On a foggy January morning in his hometown nestled in Northern California wine nation, state Sen. Mike McGuire was at an elementary college doing a dance referred to as the “wheelbarrow” and explaining insurance coverage coverage to youngsters who had been extra keen to speak about their 4-H pigs.
The Sonoma County Democrat then rushed off, driving previous rolling inexperienced hills and dewy vineyards, to have espresso with firefighters who’re banking on him to assist a area that has been repeatedly devastated by wildfires and infrequently feels neglected by state leaders.
On the Healdsburg Fireplace Division, a staffer struggled to get McGuire out the door in time in order that he might make it to a Chamber of Commerce occasion three hours north in Eureka. There, he would partake in a interest completely suited to his sense of urgency and penchant for squeezing as a lot as he can into the time he has: auctioneering.
New California Senate chief Mike McGuire dances with youngsters at Alexander Valley Faculty in Healdsburg on Jan. 26. (Mackenzie Mays)
“Mike is the Energizer Bunny of California politics. He will get round, he walks the district. It’s a hallmark of his strategy,” mentioned David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State who taught McGuire there greater than 20 years in the past. “He believes that tough work and perseverance can offset any challenges he might need.”
Now, McGuire, who was sworn in because the new chief of the California Senate on Monday, might want to harness that power as he takes on his greatest problem but — guiding the Legislature’s higher home because the state grapples with an estimated $38-billion funds deficit. The Senate chief performs a robust function negotiating the state funds with the governor and the Meeting speaker, making it one of the influential positions in state authorities.
At a swearing-in ceremony on the Capitol on Monday, McGuire vowed to “buckle down” and proper the funds in the identical manner that Californians struggling financially are pressured to “stay inside their means” and make sacrifices of their private spending.
“We all know that powerful choices lie forward,” McGuire mentioned in an emotional speech on the Senate flooring that at occasions drove him to tears. “We’re going to defend our progress.”
McGuire was sworn in as he held his squirmy two-year-old son and stood alongside his spouse, a faculty principal in Healdsburg. Monday’s occasion performed up the small city hospitality of McGuire’s rural district, with indicators that welcomed attendees to “come on in and keep some time.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Gov. Jerry Brown, California Supreme Courtroom Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero and previous senate leaders together with John Burton attended the ceremony. Many from McGuire’s district had been additionally in attendance, together with his eighth grade math trainer.
Regardless of the funds woes on the horizon, McGuire painted an image of a resilient California that leads the nation on a number of coverage areas, together with on local weather change and abortion entry, even in dangerous monetary occasions.
“It doesn’t matter what you watch on cable information, we’re America’s financial engine,” he mentioned Monday.
Time is of the essence. McGuire has till 2026 to make his mark as Senate president professional tem; at the moment he will probably be pressured out of the Legislature by time period limits.
On the prime of his to-do checklist is responding to the state’s far-reaching homelessness disaster.
In 1998, when he was 19 years outdated, Mike McGuire grew to become the youngest individual elected to the college board in Healdsburg, the bucolic Sonoma County city the place he grew up. He later grew to become town’s youngest mayor.
(Josh Edelson / For the Instances)
He mentioned to anticipate the Senate to prioritize counties’ “profitable implementation” of CARE Courtroom, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s psychological well being reform plan that would power some folks dwelling on the streets to obtain remedy.
“Regardless of for those who stay in Crescent Metropolis, or in downtown L.A., you need the homelessness disaster solved. It’s unacceptable, and the state and our communities should do higher,” McGuire mentioned.
However talking to reporters on the Capitol following Monday’s ceremony, McGuire declined to provide particulars on the plan or sign what’s to return in any other case from the Senate this 12 months, saying he nonetheless wants to fulfill together with his fellow lawmakers.
Usually seen jogging by way of Capitol corridors to make it to certainly one of a number of committees he sits on and sporting headphones on the Senate flooring in order to not miss a name, McGuire is vowing to pare down his trademark multi-tasking and “laser focus” on points together with inexpensive housing, fentanyl and retail theft.
His fellow lawmakers from each political events joked Monday about his stamina, saying they didn’t know he had a desk on the Senate Ground as a result of he by no means sits.
For six months, McGuire has been on the street, touring to talk with voters past his coastal district, which spans seven counties from the Bay Space to the Oregon border. Within the month of December alone, he met with local weather activists in Sacramento, public transit advocates in San Francisco, enterprise homeowners in Fresno, wine consultants in Sonoma County and homeless advocates in Humboldt County.
“If I’ve to eat one other fuel station sizzling canine, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he joked.
He’s not up for reelection. It’s simply what he does.
“He feeds off of this. It’s not a sport, it’s genuine,” mentioned James Gore, a Democratic member of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors who plans to run for McGuire’s seat when his time is up in 2026.
California Sen. Mike McGuire hugs a firefighter in Healdsburg, the place he lives.
(Josh Edelson / For The Instances)
His breakneck tempo began a long time in the past with a string of file firsts. In 1998, he grew to become the youngest individual elected to the Healdsburg Faculty Board at age 19 within the bucolic city the place he grew up. Then he grew to become town’s youngest mayor. He went on to serve on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and by 2014, he was within the state Senate.
McGuire began working in highschool at a radio station to assist his household make ends meet. He was raised by his mom and grandmother — a hard-nosed prune farmer whom McGuire credit for his profession.
“She taught me to be the hardest-working individual within the room,” he mentioned of his grandmother. “She instructed me that there are smarter folks than you out on this world and also you’ve set to work collectively.”
His unanimous appointment by Democrats as Senate chief got here with the blessing of his predecessor, Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), who’s working for governor in 2026, and with out the drama of the aggressive management marketing campaign that performed out on the opposite finish of the Capitol within the state Meeting.
However in some methods, McGuire’s appointment comes as a shock. He represents a rural district in a robust place lengthy held by senators from main cities. He’s a straight white man serving to lead a state that’s predominantly Latino amid requires extra variety in Democratic politics.
Former California Senate President Professional Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), left, hugs her successor, Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg).
(Wealthy Pedroncelli / Related Press)
“It speaks to his management,” mentioned Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Lengthy Seashore), vice chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus. “Whatever the identification politics, I actually suppose that he supersedes that together with his insurance policies. Greater than something, it’s his model of collaboration that’s appreciated.”
McGuire nodded to progressive beliefs for larger variety in political illustration in his inaugural speech Monday, as each legislative homes — and the governor’s workplace — are presently led by males.
“Right here within the Senate, we glance extra just like the communities we proudly signify,” McGuire mentioned, noting that there are extra girls and extra folks of colour serving in state workplace than ever earlier than and vowing to work with minority caucuses to advertise their points.
McGuire gave labor unions credit score on Monday, saying that “in California, we go to the mat for the rights of employees.” However in a Democratic supermajority Legislature the place unions have a number of sway, McGuire has not at all times voted with organized labor. In 2016, he didn’t help a invoice that expanded time beyond regulation pay for farmworkers, voicing issues concerning the impression on small farmers.
Republicans, too, describe McGuire as a fierce collaborator, negotiator and moderator with no off change.
“He’s simply very hardworking and he’s at all times on the transfer. I might say if there was competitors for the place, whoever that was wouldn’t have been capable of sustain with him within the first place,” Senate Minority Chief Brian Jones (R-Santee) mentioned, noting that he “vigorously” disagrees with lots of his coverage stances.
Final 12 months, McGuire authored payments to expedite offshore wind growth and to help small-scale hashish farmers. He supported controversial payments to decriminalize psychedelic medication and give placing employees unemployment advantages — each of which didn’t get Newsom’s approval.
McGuire, who warns he sounds “hokey” when he talks about loving his work, mentioned “I’m not large on labels” when requested about being thought-about a reasonable on some points within the liberal California Legislature. “I’m all about motion. My solely focus is on delivering outcomes,” he mentioned.
As for what occurs when his time period is over, McGuire has raised greater than $800,000 for a marketing campaign for state insurance coverage commissioner in 2026.
Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, holds his son Conner as he’s congratulated by state Supreme Courtroom Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero after being sworn in as Senate President Professional Tempore, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, on the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. McGuire was joined on the dais by his spouse, Erika, left, and Calfornia Gov. Gavin Newsom, proper.
(Hector Amezcua / Sacramento Bee through Related Press)
However his supporters again in his hometown of Healdsburg are sure that his aspirations are larger than that.
McGuire dodged a query about his plans after the state Senate, saying, “It’s not what’s holding me up at night time.”
As somebody who seemingly fills each hour of his calendar, two years is “an eternity.”
Again at Alexander Valley Faculty in Healdsburg, McGuire was speedily instructing 10- and 12-year-olds accustomed to wildfires about “residence hardening” and public threat insurance coverage fashions in his auctioneer voice. He demanded a countdown whereas he packed in his solutions to the youngsters’s questions.
“Time me 60 seconds,” he mentioned. “I wish to beat the recess bell.”
