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Headshot of Monique Limon

Monique Limón

Democrat, State Senate
District 21, Santa Barbara
Time in office:
  • Assembly: 2016-2020
  • Senate: 2020-present

News coverage of Monique Limón

Bio

Monique Limón, 46, heads the California Senate as its Democratic Senate President Pro Tem. She’s a former assemblymember and school board member. Prior to her election in 2020, she served six years on the Santa Barbara Unified School Board, was assistant director for the McNair Scholars Program at UC Santa Barbara and was a member of the Santa Barbara County Commission for Women. Limón has a master’s in education from Columbia University and a bachelor’s from UC Berkeley. She authored legislation that requires companies to provide salary ranges in job postings to encourage equal pay for race and gender. She’s married with one child.

Leader Badges

Democratic Caucus Chair Rank Badge

Ideology

Left

Moderate

Right

Bill Activity

0

Of 18 bills:
12 Passed
4 Failed
2 Pending

For this session year, this legislator initiated 18 bills: 12 passed, 4 failed, and 2 are currently pending.

Alignment Meter

See all-time percentage of this legislator’s alignment with any organization based on total votes.

xx%votes: xx

Financials

This feature tracks three sources of money intended to help a candidate win election: 1-Money given directly to a candidate’s committee, 2-Money given to an Independent Expenditure Committee, 3-Money given to a political party. (NOTE: Senators are elected every four years. Twenty of the 40 Senators are on the ballot in even-numbered years, so Senators may do little or no fundraising in the first two-year session of their Senate term).

Election

This display shows money given directly to the incumbent’s campaign committee (NOTE: The industry categories for donors come from Open Secrets, a nonpartisan research organization for campaign finance. Some contributions are “uncoded,” meaning they have not been assigned to an industry sector. As a result, the total for each sector is also an estimate).

Agriculture

$12.5K

Candidate Contributions

$119.1

Communications & Electronics

$56.4K

Construction

$18.0K

Defense

$1.0K

Energy & Natural Resources

$55.4K

Finance, Insurance & Real Estate

$227.8K

General Business

$60.8K

Government Agencies/Education/Other

$102.4K

Health

$177.2K

Ideology/Single Issue

$40.9K

Labor

$301.1K

Lawyers & Lobbyists

$32.3K

Transportation

$29.0K

Uncoded

$284.3K

Unitemized Contributions

$149.9K

Candidate Donations

Individuals, corporations, organizations and committees are limited to a maximum donation to candidates of $5,500 for the primary and for the general elections.

Total
$1.5M

227.0% higher than the average legislators

Party Committees

This is independent expenditure money spent by political parties for advertising, grassroots mobilization or other activities targeting this candidate. Separately, political parties can give money directly to a candidate's campaign committee. Digital Democracy tallies that money under "candidate donations".

Total
$466.0

8.0% lower than the average legislators

Independent Expenditures

Money from Independent Expenditure Committees (IEC) for advertising or grassroots activity targeting a candidates run for office is unlimited, but it cannot be spent in coordination with the candidate or the candidate's campaign.

Total
$411.0

100.0% lower than the average legislators

Grand Total for Elections

$1.5M

175.0% higher than the average legislators

This is a total of the money targeting this legislator's campaign(s) including direct donations to the candidate, money spent by Independent Expenditure Committees and money from political parties.


Influence

There are three categories of donations to legislators after they are elected that encourage a working relationship between the donor and the legislator. The three categories are: 1-Gifts, 2-Travel, 3-Behests.

Giver
Value
Date
Description
Women in California Leadership$172.89Jun 22, 2021
Adam Gray for Assembly 2020$91.5Feb 3, 2021Basket of local products
Re-Elect Senator Atkins 2020$80.71Feb 23, 2021jacket
Re-Elect Senator Atkins 2020$50.42Jan 29, 2021gift bag
American Pistachio Growers$25Apr 2, 2021A bag of Pistachios and a Pistachio mascot

Gifts

Legislators are not allowed to accept gifts of more than $10 per month from registered lobbyists. Gifts from any other single source are limited to $590 in a calendar year.

Gift Received Rating
#56/120

This legislator is ranked 56th highest for the amount of personal gifts received.

Committees

Most of the policy work in the state Capitol is done in “Standing” committees. Legislators also work on budget subcommittees. There are also “Special” and “Select” committees with a more narrow topic focus. And there are “Joint” committees with members from the Senate and Assembly.

Hearings

Featured Comments

Below are links to the video and transcript of recent, substantive comments by this legislator in committee hearings or floor sessions.

Preview image for SB 84010MIN
Sep 13, 2025

SB 840

Greenhouse gases: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: studies.

Preview image for SB 84026MIN
Sep 12, 2025

SB 840

Greenhouse gases: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: studies.

Preview image for SB 84032MIN
Sep 11, 2025

SB 840

Greenhouse gases: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: studies.

Preview image for SB 7021MIN
Sep 10, 2025

SB 702

Legislative and gubernatorial appointments: report.

Preview image for SB 6761MIN
Sep 9, 2025

SB 676

California Environmental Quality Act: judicial streamlining: state of emergency: wildfire.

Preview image for SB 3861MIN
Sep 9, 2025

SB 386

Dental providers: fee-based payments.

Preview image for SB 5671MIN
Sep 9, 2025

SB 567

Gravity-Based Energy Storage Well Pilot Program.

Preview image for SB 6421MIN
Sep 9, 2025

SB 642

Employment: payment of wages.

Preview image for SB 7782MIN
Sep 9, 2025

SB 778

Migrant childcare and development programs.

Preview image for SB 4121MIN
Sep 4, 2025

SB 412

Home care aides.

Preview image for SB 5072MIN
Sep 3, 2025

SB 507

Planning and zoning: regional housing needs allocation.

Preview image for SB 67610MIN
Jul 15, 2025

SB 676

California Environmental Quality Act: judicial streamlining: state of emergency: wildfire.

View All Hearings

District

The maps and information about this district reflect the boundaries when this Senator was last elected in 2020. Since then legislative districts have been redrawn according to the latest US Census. This district will change after the 2024 election.

District 21 is a Safe Democratic District
Democratic Party candidate has a very high likelihood of winning in an election

Previous Election (2024):

Elijah Mack
36.7%
S. Monique Limón
63.3%
WON

Party Registration

Census Data

Median age0102030

Median age