Voters Back Sustainable Transportation

With record turnout for a midterm election, it’s clear that the voters of California knew how important this opportunity was to choose the policies and leaders that will move us forward and not hold us back.

Across our state, voters protected critical transportation funding and projects by rejecting the cynical attack of Proposition 6.

CalBike campaigned hard to defeat Proposition 6, which would have repealed the gas and diesel taxes funding critical safety and maintenance improvements across the state. We leveraged the reach of our local partners and reached our tens of thousands of followers with a simple message: the vital work on neighborhood projects our partners have pushed so hard for, and the statewide work that our team devotes so much to, depend upon the defeat of Proposition 6. After troubling late polling and a huge push by the opposition, Prop 6 lost by nearly a million votes and 11 percentage points.  

Voters supported our recommendation on Proposition 1, a $4b bond for affordable housing, but disagreed with our position on Proposition 10, the removal of state limits on local rent control. We’ll keep working for truly affordable housing accessible in every community, so that all of California’s neighborhoods can be equitable, inclusive, prosperous, and full of bicycles.

Voters also supported many candidates who shared our vision for a more equitable future where transportation policy enables more people to experience the health and joy of biking. Our efforts made a huge difference in at least four races, two of which are still too close to call: our endorsed candidate Anna Caballero (SD 12, Merced) looks likely to win, while candidates Sabrina Cervantes (AD 60, Corona/Inland Empire) and Christy Smith (AD 38, Santa Clarita/Simi Valley) are behind. In Carlsbad, we threw our support behind Tasha Boerner Horvath who campaigned boldly on a pro-bike agenda and won with 56% of the vote.

Our State Assembly endorsees David Chiu, Phil Ting, Marc Berman, Laura Friedman, Adrin Nazarian, and Richard Bloom all return to Sacramento with our strong support to continue their proven and promised work. While they ran surprising and dynamic races, we look forward to seeing what future opportunities we’ll have to work with Senate candidates Mike Eng (San Gabriel Valley) and Joy Silver (Coachella Valley), who faced powerful incumbents and lost in close races (with 48% and 46% of the vote, respectively).

These newly elected and re-elected leaders have tremendous implications for CalBike’s efforts. We look forward to their support this year and beyond; of our Complete Streets campaign, of our upcoming legislative priorities, and our work across the state advocating for equitable communities where bicycling helps enable Californian’s to lead healthy and joyful lives. 

We’ll follow up with more detailed analyses of the results and what they mean for the year ahead, so make sure to keep up with us here and on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.