Monique Limón took her oath of office as California State Senate President on Monday, making history as the first Latina in the position.
Limón, D-Santa Barbara, represents the 21st Senate District, which includes Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties. She previously served in the State Assembly and on the Santa Barbara Unified School District Board of Education.
Her formal swearing-in ceremony is in January, but she took on the oath and the position of president this week.
“I am proud to assume the role of President pro Tempore of the California State Senate at this critical time in our state and the nation’s history. I look forward to working alongside my colleagues to move California forward and address the issues impacting the almost 40 million people who call this state home,” she said in a statement.
Limón, 46, is a child of immigrant parents from Mexico, and a graduate of Cleveland Elementary School and Santa Barbara High School.
She won unanimous support from the Senate Democratic Caucus to become the next president pro tempore of the State Senate, replacing Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire.
Senate Democrats said Limón is the first Latina, first mother, and second woman to serve as California State Senate President pro Tempore.
She is the 50th State Senate president.
On Tuesday, Limón, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and others visited a Ventura County farm to talk about supporting California agriculture and farmworkers.
“This is also an area where my grandfather picked strawberries, here in the Oxnard plain, as well as tomatoes in Salinas,” Limón said in a press conference.
She said legislators talked about the generational impact of education and the importance of the agriculture sector to the state.
She said “it’s not lost on us” that leaders are talking about the importance of agriculture as some members of those communities are fearful of immigration enforcement operations. “They have impacted agriculture to some extent but I think that the everyday life experiences are most impacted,” she said.
“In Ventura County, we have a special relationship with our agriculture and a special respect for it also,” said Assemblyman Steve Bennett, D-Ventura.
“The trick for us is to make sure this precious resource is here 50 years from now,” and longer, Bennett said.
Rivas said their conversations Tuesday strengthened legislators’ resolve to “do all we can to support California’s farms, California’s growers.”
“Something that has always been a priority of mine in the legislature is supporting this incredibly vulnerable workforce that fuels California agriculture, a workforce responsible for putting food on our table every single day,” said Rivas, D-Hollister.
He said the state had a productive legislative session “in the face of a lot of transition from Washington” and issues like tariffs and immigration enforcement raids.
“It’s caused chaos, it’s caused fear, but it’s also caused uncertainty for our economy, it’s caused uncertainty for many different regions across this state and that’s unacceptable,” Rivas said. “But we’re always gonna be here to backfill and support all parts of our economy and all regions across the state.”
