Editing San Benito County, California (section)

== Politics ==
San Benito is a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]-leaning county in [[President of the United States|Presidential]] and [[United States Congress|congressional]] elections. The last Republican to win a majority in the county was [[George H. W. Bush]] in [[United States presidential election in California, 1988|1988]]. San Benito is also considered a bellwether county for California in presidential elections; since 1904 the only candidates to carry the state without winning this county have been [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in [[1944 United States presidential election in California|1944]] and [[Harry S. Truman]] in [[United States presidential election in California, 1948|1948]].<ref name="Geography">Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 152-155 {{ISBN|0786422173}}</ref> The county's bellwether status goes beyond presidential politics to ballot initiatives and statewide candidates, as its election results mirror those of the state as a whole, as it straddles the major political fault lines of the state.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rosenhall |first=Laurel |date=September 7, 2023 |title=Robert Rivas wants to use small-town charm to wield big political power in California. Will it work? |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-09-07/robert-rivas-california-assembly-speaker-rural-small-town-big-political-power}}</ref> Before 1904, however, it was a solidly Democratic county whilst the state leaned Republican, voting Democratic in every election from its creation in 1876 up to and including 1900, although California only voted Democratic in [[United States presidential election in California, 1880|1880]] and [[United States presidential election in California, 1892|1892]].<ref name="Geography"/>

{{PresHead|place=San Benito County, California|source=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=September 1, 2018}}</ref>|source2=<ref group=note>This total comprised 1,054 votes for [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Progressive]] [[Theodore Roosevelt]] (who was official Republican nominee in California), 179 votes for [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]] [[Eugene V. Debs]] and 74 votes for [[Prohibition Party]] nominee [[Eugene W. Chafin]].</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|11,702|15,179|771|California}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|10,590|17,628|612|California}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|7,841|12,521|1,760|California}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|7,343|11,276|462|California}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|7,425|11,917|446|California}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|8,698|9,851|176|California}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|7,015|9,131|685|California}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|5,384|7,030|1,492|California}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|4,112|5,354|3,273|California}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|5,578|4,559|171|California}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|5,695|3,554|131|California}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|4,054|2,749|799|California}}
{{PresRow|1976|Republican|3,398|3,122|160|California}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|3,961|2,582|338|California}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|2,961|2,809|459|California}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|2,444|3,779|14|California}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|3,056|2,876|13|California}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|3,252|2,201|10|California}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|3,733|1,968|22|California}}
{{PresRow|1948|Republican|2,775|2,096|116|California}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|2,253|1,998|16|California}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|2,407|2,441|35|California}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|1,515|2,565|62|California}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|1,269|2,283|192|California}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|1,971|1,366|11|California}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|1,443|361|891|California}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|1,965|900|158|California}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|1,440|1,688|131|California}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|13|1,253|1,307|California}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|937|684|128|California}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|888|645|96|California}}
{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|724|786|40|California}}
{{PresRow|1896|Democratic|729|956|31|California}}
{{PresFoot|1892|Democratic|616|759|291|California}}

As of May 2010, the California Secretary of State reports that San Benito County has 34,562 eligible voters.{{citation needed|date=September 2018}} Of those 24,736 (71.57%) are registered voters. Of those, 11,959 (48.35%) are registered Democratic, 7,477 (30.23%) are registered Republican, 565 (2.28%)are registered American Independent, and 116 (0.47%) are Green Party. The two incorporated municipalities of Hollister and San Juan Bautista have Democratic majorities on their voter rolls, whereas the unincorporated areas of San Benito County have a small Republican plurality in voter registration.

===Voter registration===

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
|-
! colspan="3" | Population and registered voters
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | Total population<ref name="US-CB-B02001"/>
| colspan="2" | 54,873
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;Registered voters<ref name="CA-SS">California Secretary of State. [http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ror/ror-pages/ror-odd-year-2013/political-sub.pdf February 10, 2013 - Report of Registration] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727173649/http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ror/ror-pages/ror-odd-year-2013/political-sub.pdf |date=July 27, 2013 }}. Retrieved October 31, 2013.</ref><ref name="PCT-RV" group=note>Percentage of registered voters with respect to total population. Percentages of party members with respect to registered voters follow.</ref>
| 26,694
| 48.6%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Democratic<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 12,643
| 47.4%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Republican<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 7,847
| 29.4%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Democratic&ndash;Republican spread<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| <span style="color: #2b00d6;">'''+4,796'''</span>
| <span style="color: #2b00d6;">'''+18.0%'''</span>
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Independent<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 679
| 2.5%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Green<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 144
| 0.5%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Libertarian<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 143
| 0.5%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Peace and Freedom<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 73
| 0.3%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Americans Elect<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 1
| 0.0%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Other<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 46
| 0.2%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No party preference<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 5,118
| 19.2%
|}

==== Cities by population and voter registration ====

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed sortable" style="width: 100%;"
|-
! colspan="8" | Cities by population and voter registration
|-
! City
! data-sort-type="number" | Population<ref name="US-CB-B02001"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | Registered voters<ref name="CA-SS"/><br /><ref name="PCT-RV" group=note/>
! data-sort-type="number" | Democratic<ref name="CA-SS"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | Republican<ref name="CA-SS"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | D&ndash;R spread<ref name="CA-SS"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | Other<ref name="CA-SS"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | No party preference<ref name="CA-SS"/>
|-
| [[Hollister, California|Hollister]] || 34,733 || 43.8% || 53.6% || 23.2% || <span style="color: #0000ff;">'''+30.4%'''</span> || 6.3% || 19.4%
|-
| [[San Juan Bautista, California|San Juan Bautista]] || 1,619 || 59.8% || 50.8% || 23.0% || <span style="color: #2b00d6;">'''+27.8%'''</span> || 9.8% || 20.4%
|}