Senate District 19
HARM REDUCTION
Lisa Middleton (D)
Political Party:
Democrat
Ballot Designation:
Palm Springs City Council Member
Law Enforcement Contributions: Palm Springs Police Officers Association PAC
Background:
Lisa Middleton is a member of the Palm Springs City Council and its former Mayor. She was the first and only openly transgender Mayor in California history. Middleton also serves on the Riverside County Transportation Commission, and was appointed by Governor Newsom to the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of Administration.
Public Safety Platform:
Council Member Middleton’s public safety platform touts her law enforcement endorsements, which include the Palm Springs Police Officers Association. Her platform highlights her support for “…increasing the number of first responders to reduce emergency response times” and to “…keep weapons of war off our streets and out of the hands of criminals.” She has previously noted that the city budget for Palm Springs remains high because it is one of the only desert cities that has its own independent police department, wherein 40% of city payroll goes towards pensions including for law enforcement. Additionally, Middleton proposed a Palm Springs city ordinance in July 2024 that would allow police officers to arrest people for camping on the street.
IJ Action is recommending a harm reduction vote for Lisa Middleton. Although her rhetoric is supportive of law enforcement and she has supported carceral approaches to homelessness in her home city of Palm Springs, we believe that she would be the less harmful choice compared to her opponent, current Senator Ochoa Bogh, who has consistently voted against justice reform in the Legislature.
Website:
Incumbent Grade F
Political Party:
Republican
Ballot Designation:
State Senator / Businesswoman
Law Enforcement Contributions:
Peace Officers Research Association of California PAC
California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA PAC)
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Employees’ Benefit Association PAC
State Coalition of Probation Organizations
Riverside Sheriffs’ Association Public Education Fund
National Peace Officers & FireFighters Benefit Association Trust
California Association of Highway Patrolmen PAC
Background:
Senator Ochoa Bogh was first elected to the California State Senate in 2020, after working for years as an English teacher and briefly as a real estate agent. She is also a former member of the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District School Board.
Public Safety Platform:
As the former co-chair of the Senate Committee on Public Safety, Senator Ochoa Bogh has voted in favor of some criminal justice reform measures, but the vast majority of her votes fall squarely into the tough-on-crime camp and are pro-law enforcement. For instance, she was a co-author of SB 14 which expanded the state Three Strikes Law for the first time in more than 20 years by making human trafficking a serious felony – even though state law already allows for a life sentence for that crime. She also earned an F on our Legislative Scorecard in both 2023 and 2024, not voting in support of a single justice reform bill we prioritized.
On her campaign website, Senator Ochoa Bogh re-emphasizes her tough-on-crime stances, stating that she will “prioritize law enforcement efforts to crack down on drug trafficking” and “support our law enforcement agencies, provide them with the resources they need, and restore law and order by halting efforts to expand the state’s early release of criminals.” Additionally, she accepts contributions from several law enforcement organizations and is endorsed by several law enforcement agencies such as the CCPOA and Peace Officers Research Association.
Furthermore, Senator Ochoa Bogh has endorsed Proposition 36, a measure that will appear on the November 2024 General Election ballot that would bring back felony charges for drug possession, create new enhancements for retail theft, and gut major components of Proposition 47. It is being led by district attorneys, police and prison associations, and big corporations like Walmart and Home Depot.
Website: