California's 12th senatorial district is one of 40 California State Senate districts. It is currently represented by Republican Shannon Grove of Bakersfield.
New district boundaries drawn by the 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission went into effect for the 2022 elections. The 12th State Senate district now encompasses the southeastern Central Valley and the northwestern corner of the Mojave Desert; and it includes portions of Fresno County, Kern, and Tulare Counties, including the following cities:
The district also includes the Tule River Indian Reservation, Cold Springs Rancheria, Big Sandy Rancheria, and Table Mountain Rancheria.
Tourism, agriculture, and ranching are important in the district. The neighboring districts 14 and 16 were specifically drawn to allow Latino voters to elect state senators of their choice in order to comply with the Voting Rights Act, which affected the western border of District 12.
The district's racial/ethnic demographics (based on the 2020 census) are as follows:
The district included the Salinas Valley and a swath of the Central Valley between Modesto and Fresno. The rural district was primarily agricultural and heavily Latino.
Fresno County â 14.3%
Madera County â 81.1%
All of Merced County
Monterey County â 54.2%
All of San Benito County
Stanislaus County â 27.6%
The district's demographics (based on the 2010 census) were as follows:
As of February 18, 2020, the district had 377,188 registered voters, of whom 45.00% were registered as Democrats, 26.35% were registered as Republicans, and 23.22% were registered with no party preference.
Due to redistricting, the 12th district has been moved around different parts of the state. The current iteration resulted from the 2021 redistricting by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission.