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Moving Up
State Sen. Mike McGuire becomes first North Coast majority leader in 30 years By Kimberly Wear kim@northcoastjournal.com
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Will be published in the Feb. 24,2022 edition of the North Coast Journal in print and online.
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NORTH COAST JOURNAL • Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022 • northcoastjournal.com
S
tate Sen. Mike McGuire recently gained a new title — majority leader — which takes him up a rung on the Capitol ladder to the second-highest-ranking position in the California Legislature’s upper house. The Jan. 19 appointment by Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins also marks the first time in 30 years that a North Coast representative has been named to the post — a milestone not lost on the 42-year-old Healdsburg resident who comes from a long line of farmers. In a recent interview with the Journal, McGuire said he believes he will “bring a unique view to this leadership position,” noting such key posts are often held by elected officials from urban areas. “I’m one of the few democrats who represents a rural region of California, and I’m proud of it,” he said. As majority leader, McGuire said he will be working with Atkins to set policy and budget priorities and his office now manages the entire Senate floor, scheduling “every policy vote, every budget vote,” and overseeing the movement of bills through the Senate process. “I’m incredibly grateful to serve in this new role but I want to make it very clear: My top priority has been and will always be the North Coast. And we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” McGuire said. McGuire, who served as assistant majority leader for the last three years, replaces Sen. Bob Hertzberg, who is termed out of office this year. “Sen. Hertzberg leaves huge shoes to fill, of course, but knowing Sen. McGuire and his energy, he will work to fill them, shine them, put in new laces and resole them, all within two and a half minutes,” Atkins said in a release announcing the changes. First elected to the state Senate in 2014, McGuire’s mercurial rise in politics
began more than two decades earlier when at 19 he became the youngest person elected to the Healdsburg Unified School District board before becoming the city’s youngest mayor. After an inaugural term as a Sonoma County supervisor, he turned his sights to the state Senate, winning handily in 2014 before taking 76 percent of the vote to overwhelmingly win re-election in 2018. Over the years, McGuire has authored a number of bills with North Coast connections, including the creation of the Great Redwood Trail that aims to transform abandoned railroad tracks into a meandering pathway connecting Humboldt Bay to its counterpart in San Francisco. His legislation to halt a bid to bring a “toxic coal train” down the now defunct tracks of the Eel River Valley — which could derail the trail project — just passed a Senate committee. During Donald Trump’s presidency, McGuire co-authored a bill that would have required presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to appear on the primary ballot in California. While it was signed by the governor on its second go-around, the California State Supreme Court later struck down the law. Cal Poly Humboldt’s Political Science Department Chair Stephanie Burkhalter said McGuire’s appointment to majority leader represents “a vote of confidence” in his abilities by Atkins and his fellow Democrats in the Senate. And, she said, it potentially sets him up to take over the state Senate’s top slot when Atkins is termed out of office in 2024, or if she steps down for other reasons. McGuire, who is up for re-election this year, is eligible to serve through 2026. “It’s immensely important to the North Coast that our state senator is in such a prominent role in leadership in the Legislature; at a minimum, it means that our
