California is losing clout in the U.S. Capitol
LA TimesAn empty chair sits at the top of the three-tiered dais of the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 3 in Washington. For nearly five years, California reigned supreme in the U.S. House of Representatives, with the speaker’s gavel passing uninterrupted across party lines from Rep. Nancy Pelosi to Rep. Kevin McCarthy. But a slew of House retirements in recent years and the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein have chipped away at California’s Capitol Hill clout. “Knowledge is power,” said Capitol Advisors Group President Kevin Gordon, an education lobbyist who closely follows the state’s presence in Congress. But the near-term consequences are real, including “a brain drain on both the competence of the committees they serve on and the potential rewards that California gets by having people who know how to work the system.” This year’s exodus of lawmakers is hardly unique to California: More than 35 members of Congress announced plans to leave their offices after this term, according to Ballotpedia.
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