Summary
Current Position: State Senator of District 1
Affiliation: Republican
Candidate: 2023 Governor
OnAir Post: Brian Dahle
About
Source: Campaign page
Senator Brian Dahle is a voice for public safety, lowering taxes, and reducing homelessness. He opposes onerous government regulations that are driving up the cost of living forcing many to leave California and businesses to shutter their doors.
A longtime advocate of building a better business climate in California, Brian Dahle was the California Chamber of Commerce’s top-rated senator for pro-business votes in 2021 and has a 100 percent rating from the National Federation of Independent Business.
He was chosen by his peers in 2017 to be the Assembly Republican Leader, leading the caucus until after the 2018 elections, when he stepped down as leader to run in a special election to fill a vacant seat in the 1st Senate District.
Through his decade in the Legislature, he has worked to pursue environmental health to keep communities safe from devastating wildfires, passing multiple bills to modernize outdated laws and streamline regulations for landowners.
He has worked on a bipartisan basis to expand broadband internet access in underserved communities, better protect Californians’ digital privacy, and stop the gouging of hospital patients with surprise out-of-network bills.
He served on the Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response, reforming the Legislature itself so members weren’t protected from consequences of their own abusive behavior.
Before winning the election to the Legislature in 2012, he served his community for four terms on the Lassen County Board of Supervisors. He was especially proud of leaving the county debt-free with its pensions fully funded.
Web
Campaign Site, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, Instagram
Politics
Source: none
Finances
DAHLE, BRIAN has run in 7 races for public office, winning 6 of them. The candidate has raised a total of $6,265,563.
Source: Follow the Money
Voting Record
See: Vote Smart
Issues
Source: Campaign page
A Pledge From Brian Dahle
TO TELL THE TRUTH
It’s time we know the truth about why Sacramento is failing and what can be done to fix it and turn this state around.
TO BRING BALANCE TOTHE LEGISLATURE
It’s time for strong leadership and a government that works for you! I will continue to bring common sense solutions to Sacramento.
TO WORK HARD FOR YOU
It’s time to hold Sacramento accountable for the crushing regulations and wasteful spending. No more excuses. We will get results.
IT’S TIME FOR CHANGE!
Having served in California politics for over 25 years, Brian Dahle, a third-generation farmer has seen first-hand how decades of poor policies have crushed California’s once thriving economy.
Driven by love for his family and an unwavering belief that all Californians want a better future, Dahle is daring to believe that the future of California belongs in the hands of Californians.
JOIN SENATOR BRIAN DAHLE TO CREATE A CALIFORNIA THAT IS SAFE, AFFORDABLE, AND PROSPEROUS
Democracy & Governance
Government Incompetence, Waste and Fraud
The TRUTH: California has no plan to recoup those funds.
The PLAN: Provide greater oversight and accounting of distributed funds. Have clawbacks written into state contracts for underperforming entities. California’s state government is trying to solve so many problems at once that it often does the basic jobs of government badly and expensively. We need to focus on fundamentals – public safety, infrastructure – and ensure Californians are getting good value for their tax dollars.
Economy & Jobs
Economy
The ISSUE: California experienced a net loss of 2.6 million people to other states over the past decade. Since the pandemic, nearly 40,000 businesses have closed.
The TRUTH: The State of California has a $42 billion “surplus” because you pay the highest gas taxes and some of the highest personal income taxes. In spite of this, our schools rank near the bottom, we have the highest poverty rate, some of the worst roads, and a terrible business climate. We don’t have a funding issue; we have a leadership crisis.
The PLAN: We need to repeal the gas tax and roll back excessive regulations that have increased the cost of every sector of living, from energy to housing. It’s time we stop implementing bad policies that make it nearly impossible for anyone to afford the Californian dream.
We need to keep Californians and businesses here. Too many have given up on California simply because they can’t afford to live here. I will continue to support small businesses, as they are the backbone of California communities. The Legislature treats businesses like they are the enemy. We must simplify permitting and regulations so entrepreneurs’ dreams aren’t buried in paperwork and regulations.
Environment & Energy
Climate
The ISSUE: During the 2020 fire season, an estimated 4.3 million acres burned, the most since record-keeping began. These forest fires emit more carbon emissions than all the cars on the road for an entire year. Sadly, those emissions are not included by the state in their scoping plan.
The TRUTH: Climate change is not the primary cause of California’s recent super fires. Misguided efforts have prohibited environmental health.
The PLAN: Climate change must be addressed holistically. I believe Sacramento can do better. The Legislature voted down my bill (SB 495) that sought to smartly update California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 to require the California Air Resources Board to count emissions from wildfires into its pollution scoping plan. We have to address massive wildfires that are now causing carbon emissions comparable to the state’s vehicle emissions, not to mention their other harms. Climate is one factor, but even more important is our decision to ignore forest fuels while pretending that leaving forests unmanaged is good for the environment. We must get on a sustainable path.
Energy
The ISSUE: California consumers pay electricity rates that are 60 percent higher than the national average.
The TRUTH: Offsetting costs to consumers with ever-increasing bills for an unstable power grid is unacceptable.
The PLAN: We need to pause the regulators’ demands to reinvent the power supply based on an arbitrary schedule. Californians’ deserve reliable and affordable electricity. I will appoint a Public Utilities Commission that gets back to basics — safe, affordable, and reliable power. It is 2022 and we live in the richest country in the world. And yet our high power bills buy us brownouts on hot summer days and catastrophic wildfires sparked by an antiquated, failing power grid. Californians should not be in the dark or on the hook for experimental and unreliable energy sources. The state must move responsibly, and not at the expense of safety and jobs. To have balance we need to make sure there is other generation — natural gas, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind and solar.
Homelessness
The ISSUE: After spending billions of dollars, California’s homelessness crisis is only getting worse. California makes up 29% of the homeless in the entire country while only being 12% of the nation’s total population.
The TRUTH: Too many politicians believe that throwing more money at the problem will solve it. It won’t. It hasn’t. It has only made it worse. Without addressing mental health issues, addiction, and rising housing costs, we aren’t fostering healthy communities.
The PLAN: Do an audit to determine what programs are working and which ones are not, and strengthen our rehabilitation and mental health services. Since the 1970s, California has put ever-stricter regulations on housing development — in the name of the environment and safety, but also often explicitly on a local level “to preserve housing values.” The result is a housing shortage that has been growing worse for a generation. We don’t need higher taxes and more regulations. We’ve raised taxes to fund affordable housing, through SB 2 and the cap-and-trade program, and it’s being put to use to build rent-capped units at grossly inflated costs thanks to systems designed with everything in mind except efficiency.
We need to streamline state programs for vulnerable populations, deregulate to encourage housing development, and start treating housing as a critical human need and not an impact that needs years of CEQA review before approval. In addition, new methods to finance infrastructure that reduce the heavy local reliance on development impact fees to fund municipal services are vital.
Health & Education
COVID
The ISSUE: California has haphazardly spent billions of state and federal money on its COVID response with lackluster results. We currently have massive rapid testing shortages and difficulties getting boosters, and businesses are closing their doors. California’s overpriced COVID lab in Valencia has routinely underperformed, failing to meet the contract’s goals for turnaround times and numbers of processed tests. But the state auto-renewed the yearlong contract at the end of October 2021. Additionally, converting the Sleep Train Arena to a field hospital cost millions, but the site saw only nine patients. The Employment Development Department, in particular, was nothing short of a disaster. We told everyone to stay home and apply for supplemental unemployment, then we couldn’t get benefits out to countless Californians who’d paid into the system for years, even as we paid out billions in fraudulent benefits, including to prison inmates. Many state agencies are poorly managed, but this is a case where Californians needed the state to act effectively and were left spending weeks on the phone desperately trying to reach a human.
The TRUTH: After shutting down our state and schools, and spending billions of dollars, our children are masked and the Legislature continues to push for more mandates. A constant stream of changing directives from Sacramento left everyone trying to implement them deeply frustrated and ultimately eroded the trust in state government. More and more data is showing that extended closure in California was devastating to our students.
The PLAN: Provide greater oversight and accounting of distributed funds. Write clawbacks into state contracts for underperforming entities like the Valencia testing lab and quantify actual return on investment. Stop recklessly spending billions of dollars to respond to the pandemic’s challenges with poor results. We will help our struggling businesses, and work to end the constant cycle of short supply of medically necessary items. Also, the initial school closures might have been the right call based on sheer uncertainty. It was horribly damaging to allow our schools and our kids’ learning and their mental health to remain closed as long as they were. In my Senate District in northern California, schools in most counties could and did open in the 2020-21 school year based on the state’s metrics, and they were successful. But they had to fight the state’s periodic rule changes to stay open, and their success at safely educating kids through the pandemic was basically ignored by a majority-party that said it couldn’t be done.
Public Safety
Crime and the Public Safety
The ISSUE: Many of the most serious crimes, particularly murder, have spiked. Retail theft, violent crimes, and home invasions dominate the news and put our families in danger.
The TRUTH: One of the primary functions of government is public safety. The rights of criminals shouldn’t come before those of the victims.
The PLAN: I opposed Proposition 47 and 57, and I was an early supporter of Proposition 20 to reverse their worst provisions. It is well known that organized theft rings are exploiting the high threshold for triggering a felony. Proposition 57 is accelerating the release of convicted felons with serious violent histories because of legal technicalities in the definition of a “violent” crime. Under the law today, rape of an unconscious woman is not a “violent crime.” California dismantled its Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement a decade ago, simply abandoning its key leadership role in containing organized trafficking operations. Local law enforcement needs that support. We need to keep our communities safe and hold criminals accountable for their actions. You have every right to feel safe in your community and when you are home.
See Also
Google Search
More Web Links
Wikipedia
Brian Dwain Dahle[1] (born September 20, 1965) is an American politician and farmer who has served as a member of the California State Senate from the 1st district since 2019.[2] A member of the Republican Party, Dahle served as a member of the California State Assembly from the 1st district from 2012 to 2019, and as Assembly minority leader from 2017 to 2018. Before his election to the state legislature, Dahle served on the Lassen County Board of Supervisors from 1997 to 2012.[3]
On June 4, 2019, Dahle won a special election to fill the State Senate seat vacated by Ted Gaines, who resigned after his election to the California State Board of Equalization.[4] After Dahle joined the State Senate, his wife Megan Dahle was elected to his vacated Assembly seat.
Dahle was the Republican nominee for Governor of California in 2022. He was defeated by incumbent Democrat Gavin Newsom.[5]
Early life and education
Descended from Tule Lake homesteaders and the son and grandson of farmers, Dahle was born in Redding and grew up in rural Lassen County.[6] His grandfather was a World War I veteran who won his family farm in Bieber in a lottery during the Great Depression.[7]
Dahle grew up poor with an alcoholic father and graduated from Big Valley High School in Bieber.[8] Unable to afford college, he tried his hand at farming, but lost money in the attempt. To pay back debts, he took a job at a lumber mill, and later at hydroelectric plants.[7] He also worked in construction for several years, including in a gold mine, and eventually began a seed business, which he owns to this day.[9]
Career
Lassen County Board of Supervisors
Dahle won his first election to the Lassen County Board of Supervisors in 1996, beating a popular teacher.[9] He was reelected in 2000, 2004, and 2008. He represented District 4 on the board.
Dahle served one-year terms as chairman of the board in 1998, 2002, 2007, and 2012. He left his seat early on November 27, 2012, in order to take office in the Assembly the following week.
California State Assembly
Dahle was first elected to the California State Assembly for the 1st district with 65% of the vote in November 2012,[10] and reelected in 2014, 2016, and 2018. He was appointed vice chair of the Assembly Environmental and Toxic Materials Committee, the Revenue and Taxation Committee, and the Natural Resources Committee. He also served as a member of the following committees: Agriculture; Water, Parks and Wildlife; Privacy and Consumer Protection; Utilities and Commerce; Fisheries and Aquaculture; Insurance; and Business and Professions.
In 2018, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon appointed Dahle to the Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response, which works to improve services for Capitol staff. In the Assembly, Dahle was known for writing and passing a number of bipartisan bills under Governor Jerry Brown.
Dahle’s Republican colleagues elected him minority leader on August 24, 2017. He served in that role from September 16, 2017, to November 8, 2018.
Dahle resigned from the Assembly on June 12, 2019, after winning a special election to the California State Senate. His wife Megan Dahle was elected to succeed him in the Assembly in a special election.
California State Senate
After Ted Gaines resigned, Dahle won a special election to replace him in the California State Senate and took office on June 12, 2019.[2] He was reelected in 2020 with 57.7% of the vote.
Dahle serves as vice chair of the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee. He also serves on the following committees: Banking and Financial Institutions; Budget and Fiscal Review; Education; Environmental Quality; and Transportation.
Caucus memberships
2022 California gubernatorial election
Dahle was the Republican nominee for governor of California in the 2022 election.[11] He placed second in the nonpartisan blanket primary, with 17.5% of the vote.[12]
In September 2022, incumbent Democratic governor Gavin Newsom agreed to face off against Dahle in a single gubernatorial debate, sometime in late October.[13] On October 23, Dahle and Newsom participated in a televised debate, hosted by KQED in San Francisco.[14]
Political positions
Dahle favors a suspension of the California gas tax to address high fuel prices, building more charging stations for electric vehicles, building the proposed Sites Reservoir project, and increasing oil production in California. He also supports rolling back parts of Proposition 47, but opposes jailing marijuana users.[15] He has worked to stop medical patients from getting surprise medical bills from health care providers that are outside their insurance network.[9] To reduce homelessness in California, Dahle supports building more affordable housing and tackling drug abuse. He has criticized Newsom’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and supports streamlining the path to obtaining U.S. citizenship.[16]
Dahle has voted against bills intended to increase access to abortion and has said that abortion’s legality will not change in California after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling.[17] He voted for a bill aimed at reducing the cost of contraceptives in California.[9]
Dahle describes himself as a supporter of the Second Amendment. He has voted against SB 1327, legislation that allows private citizens to sue those who illegally sell assault weapons or .50 BMG rifles in California, but supports making it a felony to steal a firearm, and has voted for a bill that would make it easier to confiscate guns from convicted felons.[9]
Controversies
In June 2022, Dahle was involved in an auction for a goat named Cedar at the fair but did not receive the goat after pledging the highest bid[18] after Cedar’s owners backed out of the sale. Despite having released his claim to Cedar, State Fair officials continued pursuing ownership of the goat, resulting in the police seizing Cedar and having him slaughtered.[citation needed]
Personal life
Dahle is married to Megan Dahle, who holds his former State Assembly seat.[19] They have three children together.[7][9]
Electoral history
California State Assembly
2012
| Primary election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Republican | Brian Dahle | 41,384 | 34.2 | |
| Republican | Rick Bosetti | 34,457 | 28.5 | |
| Democratic | Robert Meacher | 31,120 | 25.8 | |
| Green | David Edwards | 7,381 | 6.1 | |
| Libertarian | Charley Hooper | 6,503 | 5.4 | |
| Total votes | 120,845 | 100.0 | ||
| General election | ||||
| Republican | Brian Dahle | 116,098 | 65.6 | |
| Republican | Rick Bosetti | 60,920 | 34.4 | |
| Total votes | 177,018 | 100.0 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
2014
| Primary election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Republican | Brian Dahle (incumbent) | 65,466 | 69.5 | |
| Democratic | Brigham Sawyer Smith | 28,688 | 30.5 | |
| Total votes | 94,154 | 100.0 | ||
| General election | ||||
| Republican | Brian Dahle (incumbent) | 104,103 | 70.2 | |
| Democratic | Brigham Sawyer Smith | 44,119 | 29.8 | |
| Total votes | 148,222 | 100.0 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
2016
| Primary election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Republican | Brian Dahle (incumbent) | 103,500 | 99.6 | |
| Libertarian | Donn Coenen (write-in) | 446 | 0.4 | |
| Total votes | 103,946 | 100.0 | ||
| General election | ||||
| Republican | Brian Dahle (incumbent) | 148,657 | 73.8 | |
| Libertarian | Donn Coenen | 52,871 | 26.2 | |
| Total votes | 201,528 | 100.0 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
2018
| Primary election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Republican | Brian Dahle (incumbent) | 82,916 | 64.1 | |
| Democratic | Caleen Sisk | 30,902 | 23.9 | |
| Democratic | Peter Van Peborgh | 11,446 | 8.9 | |
| No party preference | Jenny O’Connell-Nowain | 3,987 | 3.1 | |
| No party preference | Jerome B.C. Venus (write-in) | 9 | 0.0 | |
| Total votes | 129,260 | 100.0 | ||
| General election | ||||
| Republican | Brian Dahle (incumbent) | 125,227 | 63.0 | |
| Democratic | Caleen Sisk | 73,449 | 37.0 | |
| Total votes | 198,676 | 100.0 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
California State Senate
2019 (special)
| Primary election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Republican | Brian Dahle | 57,725 | 29.6 | |
| Republican | Kevin Kiley | 54,290 | 27.9 | |
| Democratic | Silke Pflueger | 49,164 | 25.2 | |
| Republican | Rex Hime | 18,050 | 9.3 | |
| Democratic | Steve Baird | 10,855 | 5.6 | |
| Republican | Theodore Dziuba | 4,672 | 2.4 | |
| Total votes | 194,756 | 100.0 | ||
| General election | ||||
| Republican | Brian Dahle | 70,556 | 53.1 | |
| Republican | Kevin Kiley | 62,259 | 46.9 | |
| Total votes | 132,815 | 100.0 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
California Governor
2022
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Gavin Newsom (incumbent) | 3,945,728 | 55.9 | |
| Republican | Brian Dahle | 1,252,800 | 17.7 | |
| No party preference | Michael Shellenberger | 290,286 | 4.1 | |
| Republican | Jenny Rae Le Roux | 246,665 | 3.5 | |
| Republican | Anthony Trimino | 246,322 | 3.5 | |
| Republican | Shawn Collins | 173,083 | 2.5 | |
| Green | Luis J. Rodriguez | 124,672 | 1.8 | |
| Republican | Leo S. Zacky | 94,521 | 1.3 | |
| Republican | Major Williams | 92,580 | 1.3 | |
| Republican | Robert C. Newman II | 82,849 | 1.2 | |
| Democratic | Joel Ventresca | 66,885 | 0.9 | |
| Republican | David Lozano | 66,542 | 0.9 | |
| Republican | Ronald A. Anderson | 53,554 | 0.8 | |
| No party preference | Reinette Senum | 53,015 | 0.8 | |
| Democratic | Armando Perez-Serrato | 45,474 | 0.6 | |
| Republican | Ron Jones | 38,337 | 0.5 | |
| Republican | Daniel R. Mercuri | 36,396 | 0.5 | |
| Green | Heather Collins | 29,690 | 0.4 | |
| Democratic | Anthony Fanara | 25,086 | 0.4 | |
| Republican | Cristian Raul Morales | 22,304 | 0.3 | |
| Republican | Lonnie Sortor | 21,044 | 0.3 | |
| No party preference | Frederic C. Schultz | 17,502 | 0.2 | |
| No party preference | Woodrow Sanders III | 16,204 | 0.2 | |
| No party preference | James G. Hanink | 10,110 | 0.1 | |
| No party preference | Serge Fiankan | 6,201 | 0.1 | |
| No party preference | Bradley Zink | 5,997 | 0.1 | |
| American Independent | Jeff Scott (write-in) | 13 | 0.0 | |
| Republican | Gurinder Bhangoo (write-in) | 8 | 0.0 | |
| Total votes | 7,063,868 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Gavin Newsom (incumbent) | 6,470,104 | 59.18% | −2.77 | |
| Republican | Brian Dahle | 4,462,914 | 40.82% | +2.77 | |
| Total votes | 10,933,018 | 100.00% | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 10,933,018 | 50.80% | −12.48 | ||
| Registered electors | 21,940,274 | ||||
References
- ^ “JoinCalifornia – Brian D. Dahle”. joincalifornia.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2021.
- ^ a b “Dahle takes oath of office for California Senate District 1”. Tahoe Daily Tribune. Associated Press. June 14, 2019.
- ^ “Welcome – Senator Brian Dahle”. dahle.cssrc.us. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
- ^ Willon, Phil (June 5, 2019). “In two California Senate special elections, Gonzalez and Dahle are the winners”. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
- ^ Sabes, Adam; Spady, Aubrie (November 8, 2022). “California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom wins re-election, defeating Brian Dahle: Gov. Gavin Newsom is in his first term as governor of California”. Fox News. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
- ^ Hooker, Brad (June 6, 2019). “Six questions for the legislature’s top farmer”. Agri-Pulse.com. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
- ^ a b c Platcha, Ari (September 23, 2022). “He earned trust in Sacramento, but Californians still don’t know Newsom challenger Brian Dahle”. The Sacramento Bee.
- ^ Natividad, Ivan (October 25, 2014). “State assembly contest still not much of a race”. The Union.
- ^ a b c d e f Beam, Adam (July 5, 2022). “‘Something different’: California GOP’s bid for governor”. Associated Press.
- ^ “How California Voted”. Newspapers.com. The Sacramento Bee. November 8, 2012. p. A4. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
- ^ Joe Garofoli (February 7, 2022). “Republican state Sen. Brian Dahle to announce challenge to Gavin Newsom”. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
- ^ Shafer, Scott (June 7, 2022). “Democrat Gavin Newsom to face Republican Brian Dahle in California race for governor”. NPR.
- ^ Luna, Taryn (September 16, 2022). “California Politics: Newsom commits to a gubernatorial debate”. Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Luna, Taryn; Wiley, Hannah (October 23, 2022). “Newsom trades barbs with Dahle in California’s only 2022 gubernatorial debate”. Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Alvarado, Kitty (June 22, 2022). “Economist says Biden’s gas tax holiday could boost local economy”. KPBS.
- ^ The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board (May 15, 2022). “2022 election: Q&A with Brian Dahle, California gubernatorial candidate”. The San Diego Union Tribune.
- ^ Bollag, Sophia (June 24, 2022). “These California candidates oppose abortion rights or won’t say where they stand”. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
- ^ “A 9-year-old girl in California tried to save her beloved pet goat from a livestock auction. Then the police were called”. Insider.com.
- ^ Yoon-Hendricks, Alexandra (November 6, 2019). “Republican Megan Dahle defeats Democrat Elizabeth Betancourt for Assembly District 1 seat”. The Sacramento Bee.
- ^ Padilla, Alex (February 1, 2019). “Notice to Qualified Candidates” (PDF). State of California.
- ^ “California June 7, 2022 Primary Statement of Vote” (PDF). Retrieved July 16, 2022.
- ^ “General Election – Statement of the Vote, November 8, 2022” (PDF). California Secretary of State. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
- ^ “NOVEMBER 8, 2022, GENERAL ELECTION – VOTER PARTICIPATION STATISTICS BY COUNTY” (PDF). Secretary of State of California. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 19, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
External links
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2023–24 Session
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