California's 2022 Midterms Results: An Election of Historic Firsts

Although votes are still being counted in the state of California — 10 days after Election Day — in many races, when the lead is deemed insurmountable, a clear frontrunner has emerged and has been declared as the projected winner.

And so far, in terms of diversity, this may be one of California's most historic elections yet.

As reported by CalMatters, the state legislature is on track to have the most women and LGBTQ members ever — with at least 10% LGBTQ representation for the first time.

According to Gallup, 7.1% of the county's population identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer or anything other than heterosexual. However, just 2.5% of the country's legislators identify as LGBTQ+.

Furthermore, just 32.5% — fewer than a third — of California legislators are women, while females make up 50% of the total California population. That puts California in 23rd place in the country in terms of its percentage of women serving on state legislature, says Close the Gap California.

But in this year's midterm elections, that gap does appear to be closing.

And that's not all — because voters also chose diversity when it came to ethnicity, race and religion as well.

Here are some of the highlights of the historic firsts that are coming out of the midterms as results roll in:

Rob Bonta: California's First Elected Filipino American Attorney General

According to CalMatters, Rob Bonta's dad was a white man from California who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma; his mom, a Filipino immigrant who'd protested the dictatorial Marcos regime in the Philippines and fought for civil rights and Filipino empowerment.

Bonta went to Yale, Oxford and then back to Yale to get his law degree. After a few years in private practice, he joined the San Francisco city attorney's office and started moonlighting as a campaign manager for a local politico and building his brand within the Bay Area Democratic Party.

Bonta has never lost an election. Although he became the first person of Filipino descent to hold the top job at the Department of Justice when Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed him in April 2021, he's now successfully become the first Filipino American to be elected as California's Attorney General. He defeated his opponent, Nathan Hochman, who was the U.S. assistant attorney general in 2008.

Dr. Shirley N. Weber: California's First Elected Black Secretary of State

In January 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Dr. Shirley N. Weber to the position of California Secretary of State. Former Secretary of State Alex Padilla had resigned to become a U.S senator of California, after that senate seat was vacated by Vice President Kamala Harris. That appointment made her California's first Black Secretary of State.

This November, Weber, a Democrat, won the race against Republican challenger Rob Bernosky to keep her seat, making her the first Black person to be elected as California Secretary of State.

She will begin her first full four-year term in office in January 2023 and will be eligible to run for reelection for one additional four-year term in 2026.

Associate Justice Patricia Guerrero: First Latina Chief Justice on the California Supreme Court

According to CalMatters, Patricia Guererro, appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to the Supreme Court in March of this year, is a daughter of immigrants and became the first Latina on California’s high court.

Latinos make up just12% of trial court judges and 7% of judges in the appellate court, though they make up 39% of the state. A CalMatters series last year found significant under-representation in many county courts — and four California counties with no Latino superior court judges, despite the fact that the counties’ populations were majority Latino.

A native of the Imperial Valley, and the daughter of immigrants from Mexico, Guerrero was a federal prosecutor and a partner at Latham & Watkins LLP before serving four years as a local court judge in San Diego County. In 2017, then-Gov. Jerry Brown appointed her to a state appeals court. She will assume the role being vacated byChief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, the second woman to serve as the state's chief justice and the first Asian-Filipina American.

Alex Padilla: California's First Elected Latino U.S. Senator

According to CalMatters, Alex Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants who settled in Pacoima, graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then made the unlikely jump into politics in his mid-20s. Like many of California’s most powerful Latino politicians today, Padilla says the impetus was Proposition 187, the 1994 California ballot measure that blocked public education and non-essential services to undocumented immigrants.

Since then, Padilla has steadily climbed the ranks of California political power: From staffer to Sen. Dianne Feinstein to Los Angeles City Council member to state senator to California's Secretary of State. It was early during his state Senate career when Padilla made the fateful decision to support then-San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom in his 2014 unsuccessful campaign for governor. That cemented a political alliance that made Padilla an obvious choice when Newsom was elected governor four years later and was tasked with filling a vacant seat in the U.S. Senate.

That appointment made Padilla the first Latino to hold the office of U.S. Senator in California — and now, he's the first Latino to be elected into that office.

Aisha Wahab, California's First Afghan American and Muslim Senator

Aisha Wahab won the race for the East Bay's California District 10 against her opponent, Lily Mei, the outgoing mayor of Fremont. Both have had their fair share of controversy and political attacks: Mei for her role in a secretive severance payout to the former city manager, who has been charged with embezzlement, and Wahab for an accusation of "elder abuse" for supporting a landlord who evicted older tenants.

In 2018, Wahab became the first Afghan-American woman elected to public office in the United States when she won her seat on Hayward City Council. She will now become the state's first Afghan-American and Muslim senator.

Across the country, the midterm elections saw a record number of Muslims elected to office — with 38 state legislative wins and other victories in local, state and federal elections, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Robert Garcia: First Openly Gay Immigrant in the U.S. House of Representatives

A Peruvian-American who immigrated from Lima, Peru at age 5 and was raised in Southern California, Robert Garcia will become the first openly gay immigrant to serve in Congress and the first LGBTQ+ Latino elected to Congress from California. He'll represent California’s 42nd Congressional District, which was redistricted in December to now cover Long Beach, the Gateway Cities and other areas in L.A.'s southeast region.

In 2014, Garcia was elected as Long Beach’s first openly LGBTQ+ mayor, first Latino mayor and youngest mayor in the city's history. With his win in the midterms, he'll also become the second openly LGBTQ+ Latino elected to Congress.

During his campaign, Garcia was supported by Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization. His win is part of what the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which also endorsed him, calls a "Rainbow Wave" in the midterm election results

Corey Jackson: First Black, Openly Gay Member of the California State Assembly

In Assembly District 60 (AD 60), which covers such Riverside County communities as Riverside and Corona, Corey Jackson has become the first Black openly LGBTQ+ member of the California State Assembly.

In 2020, Jackson had been elected to the Riverside County Board of Education, representing portions of the cities of Riverside, Moreno Valley, Perris and more. A Democrat, he successfully defeated his opponent, Republican Hector Diaz-Nava.

Malia Cohen: California's First Black Controller

According to CalMatters, Malia Cohen’s bid for controller might look a little familiar: She's a Democrat campaigning for the position after serving on the California Board of Equalization, like outgoing Controller Betty Yee, who is in her second term and can't run again due to term limits.

Cohen says she's uniquely qualified for this position because of hands-on experience with state finances, as an elected official and in local government — but also because of her life experience as a woman of color.

Her platform involves using the controller's office to address inequities. During her campaign, that meant speaking out against the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and calling on Lanhee Chen, her Republican opponent in November, to make his views on abortion rights clearer.

Karen Bass: Los Angeles' First Female Mayor

In 2004, Rep. Karen Bass was the only Black woman in the Legislature when she was elected to the Assembly. Four years later, she became the first Black woman to lead the chamber. Bass was elected to the House of Representatives in 2010. Now, Bass will become the first female mayor for the City of Los Angeles.

As reported by City News Service, Karen Bass, in her first speech as Los Angeles' mayor-elect, pledged Thursday to begin addressing the city's homelessness crisis immediately and acknowledged that the historical significance of being the first woman and second Black person to lead the city was "sinking in."

"When you do make history, it means that you have extra responsibility," said Bass, speaking outside the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in front of a crowd of supporters. "You always have to make sure that you maintain excellence in every step of the way."

Bass, who takes office Dec. 12, has not announced a chief of staff or transition team yet, but said her transition team would likely stay on permanently in her administration. Responding to a question about the Latino community, Bass said her administration would reflect Los Angeles — which is approximately 50% Latino.

Hydee Feldstein Soto: Los Angeles' First Female and First Latina City Attorney

Finance attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico and moved to the mainland at age 17. She has called Los Angeles home since 1982, most recently residing in Mid-City. Although she has never before held public office, she will now serve as Los Angeles City Attorney — the second-highest elected citywide office, behind the mayor. That outsider perspective was actually part of her platform: Her candidate statement reads, "It's time for an independent City Attorney who will end the corruption that erodes our public institutions."

Although Soto has declared victory and is the projected winner, her opponent, civil rights attorney Faisal Gill, has not yet conceded and told the Los Angeles Times that he would wait until "all the votes are counted."

Kenneth Mejia: Los Angeles' First AAPI City Controller

Kenneth Mejia, a certified public accountant (CPA), was born to Filipino immigrant parents in Los Angeles and raised in the San Fernando Valley by his mother. He'll become not only L.A.'s first AAPI City Controller, but also the first AAPI citywide elected official and the first Filipino elected official in L.A. As controller, Mejia will be accountable for how the City spends taxpayers' money and where the rest of the City's money is coming form.

A millennial at just 32 years old (with a penchant for dancing on street corners in a Pikachu costume), Mejia ran as an outsider who challenged a City Hall insider — and ultimately defeated his opponent, former Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz, with campaign promises to audit the city's finances and identify wasteful spending. He was largely supported by grassroots efforts and viral videos created by his Gen Z social media team.

Rex Richardson: Long Beach's First Black Mayor

In 2014, Rex Richardson became the youngest member to ever serve on the Long Beach City Council — at just 30 years old, and elected with 73% of the vote. He most recently served twice as Long Beach's Vice Mayor, also the city's youngest. His win in the November midterms will make him the first Black mayor of Long Beach, the second-largest city in Los Angeles County (behind the City of Los Angeles).

Richardson's opponent, Suzie Price, has conceded the race. The two candidates were vying to replace outgoing mayor Robert Garcia, who was elected as Long Beach’s first openly LGBTQ+ mayor, first Latino mayor and youngest mayor in the city's history in 2014 and who's set to become the first openly gay immigrant in Congress.

Helen Tran, San Bernardino's First AAPI Mayor

The daughter of Vietnamese refugees, Helen Tran worked at San Bernardino City Hall for more than a decade. Now she's been elected to become not only San Bernadino's first Asian-American mayor — but also the city's first AAPI elected official. San Bernardino is the largest city in San Bernardino County.

Tran's win was a defeat for her opponent, San Bernardino City Attorney James Penman, who has conceded the race in advance of the certified results being announced.

Parts of this article originally appeared on CalMatters.