Our activism begins on the local level and reaches all the way to the national government.  The Sierra Club has done an outstanding job in this department. Beginning on January 20, 2021, the goals and policies of the United States align more with ours.  In our latest action, Sierra Club volunteers made tens of thousands of phone calls to voters in Georgia, urging them to vote for the 2 Senatorial candidates who support progressive environmental policies.  We believe our involvement helped to elect Jon Ossof and Raphael Warnock, a momentous success that gave Democrats a slight Senate majority, with Vice President Harris as the tie-breaker.  As a result, our own 2 senators, Diane Feinstein and Alex Padilla, will also have a greater voice in implementing progressive environmental policies under the leadership of President Biden and Vice-President Harris. 

Support in the House for these policies is somewhat less assured because Democrats retain only a slim majority, and one of our three Congressional Districts is newly represented by a Republican with a less than stellar environmental record.

• The 45^th Congressional District includes the cities of Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, and unincorporated areas, e.g.: Modjeska and Silverado Canyons.  The district is again represented by Democrat Katie Porter, a staunch defender of the environment.
• The 48^th Congressional District includes the cities of Aliso Viejo, Laguna Beach, and Laguna Niguel.  The 2020 race was won by Republican Michelle Steel, a former Orange County Supervisor.  Her track record dealing with COVID-19 and the environment is not encouraging.
• The 49^th Congressional District includes the cities of Dana Point, San Clemente, and San Juan Capistrano.  The district is again represented by Democrat Mike Levin, a staunch defender of the environment.

It’s a different situation in the California legislature where Democrats have a two- thirds majority in both houses, making it difficult for climate-deniers and foes of the environment to do much damage.  Yet the fossil fuel industry and investor owned utilities continue to hold much sway even among Democrats because of their financial strength.  Our area is represented by 2 state senators in Sacramento, one from each party:

• State Senate District 36 includes the cities and areas of Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, North Laguna Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, and unincorporated areas, e.g.: Modjeska and Silverado Canyons.  The district remains in the hands of Republican Pat Bates, who has held the seat since 2014.

• State Senate District 37, which includes Lake Forest, elected Democrat Dave Min in 2020.  He is a staunch defender of the environment and an expert on Climate Change.

There are 3 state assembly districts covering our area that are currently held by only 1 pro-environment representative:

• State Assembly District 73 includes the cities of Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, North Laguna Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, and unincorporated areas of Modjeska and Silverado Canyons.  This district is in the hands of Republican Laurie Davies, who has held the seat since December 2020.

• State Assembly District 74 includes Laguna Woods and Laguna Beach. In 2020 Democrat Cottie Petrie-Norris was re-elected. 

• State Assembly District 68 includes Lake Forest. In 2020 Republican Steven Choi was re-elected.

Finally, on the city council level south Orange County remains conservative, but much less so than just a few years ago, and over a third of the city council seats are now blue/green.  Even though city council races are considered non-partisan, it is important to show where city council members belong politically.

There is clearly something out of kilter when voters elect 105,208 Democrats (46% of party votes cast) and 122,944 Republicans (54%) resulting in 34% ofcity council members belonging to the Democratic party and 65% are occupied by registered Republicans.  There's a 8% advantage favoring Republicans, yet south county City Council Republican members outnumber Democrats by 30%!  The current result suggests that ballots by those without belong to D or R overwhelmingly vote Republican, an assumption that probably does not hold up to the findings of exit vote surveys.  To underline the problem, we cite the situation in Mission Viejo where the difference between votes cast for D and R is 6.4%, yet all of this council all members are Republican.

As active citizens and voters we need to keep an eye on all levels of government.  The Sierra Club works on a national level while its Angeles Chapter is very involved in L.A.  In Orange County, we work through our joint Political Committee, and anybody interested in becoming a political activist and learning how to go about looking over our elected representatives’ shoulders should fill in this form, and regularly visit the Political Committee page.