How California has voted since 1960

California has 54 electoral votes in 2028, and at the current pace of population change it would lose four electoral votes after the 2030 census. Since 1960 it has voted Democratic 10 times and Republican 7 times. It has backed the national winner in 11 of 17 elections. Kamala Harris carried it in 2024 by 20.1 points, 21.6 points more Democratic than the nation. In 2024, 62.3% of its eligible voters cast a ballot, ranking 38th among the 50 states and DC (nationally, 64.3%). It has voted Democratic in every election since 1992. Its closest result was in 1960, when Richard Nixon won it by 0.6 points.

  1. 1960Nixon+0.6
  2. 1964Johnson+18.3
  3. 1968Nixon+3.1
  4. 1972Nixon+13.5
  5. 1976Ford+1.8
  6. 1980Reagan+16.8
  7. 1984Reagan+16.3
  8. 1988Bush+3.6
  9. 1992Clinton+13.4
  10. 1996Clinton+12.9
  11. 2000Gore+11.8
  12. 2004Kerry+10.0
  13. 2008Obama+24.1
  14. 2012Obama+23.1
  15. 2016Clinton+30.1
  16. 2020Biden+29.2
  17. 2024Harris+20.1

Each box is one election: the winner in California and the margin in points. Darker boxes were won by 10 points or more, lighter by under 5.

Election night

11 p.m. ET

Polls close at 11 p.m. ET (8 p.m. Pacific).

Also closing at 11 p.m. ET: OR, WA.

Times from the 2024 general election; states rarely change them, and they will be confirmed for 2028.

2028 ratings

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In Congress

Senate

House: 43 Democrats, 8 Republicans, 1 independent

All 52 members
  1. 1 James Gallagher (R)
  2. 2 Jared Huffman (D)
  3. 3 Kevin Kiley (I)
  4. 4 Mike Thompson (D)
  5. 5 Tom McClintock (R)
  6. 6 Ami Bera (D)
  7. 7 Doris O. Matsui (D)
  8. 8 John Garamendi (D)
  9. 9 Josh Harder (D)
  10. 10 Mark DeSaulnier (D)
  11. 11 Nancy Pelosi (D)
  12. 12 Lateefah Simon (D)
  13. 13 Adam Gray (D)
  14. 14 Aisha Wahab (D)
  15. 15 Kevin Mullin (D)
  16. 16 Sam T. Liccardo (D)
  17. 17 Ro Khanna (D)
  18. 18 Zoe Lofgren (D)
  19. 19 Jimmy Panetta (D)
  20. 20 Vince Fong (R)
  21. 21 Jim Costa (D)
  22. 22 David G. Valadao (R)
  23. 23 Jay Obernolte (R)
  24. 24 Salud O. Carbajal (D)
  25. 25 Raul Ruiz (D)
  26. 26 Julia Brownley (D)
  27. 27 George Whitesides (D)
  28. 28 Judy Chu (D)
  29. 29 Luz M. Rivas (D)
  30. 30 Laura Friedman (D)
  31. 31 Gilbert Ray Cisneros (D)
  32. 32 Brad Sherman (D)
  33. 33 Pete Aguilar (D)
  34. 34 Jimmy Gomez (D)
  35. 35 Norma J. Torres (D)
  36. 36 Ted Lieu (D)
  37. 37 Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D)
  38. 38 Linda T. Sánchez (D)
  39. 39 Mark Takano (D)
  40. 40 Young Kim (R)
  41. 41 Ken Calvert (R)
  42. 42 Robert Garcia (D)
  43. 43 Maxine Waters (D)
  44. 44 Nanette Diaz Barragán (D)
  45. 45 Derek Tran (D)
  46. 46 J. Luis Correa (D)
  47. 47 Dave Min (D)
  48. 48 Darrell Issa (R)
  49. 49 Mike Levin (D)
  50. 50 Scott H. Peters (D)
  51. 51 Sara Jacobs (D)
  52. 52 Juan Vargas (D)

From Congress.gov, as of Oct. 19, 2026. Vacant seats are not listed.

Margin by election

California margin by electionBars show the Democratic or Republican margin in California in each election since 1960; the line shows the national popular-vote margin. The table below has every figure.R+40R+30R+20R+10EvenD+10D+20D+30D+401960: R+0.6 (nation D+0.2)'601964: D+18.3 (nation D+22.6)'641968: R+3.1 (nation R+0.7)'681972: R+13.5 (nation R+23.2)'721976: R+1.8 (nation D+2.1)'761980: R+16.8 (nation R+9.7)'801984: R+16.3 (nation R+18.2)'841988: R+3.6 (nation R+7.7)'881992: D+13.4 (nation D+5.6)'921996: D+12.9 (nation D+8.5)'962000: D+11.8 (nation D+0.5)'002004: D+10.0 (nation R+2.5)'042008: D+24.1 (nation D+7.3)'082012: D+23.1 (nation D+3.9)'122016: D+30.1 (nation D+2.1)'162020: D+29.2 (nation D+4.5)'202024: D+20.1 (nation R+1.5)'24

California margin National popular vote

By county

Donald Trump won 33 of California's 58 counties in 2024; Kamala Harris won 25.

Loading the county map…

Largest counties, 2024

CountyVotesMarginShift from 2020
Los Angeles County3,728,427D+32.9→R 11.2
San Diego County1,477,786D+16.8→R 6.0
Orange County1,390,965D+2.7→R 6.4
Riverside County940,405R+1.3→R 9.2
San Bernardino County761,714R+2.1→R 12.8
Santa Clara County750,433D+40.0→R 7.5
Alameda County669,907D+53.6→R 9.0
Sacramento County656,626D+19.7→R 5.5
Contra Costa County528,904D+37.9→R 7.4
San Francisco County402,964D+64.8→R 7.7

Biggest shifts from 2020 to 2024: toward the Republican, Imperial County (25.2), Merced County (15.0), Sutter County (15.0); toward the Democrat, Plumas County (0.2), Del Norte County (0.8), Modoc County (1.6) — in points of margin.

County returns from the MIT Election Data and Science Lab (official state data), 2000–2024. Margin is the Democrat's share minus the Republican's, of all votes cast.

Results by year

YearWinnerDemocratRepublicanOtherMarginNationTurnoutEV
2024 Kamala HarrisHarris lostHarris 58.5%9,276,179Trump 38.3%6,081,6973.2%D+20.1R+1.562.3%54
2020 Joe BidenBidenBiden 63.5%11,110,250Trump 34.3%6,006,4292.2%D+29.2D+4.568.8%55
2016 Hillary ClintonClinton lostClinton 61.7%8,753,788Trump 31.6%4,483,8106.7%D+30.1D+2.158.3%55
2012 Barack ObamaObamaObama 60.2%7,854,285Romney 37.1%4,839,9582.6%D+23.1D+3.955.8%55
2008 Barack ObamaObamaObama 61.0%8,274,473McCain 37.0%5,011,7812.0%D+24.1D+7.361.7%55
2004 John KerryKerry lostKerry 54.3%6,745,485Bush 44.4%5,509,8261.3%D+10.0R+2.559.8%55
2000 Al GoreGore lostGore 53.5%5,861,203Bush 41.7%4,567,4294.9%D+11.8D+0.556.0%54
1996 Bill ClintonClintonClinton 51.1%5,119,835Dole 38.2%3,828,381Perot 7.0%D+12.9D+8.555.0%54
1992 Bill ClintonClintonClinton 46.0%5,121,325Bush 32.6%3,630,574Perot 20.6%D+13.4D+5.661.6%54
1988 George H.W. BushBushDukakis 47.6%4,702,233Bush 51.1%5,054,9171.3%R+3.6R+7.757.4%47
1984 Ronald ReaganReaganMondale 41.3%3,922,519Reagan 57.5%5,467,0091.2%R+16.3R+18.259.0%47
1980 Ronald ReaganReaganCarter 35.9%3,082,943Reagan 52.7%4,522,994Anderson 8.6%R+16.8R+9.756.2%45
1976 Gerald FordFord lostCarter 48.0%3,742,284Ford 49.8%3,882,2442.3%R+1.8D+2.1—45
1972 Richard NixonNixonMcGovern 41.5%Nixon 55.0%3.5%R+13.5R+23.2—45
1968 Richard NixonNixonHumphrey 44.7%Nixon 47.8%Wallace 6.7%R+3.1R+0.7—40
1964 Lyndon B. JohnsonJohnsonJohnson 59.1%Goldwater 40.8%0.1%D+18.3D+22.6—40
1960 Richard NixonNixon lostKennedy 49.6%Nixon 50.1%0.4%R+0.6D+0.2—32

Margin is the Democrat's share minus the Republican's, in percentage points; Nation is the same for the national popular vote. "Other" is everyone else combined, or the leading third-party candidate where one took 5% or more. Vote counts from 1976. Turnout is ballots cast as a share of eligible voters, from 1980 (UF Election Lab; the newest year is preliminary).

Electoral votes

Electoral votes change after each census, when House seats are reapportioned.

  • 3219601950 census
  • 401964–19681960 census
  • 451972–19801970 census
  • 471984–19881980 census
  • 541992–20001990 census
  • 552004–20082000 census
  • 552012–20202010 census
  • 542024–20282020 census
  • 502032–2040projected

Projected: California's share of House seats after the 2030 census if each state's population keeps changing at its pace since 2020, from the Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey population estimates (July 1, 2024). If the count were taken today it would have 52. An estimate, not a forecast.

Before 1960

California cast electoral votes in 27 presidential elections before 1960, the first in 1852. It backed the eventual president in 24 of them.

YearCarried byElectorsMarginBacked winner
1956Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican32+11.2✓
1952Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican32+13.7✓
1948Harry S. Truman Democratic25+0.5✓
1944Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic25+13.6✓
1940Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic22+16.3✓
1936Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic22+35.7✓
1932Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic22+21.9✓
1928Herbert Hoover Republican13+30.8✓
1924Calvin Coolidge Republican13+24.4✓
1920Warren G. Harding Republican13+46.3✓
1916Woodrow Wilson Democratic13+0.4✓
1912Theodore Roosevelt ProgressiveSplit: Roosevelt 11, Wilson 213+0.0–
1908William Howard Taft Republican10+25.4✓
1904Theodore Roosevelt Republican10+39.4✓
1900William McKinley Republican9+13.7✓
1896William McKinley RepublicanSplit: McKinley 8, Bryan 19+8.7✓
1892Grover Cleveland DemocraticSplit: Cleveland 8, Harrison 19+0.0✓
1888Benjamin Harrison Republican8+2.9✓
1884James G. Blaine Republican8+6.8–
1880Winfield S. Hancock DemocraticSplit: Hancock 5, Garfield 16+0.1–
1876Rutherford B. Hayes Republican6+1.8✓
1872Ulysses S. Grant Republican6+14.0✓
1868Ulysses S. Grant Republican5+0.5✓
1864Abraham Lincoln Republican5+17.2✓
1860Abraham Lincoln Republican4+0.6✓
1856James Buchanan Democratic4+15.6✓
1852Franklin Pierce Democratic4+6.2✓

Margin: the winner's lead over the runner-up in the state's popular vote, in points. A dash means the legislature chose the electors (common before the 1830s) or no popular vote is on record. Each year links to that election's map and full results.