, Ted M 1988 27 years, 25 weeks
11 Moretti, Bob M 1965 27 years, 31 weeks
12 Roberti, David A. M 1967 27 years, 40 weeks
13 Sebastiani, Don M 1980 27 years, 42 weeks
14 Torres, Art M 1974 28 years, 10 weeks
15 Carter, Douglas F. M 1973 28 years, 11 weeks
16 Cory, Kenneth M 1967 28 years, 14 weeks
17 Lehman, Richard M 1976 28 years, 21 weeks
18 Nolan, Patrick M 1978 28 years, 25 weeks
19 Rees, Thomas M. M 1955 28 years, 40 weeks
20 Karabian, Walter J. M 1967 28 years, 42 weeks
21 Woodruff, Paul A. M 1988 28 years, 42 weeks
22 Strickland, Tony M 1998 28 years, 43 weeks
23 Wilson, Bob M 1972 28 years, 44 weeks
24 Montañez, Cindy F 2002 28 years, 46 weeks
25 Hill, Frank M 1983 28 years, 47 weeks

 

Oldest Age When Assuming Office

Legislator Gender First Year Age
1 Soto, Nell F 1998 71 years, 25 weeks
2 Takasugi, Nao M 1992 69 years, 36 weeks
3 Lapthorne, George J. M 1960 69 years, 33 weeks
4 Brown, Cheryl R. F 2012 68 years, 43 weeks
5 Lowenthal, Bonnie F 2008 68 years, 41 weeks
6 Bradley, Willis W. M 1953 67 years, 27 weeks
7 Ammiano, Tom M 2008 66 years, 51 weeks
8 Quirk, Bill M 2012 66 years, 13 weeks
9 Margett, Bob M 1995 66 years, 4 weeks
10 Mullin, Gene M 2002 65 years, 33 weeks
11 Carter, Wilmer Amina F 2006 65 years, 21 weeks
12 Coto, Joe M 2004 65 years, 14 weeks
13 House, George M 1994 65 years, 2 weeks
14 Berry, Swift M 1953 64 years, 51 weeks
15 Patterson, Jim M 2012 64 years, 42 weeks
16 Morrissey, Jim M 1994 64 years, 30 weeks
17 Pacheco, Robert M 1998 64 years, 27 weeks
18 Johnson, Edward C. M 1951 64 years, 21 weeks
19 Lyon, Jr., LeRoy E. M 1953 64 years, 16 weeks
20 Weber, Shirley N. F 2012 64 years, 11 weeks
21 Allen, Michael M 2010 63 years, 49 weeks
22 Cook, Paul M 2006 63 years, 40 weeks
23 Goldberg, Jackie F 2000 63 years, 26 weeks
24 Scott, Jack M 1996 63 years, 15 weeks
25 Dutra, John M 1998 63 years, 8 weeks

 

Oldest Age When Leaving Office

Legislator Gender Last Year Age
1 Alquist, Alfred E. M 1996 88 years, 18 weeks
2 Dymally, Mervyn M. M 2008 82 years, 30 weeks
3 Soto, Nell F 2008 82 years, 24 weeks
4 Greene, Leroy F. M 1998 80 years, 44 weeks
5 Rosenthal, Herschel M 1998 80 years, 38 weeks
6 Margett, Bob M 2008 79 years, 30 weeks
7 Bane, Tom M 1992 78 years, 49 weeks
8 Craven, William A. M 1998 77 years, 23 weeks
9 Karnette, Betty F 2008 77 years, 12 weeks
10 Lanterman, Frank M 1978 77 years, 5 weeks
11 Sher, Byron M 2004 76 years, 43 weeks
12 Ayala, Ruben S. M 1998 76 years, 39 weeks
13 Takasugi, Nao M 1998 76 years, 35 weeks
14 Marks, Milton M 1996 76 years, 20 weeks
15 Johnson, Edward C. M 1962 76 years, 19 weeks
16 Davis, Ed M 1992 76 years, 3 weeks
17 Scott, Jack M 2008 75 years, 15 weeks
18 Belotti, Frank P. M 1972 74 years, 47 weeks
19 Lowenthal, Bonnie F 2014 74 years, 41 weeks
20 Schrade, Jack M 1976 74 years, 28 weeks
21 Knight, William J. “Pete” M 2004 74 years, 25 weeks
22 Vincent, Edward M 2008 74 years, 24 weeks
23 Killea, Lucy F 1996 74 years, 18 weeks
24 Papan, Louis J. M 2002 74 years, 18 weeks
25 Kelley, David G. M 2002 74 years, 8 weeks

It’s worth noting that there are eight incumbent legislators who (if they serve in their current house until they are forced out due to term limits) will appear on the list above.

Filed Under: Current Research, From the Archive, JoinCalifornia, Special Elections, State Assembly, State Senate, Term Limits, Top Stories

NEW CHART: Legislators by Freshman Class

November 20, 2015 By Leave a Comment

After getting introductions to two new databases for biographical research (one of which is Moose Roots, a great collection of Census records as well as birth/death records), I started a refresh of the information in JoinCalifornia.com. The refresh included, among other things, updating the list of living and deceased former California legislators.

During this update, former Assemblyman Larry Chimbole (Assembly Class of 1975) died on November 10th. I had the privilege to meet Larry during his last visit to the State Capitol several years ago, and his passing was a good reminder of why I enjoy this work. It’s a good reminder that the California Legislature is bigger (for better or worse) than the current crop of legislators who currently hold office; it includes more than 4,400 people who have had some amazing life stories. I digress…

Living Legislators by Freshman Class (1947-2015) (as of 11/2015). Blue columns represent the number of new (never served before) legislators in each class, red columns represent the number still living today.

Living Legislators by Freshman Class (1947-2015)

According to the latest available data (which is always subject to change), there are a little under 600 people alive today who are current or former members of the California State Legislature. The youngest is current Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (born 1987 and elected in December 2013) and the oldest is former Assemblyman Willard M. Huyck (born 1917 and elected in 1946).

The chart above depicts [in BLUE] the number of new legislators (who have never served before) in each incoming class and [in RED] the number from each class who are still alive. For example, no members of the classes of 2007-2015 have died yet while the class of 2005-06 has lost two members (Gordon and Ruskin) and the class of 1999-2000 has lost four (Soto, Cox, Wiggins, and Firebaugh).

Of note is former Assemblyman Huyck (the last living legislator from the 1940s), the Class of 1985 (the smallest freshman class in state history), and the high turnover in 1990-Present that has resulted from term limits. Cool, right?

Serving Legislators by Freshman Class (1947-2015)

Serving Legislators by Freshman Class (1947-2015)

The second chart depicts [in BLUE] (same as in Chart 1) the number of new legislators in each incoming class and [in RED] the number from each class who are still serving in the Legislature. Of note is Senator Jim Nielsen (the sole remaining member of the Class of 1979), Senator Bob Huff (the sole remaining member of the Class of 2005), and the members of the class of 2013 who were not reelected in 2014. You can also see the how few legislators there are from before 2011. That’s why, on the first day of the 2015-16 legislative session, the total combined legislative experience of the full California Legislature was only 398 years (which was the lowest total in nearly a century).

It’ll be interesting to see how the 2016 election changes this chart; former Assemblymembers Michael D. Antonovich (1973) and Steven Bradford (2009) are running for State Senate, while Anna Caballero (2007) is running to return for a final term in the Assembly.

Filed Under: Current Research, Deaths, Editorial, JoinCalifornia, Special Elections, State Assembly, State Senate, Term Limits, Top Stories

Facts and Statistics 2015 Released

September 28, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Arthur Ohnimus

California Legislature

It started out with a simple enough question; “How many people have served in the California State Legislature?”

While it seems like it would be easy enough to answer (after all, the identities of state legislators is hardly a secret), the answer took some time to find. As it turned out, the weeks it took to find that answer made it much easier to find a flood of other answers about that part of state history.

Finding out how many people served in the California Legislature required knowing

  • A) How many people served in the Senate,
  • B) How many people served in the Assembly, and
  • C) How many people served in both.

After a lot of research to identify different people with similar names (sometimes fathers and sons, sometimes people who weren’t related) and people listed with different names in the two houses (like Assemblywoman Elaine W. Alquist and Senator Elaine K. Alquist), we had a pretty solid place to start.

The database was later expanded to include what house legislators served in during each session, their political affiliation, gender, and which term limits law they fell under.

The end result was the legislative facts and statistics booklet available at the link below.

It includes; the longest serving legislators, the longest gaps in service, how many years of prior legislative experience the members of different sessions had, and the legislators elected with the most and fewest votes in the past 15 years.

2015 Facts & StatsLegislative Facts and Statistics, 2015 Edition

 

Filed Under: Current Research, From the Archive, JoinCalifornia, Special Elections, State Assembly, State Senate, Term Limits, Top Stories