Senator Mike McGuire Announced As Next CA Senate Pro Tem

Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) announced late on Monday that she would be stepping down from being the Senate leader early next year, with Senator Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) named her replacement following a unanimous vote by the Democratic Senate caucus.

Atkins has been the Senate Pro Tem since 2018, when she replaced then-Senator Kevin de Leon. While Senate leadership has not been in doubt during her tenure, things proved to be much more chaotic in the Assembly in recent years. Last year, Assemblyman Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) led a movement in the Assembly to get himself picked as the next Assembly Speaker because of growing discontent with Assemblyman Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) in that position. In the Spring of 2022, Rivas cobbled together support in the Assembly. By May, he had enough support to force a vote, but that led directly to a six-hour closed door caucus meeting standoff that resulted in Rendon staying in power.

While Rendon won, it did ultimately force a transition of power to Rivas. Unlike previous years where there has been a smooth transition, the Assembly leadership change had a rocky change of power in the last year, with Rivas only being sworn in as the next speaker only two months ago.

“I was very, very angry about it,” said Rendon in June. “Rivas hasn’t asked me for help, and I haven’t thought about offering it. I have hurt feelings with the way things were carried out, for sure. I think it was really embarrassing for the institution, the way they acted.”

Wanting to avoid another political leadership fight, Atkins announced her plans to step down as Pro Tem sometime in early 2024 on Monday. In a stark contrast to the months of political wrangling behind Rivas’ ascension in the Assembly, the Democratic Senate Caucus  held a simple vote during a two-hour meeting on Monday. Following the meeting, the Caucus held a press conference announcing that McGuire was unanimously selected as the next Pro Tem.

Atkins, who will be term-limited out next year, made it clear during the press conference on Monday that the Caucus did not want an internal fight to drag the process out for months like what happened in the Assembly, and instead wanted a smooth transition so that Senators could focus on the end of the session.

“The caucus chose to announce the transition now because a long, drawn-out successor campaign would not be in the best interest of the Senate nor the people who we were elected to represent,” said Senator Atkins. “We have a lot of work to get through in the next few weeks. This work does not mix well with internal caucus politics being at the top of everyone’s minds.”

A change of leadership in the Senate

McGuire, a former Healdsburg City Councilman and Sonoma County Supervisor who was first elected to the state Senate in 2014, echoed the reasoning of Atkins and the Caucus for a smooth transition of power.

“I want to be very clear, there is one leader, one leader at a time,” said McGuire. “The Pro Tem and I are unified on transition. It is an absolute honor to be surrounded by the members of this caucus, words are not enough to extend my gratitude, honor and humility.

“No matter what your political affiliation may be, you deserve to be able to have good schools, quality health care, affordable housing that we can work together to be able to tackle the homelessness crisis, wildfire safe communities. Pro Tem Atkins has allowed for all voices to be heard, and that tradition will continue in this institution.”

While the GOP has been at odds with McGuire’s legislation in the past, most notably SB 27, a 2019 law that requires Presidential and Gubernatorial candidates running for office in California to release their recent tax returns, party leadership congratulated him on the new position on Tuesday.

“Even before both of us were in leadership, Mike and I had a long and positive history of working together to better California,” said Senator Brian Jones (R-San Diego). “I deeply appreciate his respect for differing viewpoints. He has shown a willingness to work in a bipartisan manner and we are excited to continue this cooperation.”

The new Pro Tem, along with other recently announced leadership changes such as a new incoming Senate GOP Caucus Chair, will leave the state Legislature significantly different early next year from where it was only a year ago.

“It’s been a very tumultuous year or so when it comes to new people taking over,” said Dana, a Capitol staffer at in Sacramento. “Rendon had been in as Speaker since 2016 and Atkins, who had actually been his predecessor as Speaker, has been the Senate leader since 2018. It’s been steady for awhile. But now Rivas is in, and McGuire will come in next year. Everyone has to get used to the new people in charge.”

“The big difference is how they got in. Atkins and [Senate Democratic Caucus Leader Monique] Limon (D-Santa Barbara), and pretty much everyone in the Caucus did not want a repeat of what happened in the Assembly and have so much bad blood be there. I mean, Rivas is in now, and there are still many Democrats upset over how it all happened. Atkins and McGuire, for all their faults, made sure to make this civil.”

McGuire is expected to formally become the next Pro Tem in the Senate in early 2024.