State Senate Republicans keep Fuller as leader

Senate Republicans in Sacramento unanimously re-elected Jean Fuller as leader on Tuesday. The Bakersfield Republican has led the caucus since August 2015. 

“I am honored and humbled that my Republican colleagues have elected me to continue serving as Senate Republican Leader,” Fuller said in a statement. “I am committed and focused on issues that help Californians – jobs and affordability.”

Last month, Chad Mayes, the Republican leader in the Assembly, was also re-elected. Both Fuller and Mayes will be tasked with steering their caucuses through a particularly difficult time for California Republicans. 

The November election relegated Republicans in the Legislature to mostly the role of bombthrowers and bystanders. By gaining a two-thirds supermajority in both houses of the Legislature, Democrats can approve taxes and add constitutional amendments to the ballot without Republican support. (Of course, that requires complete Democratic unity, which is often more elusive than it may seem at first glance.) 

Fuller took the caucus’ reins from Bob Huff, who was forced from the Legislature by term limits in November. In fact, it was losing Huff’s seat, located mostly in north Orange County, that gave Democrats the supermajority.

Democrat Josh Newman, a political newcomer, defeated then-sitting Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang, a Republican, to win the seat.