After being sworn in to her new role as State Senate president pro tempore in Sacramento, Monique Limón celebrated with a Santa Barbara ceremony Friday and took the oath again with former Vice President Kamala Harris. 

The ceremony at Santa Barbara Junior High School featured speeches from Harris, state Sen. Angelique Ashby, D-Sacramento, Assemblyman Gregg Hart, D-Santa Barbara, and Ventura County Supervisor Vianey Lopez, who all celebrated Limón making history as the first-ever mother and Latina to lead the State Senate.

Harris and Limón walked on stage together in the Marjorie Luke Theater, met by a cheering crowd of local politicians and community leaders.

“​​The pride that I have about knowing that we have this kind of leadership in our state, and this is, yes, about California, and it is about our country, and showing who we are and who we can be,” Harris said. “The one thing I know about the Senate pro tem is she loves our country and is a leader on behalf of so many people who must always be seen and heard.”

Harris shared with the audience that she and her husband, Doug Emhoff, got married at the Santa Barbara Courthouse and that she was excited about Limón continuing her leadership in California. 

“I’ve always just been so admiring of your leadership and that you are now again breaking barriers, making history in such an important way, in a way that is so well earned and deserved,” Harris said.

Limón, D-Goleta, took the oath last year and was officially sworn in earlier this week in Sacramento, but Friday’s ceremony served as a local celebration at the very junior high school she attended as a student.

“It was such a big deal to be able to bring the vice president to this community,” Limón said. “The community that watched me grow up, to be here on this campus where I went to school, because we know that even in our dreams, something like this is hard to imagine because we don’t think it can, and so this moment is incredibly touching to me.”

During her remarks, Limón held a moment of silence for Renee Nicole Good, a Minneapolis woman who was shot and killed this week by Immigration Customs Enforcement officers. 

“While this is absolutely a time of celebrating for our community, it’s also not lost on me that in this historic moment comes a time of real pain and fear for many,” Limón said. “Earlier this week, we witnessed the killing of someone who was a mother, a daughter and a community member during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. We saw video after video, in which we could see fear in her final moments of life.”

Limón further acknowledged the growing fears around immigration arrests, calling the operations attacks against immigrants, women, workers and students. 

“These moments test us, but they also remind us about who we are, that we never back away during trying times, that we lean in and we get to work, and that is exactly what California is doing,” Limón said.

Born and raised in Santa Barbara and an alumna of Santa Barbara Junior High and Santa Barbara High School, Limón thanked her teachers, mentors, community leaders, Santa Barbara workers, and her family for their support. 

She also acknowledged that Friday was the eighth anniversary of the 2018 Montecito debris flows that claimed the lives of 23 people.

“That day, that moment, left scars in our community,” Limón said. “The 23 lives that we lost will always stay with us. And what has also stayed with us, with this community and with me, is the community resilience and togetherness that we saw in those days and weeks.”

Ashby, the Senate majority leader, praised Limón for her work on child care, higher education and the environment.  

“She’s very measured,” Ashby said. “She thinks twice about every single decision before she makes it. She’s careful, she’s kind and she is determined. Monique leads with compassion but suffers no fools.”

Hart shared how proud he is to work with Limón and her work on the Central Coast caucus to bring state attention to the region.

“She’s a product of this community, she’s a product of this incredible family, and we are always going to think of her as Monique, but it is really an honor and a pleasure and a privilege to have the opportunity to say Senate Pro Tempore Monique Limón,” Hart said. “She is from our community, and she will always be part of our hearts.”

Limón’s political career has grown rapidly in the past 15 years from when she was first elected to the board of the Santa Barbara Unified School District in 2010.

In 2016, she was elected to the California State Assembly, succeeding Das Williams, who ran for the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. 

Then, in 2020, she ran for the California State Senate’s 19th District, succeeding Hannah-Beth Jackson. 

Under redistricting, her district became the 21st Senate District, which includes Santa Barbara County and parts of San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties. 

On Jan. 2, Limón condemned recent immigration arrests at a rally in Santa Maria and highlighted new state laws designed to mitigate immigration enforcement tactics. She has also spoken out about the Sable pipeline restart. 

She is taking over the role of Senate leader from Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Santa Rosa.