Editing Kern County, California (section)

==Government, policing, and politics==
===Government===
Kern County is a [[California Constitution]]-defined general-law county and is governed by an elected board of supervisors. The board consists of five members, elected by districts, who serve four-year, staggered terms. The county government provides countywide services such as elections and voter registration, some law enforcement, jails, vital records, property records, tax collection, public health, and social services. In addition, the county serves as the local government for all unincorporated areas.

===Safety===

====Fire====
[[File:Kern County Fire Department Logo.png|thumb|Logo of the Kern County Fire Department]]
The Kern County Fire Department <!-- (KCFD) --> provides fire protection and emergency response services for the unincorporated areas of the county, as well as the cities of [[Arvin, California|Arvin]], [[Delano, California|Delano]], [[Maricopa, California|Maricopa]], [[McFarland, California|McFarland]], [[Ridgecrest, California|Ridgecrest]], [[Shafter, California|Shafter]], [[Taft, California|Taft]], [[Tehachapi, California|Tehachapi]] and [[Wasco, California|Wasco]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Stations List|url=http://www.kerncountyfire.org/index.php?option=com_webmapplus&view=webmapplus&category=1&Itemid=17|publisher=Kern County Fire Department|accessdate=January 17, 2014|archive-date=March 17, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317020416/http://www.kerncountyfire.org/index.php?option=com_webmapplus&view=webmapplus&category=1&Itemid=17|url-status=live}}</ref>

Bakersfield has its own fire department, the [[Bakersfield Fire Department]].

====Sheriff====
The Kern County Sheriff provides court protection, jail administration, and coroner services for the entire county of around 900,000 in population. It provides patrol and detective services for the unincorporated areas of the county and by contract to certain municipalities. The main sheriff's office and station is at Bakersfield, with 15 sheriff substations for the widespread county.

====Municipal police====
Municipal police departments in the county are Bakersfield, population 384,000; Delano, 54,000; Ridgecrest, 29,000; Wasco, 28,000; Arvin, 21,000; Shafter, 20,000; McFarland, 15,000; California City, 14,671; Tehachapi, 13,000; Taft, 9,327; and Maricopa (sheriff contract city), 1,200.

===Politics and 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">U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B02001. [https://www.census.gov U.S. Census website]. Retrieved October 26, 2013.</ref>
| colspan="2" | 909,235
|-
! 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&nbsp;— 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>
| 426,481
| 46.9%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Democratic<ref name="CA-SS" />
| 148,701
| 34.9%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Republican<ref name="CA-SS" />
| 154,612
| 36.3%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Democratic&ndash;Republican spread<ref name="CA-SS" />
| <span style="color: #800080;">'''-5,911'''</span>
| <span style="color: #800080;">'''-1.4%'''</span>
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;American Independent<ref name="CA-SS" />
| 18,938
| 3.3%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Green<ref name="CA-SS" />
| 1,343
| 0.2%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Libertarian<ref name="CA-SS" />
| 5,510
| 0.6%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Peace and Freedom<ref name="CA-SS" />
| 3,073
| 0.3%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Americans Elect<ref name="CA-SS" />
| 12
| 0.0%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Other<ref name="CA-SS" />
| 6,947
| 0.1%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No party preference<ref name="CA-SS" />
| 87,357
| 18.8%
|}

==== 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" />
|-
| [[Arvin, California|Arvin]] || 19,495 || 30.1% || 55.6% || 13.2% || <span style="color: #0000ff;">'''+42.4%'''</span> || 6.8% || 24.4%
|-
| [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]] || 403,455 || 50.9% || 36.6% || 34.5% || <span style="color: #800080;">'''+2.1%'''</span> || 8.0% || 20.9%
|-
| [[California City, California|California City]] || 14,973 || 44.1% || 35.9% || 32.2% || <span style="color: #800080;">'''+3.7%'''</span> || 10.4% || 21.5%
|-
| [[Delano, California|Delano]] || 51,428 || 32.7% || 53.6% || 16.6% || <span style="color: #0000ff;">'''+37.0%'''</span> || 7.0% || 22.8%
|-
| [[Maricopa, California|Maricopa]] || 1,100 || 44.5% || 13.7% || 62.2% || <span style="color: #d6002b;">'''-48.5%'''</span> || 10.4% || 13.7%
|-
| [[McFarland, California|McFarland]] || 14,161|| 28.0% || 52.3% || 17.7% || <span style="color: #0000ff;">'''+36.6%'''</span> || 6.2% || 23.8%
|-
| [[Ridgecrest, California|Ridgecrest]] || 27,959 || 56.7% || 23.6% || 45.1% || <span style="color: #d6002b;">'''-21.5%'''</span> || 10.3% || 21.0%
|-
| [[Shafter, California|Shafter]] || 19,953 || 44.8% || 40.7% || 31.2% || <span style="color: #2b00d6;">'''+9.5%'''</span> || 6.9% || 21.2%
|-
| [[Taft, California|Taft]] || 8,546 || 39.4% || 14.9% || 58.4% || <span style="color: #ff0000;">'''-43.5%'''</span> || 9.6% || 17.1%
|-
| [[Tehachapi, California|Tehachapi]] || 12,939 || 38.9% || 22.4% || 46.4% || <span style="color: #d6002b;">'''-24.0%'''</span> || 10.4% || 20.8%
|-
| [[Wasco, California|Wasco]] || 25,457 || 30.4% || 45.3% || 23.5% || <span style="color: #2b00d6;">'''+21.8%'''</span> || 7.6% || 23.6%
|}

===Federal===
Kern is a strongly [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] county in [[President of the United States|Presidential]] and [[United States Congress|congressional]] elections. The last Democratic candidate for president to win a majority in the county was [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Lyndon Johnson]] in [[1964 United States presidential election in California|1964]]. The county is also a Republican stronghold at the state level, with Jerry Brown being the last Democrat to win the county in a gubernatorial election in 1978. Kern remains the only county in Southern California that consistently votes Republican in recent elections. While Republican margins in the county had been shrinking, with [[Donald Trump|Donald Trump's]] 10.2% margin of victory in [[2020 United States presidential election in California|2020]] being the smallest since [[Gerald Ford|Gerald Ford's]] 6.7% majority in [[1976 United States presidential election in California|1976]], Trump regained his margins in 2024 and even surpassed previous performances, with his 21% margin being the best since George Bush in 2004. Some constituencies in Kern County in particular some of the most widely contested in California, and the United States as of the early 2020s,<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 7, 2022 |title=Kern County isn't as 'red' as you might think it is |url=https://www.turnto23.com/news/election-2022/kern-county-isnt-as-red-as-you-might-think-it-is |access-date=October 27, 2023 |website=KERO 23 ABC News Bakersfield |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hoeven |first=Emily |date=October 21, 2022 |title=Inside California's overlooked political powerhouse |language=en-US |work=CalMatters |url=http://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2022/10/kern-county-california-election/ |access-date=October 27, 2023}}</ref> with the [[2022 United States House of Representatives elections in California|2022 race for the 22nd US House district]] being close, and the [[California's 26th Senate District|26th Senate District]] having one of the tightest margins in electoral history, with incumbent Democrat [[Melissa Hurtado]] retaining her seat by 13 votes.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Patrick |first=Lacey |date=January 20, 2023 |title=Hurtado secures her victory in senate district 16 election |url=https://thesungazette.com/article/news/2023/01/19/hurtado-secures-her-victory-in-senate-district-16-election/ |access-date=October 27, 2023 |website=The Sun-Gazette Newspaper |language=en-US}}</ref>

Democratic strength is concentrated in the small agricultural towns in the San Joaquin Valley portion of the county, such as Arvin, Delano, McFarland, Shafter, and Wasco. Unincorporated communities close to agricultural areas, such as Lamont and Lost Hills, are Democratic strongholds. The eastern and southern parts of Bakersfield, along with unincorporated East Bakersfield, have also become reliably Democratic. Republican strength is found in the foothill, mountain, and high desert communities of the county. The cities of Maricopa, Ridgecrest, Taft, and Tehachapi are Republican strongholds. Along with the northern parts of Bakersfield, the wealthy unincorporated area of Rosedale and working-class Oildale are also seen as being strongly Republican. Cities including California City and the western areas of Bakersfield are seen as competitive in most elections. Bakersfield as a whole is seen as being competitive with a Republican lean. The rest of the unincorporated areas of Kern County is seen as strongly Republican.

{{PresHead|place=Kern 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=August 31, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|167,879|108,241|7,164|California}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|164,484|133,366|7,442|California}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|129,584|98,689|15,890|California}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|126,618|89,495|6,076|California}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|134,793|93,457|5,558|California}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|140,417|68,603|2,154|California}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|110,663|66,003|5,642|California}}
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|92,151|62,658|16,582|California}}
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|80,762|60,510|37,991|California}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|90,550|55,083|1,660|California}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|94,776|49,567|1,401|California}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|72,842|41,097|8,182|California}}
{{PresRow|1976|Republican|58,023|50,567|2,371|California}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|71,686|41,937|5,570|California}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|53,990|49,284|12,558|California}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|45,014|64,174|120|California}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|52,800|51,440|465|California}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|46,220|43,533|322|California}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|46,497|37,240|602|California}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|24,464|33,029|1,318|California}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|20,730|26,205|226|California}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|19,445|32,202|479|California}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|8,345|25,726|408|California}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|7,011|19,634|1,275|California}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|14,692|8,541|212|California}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|8,646|3,159|6,958|California}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|7,079|6,095|1,270|California}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|5,611|9,566|804|California}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|67|5,569|5,129|California}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|2,270|2,215|493|California}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|2,359|1,724|488|California}}
{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|1,692|1,960|94|California}}
{{PresRow|1896|Democratic|1,430|1,763|72|California}}
{{PresRow|1892|Democratic|992|1,266|255|California}}
{{PresRow|1888|Democratic|910|1,229|56|California}}
{{PresRow|1884|Democratic|598|798|27|California}}
{{PresFoot|1880|Democratic|463|661|7|California}}

In the [[United States House of Representatives]], Kern County is split between {{Representative|cacd|20|fmt=district}}, {{Representative|cacd|22|fmt=district}}, and {{Representative|cacd|23|fmt=district}}.

===State===

In the [[California State Assembly|State Assembly]], Kern County is split between the following four Assembly districts:
* {{Representative|caad|26|fmt=adistrict}}
* {{Representative|caad|32|fmt=adistrict}}
* {{Representative|caad|34|fmt=adistrict}}, and
* {{Representative|caad|36|fmt=adistrict}}.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://assembly.ca.gov/assemblymembers |title=Members Assembly |access-date=April 11, 2013 |publisher=State of California}}</ref>

In the [[California State Senate|State Senate]], Kern County is split between {{Representative|casd|14|fmt=sdistrict}}, and {{Representative|casd|16|fmt=sdistrict}}.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://senate.ca.gov/senators |title=Senators |access-date=April 11, 2013 |publisher=State of California}}</ref>

On November 4, 2008, Kern County voted 75.29% in favor of [[Proposition 8]], which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2008-general/sov_complete.pdf |title=Statement of Vote: 2008 General Election |publisher=[[California Secretary of State]] |date=December 13, 2008 |access-date=February 3, 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130506165548/http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2008-general/sov_complete.pdf |archive-date=May 6, 2013 }}</ref>

===County===
Kern County is governed by a five-member [[board of supervisors|Board of Supervisors]]. Jeff Flores of District 3 currently serves as chairman. As of August 2, 2024, they are:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Board of Supervisors {{!}} Kern County, CA |url=https://www.kerncounty.com/government/board-of-supervisors |access-date=March 1, 2023 |website=www.kerncounty.com |language=en}}</ref>

* District 1, Philip Peters.
* District 2, Vacant.
* District 3, Jeff Flores.
* District 4, David Couch.
* District 5, Leticia Perez.