Just minutes ago, California’s Applicant Review Panel completed
its work selecting its pool of 60 finalists for California’s first-ever
Citizens Redistricting Commission. The pool, consisting of 20
Democratic applicants, 20 Republicans, and 20 "others," now advance to the Legislative Strikes phase of the selection process.
The 60 finalists are a diverse group. In
the battle of educational institutions, the UC system beat out the Cal
State system 33 to 13. Ivy Leagues schools have 9 finalists, USC has 6,
Standford has 5 and our sister institution Claremont Graduate
University has two. (Some applicants graduated from more than one
college or university, and are thus counted more than once).
In terms of income, one applicant reported earning less than $35,000
last year, 9 earned between $35,000 and $75,000, 20 earned between
$75,000 and $125,000, 22 earned between $125,000 and $250,000, and 8
earned more than $250,000.
The pool includes 31 men and 29 women. The pool also includes 20
Republicans, 20 Democrats, 2 Green party members, 1 "Other" and 17
"Decline to State" (California’s version of independent).
The Bay Area region has the most finalists, with 21. LA and the rest
of the "Southern Coastal" region have 17, the "North Central Valley"
has 9, the "Central Coast" 5, Inland Empire 3 (two from Riverside and
one from San Bernardino), "Southern Central Valley and Mountain" 3, and
the "North Coast" 2. No surprise, Los Angeles County provides the most
finalists, with 10.
Ethnically, 20 (33%) are White, 17 (28%) are Hispanic or Latino, 10
(17%) are Asian, 8 (13%) are Black, 4 (7%) are American Indian or
Alaskan Native, and 1 (2%) is Pacific Islander. These numbers compare
very favorably with the state’s racial and ethnic demographics, as the
latest numbers from the California Statewide Database indicate
Hispanic-surnamed individuals constitute 20 percent of California’s
registered voters, Asian-surnamed voters constitute 8 percent of
California registered voters, and, according to the Census Bureau,
African-Americans constitute 6 percent of California’s voting age
population. Again according to the Census Bureau, Non-Hispanic Whites
currently constitute 47 percent of California’s voting age population.
The Rose Institute’s unofficial list and demographics of the 60 finalists are available for download in PDF and/or Excel formats.