Migration and Blue State California

Editor’s Note: Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters responded to Joel Fox’s piece yesterday on migration affecting the political orientation of California.

Theory is correct but it happened in 90s, not in last decade. As I pointed out in chapter of “The New Political Geography of California,” big exodus from LA County occurred after collapse of aerospace industry in 90s. Loss of GOP-voting defense workers and rise of Latino labor movement shifted LA from party-neutral into Dem column and thus shifted entire state. Data in chapter prove it.