# Dave Cortese

Dave Cortese is a Democratic member of the California Senate for district 15.

- Party: Democrat
- Seat: California Senate, district 15
- Serving since: 2020-12-07
- Current term: CA 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/0fa65d2c-6020-4586-a6f1-5dfd41db38ff

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/0fa65d2c-6020-4586-a6f1-5dfd41db38ff (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

Cortese reported $621.3K in the 2026 cycle, in the top tenth of State Senate Democrats (median $55.5K).

## What Cortese says (CA 2025–26 session)

1,410 classified statements: 1,410 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Democrats average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Cortese | State Senate Democrats average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.1% | 2.4% | 163 of 329 |
| Policy criticism | 2.9% | 10.3% | 236 of 329 |
| Policy discussion | 48.4% | 42.9% | 146 of 329 |
| Bipartisanship | 2.1% | 3.4% | 182 of 329 |
| Credit claiming | 23.7% | 16.1% | 78 of 329 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 0.8% | 228 of 329 |

Most discussed policy areas: Education 19% (State Senate Democrats 15%); Transportation and Public Works 19% (State Senate Democrats 5.4%); Housing and Community Development 13% (State Senate Democrats 6.7%); Health 13% (State Senate Democrats 17%); Environmental Protection 9.8% (State Senate Democrats 4.4%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −0.66 (standard error 0.02), from 1,127 donors and 887 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 49% of State Senate Democrats score lower.

## Votes (CA 2025–26 session)

3,673 roll calls. Attendance 99.2% (California Senate 93.8%). Party unity 99.4% (98.7%). 7 votes against the party majority.

Key votes:

- 2026-09-01 · voted yea · 3rd Reading AB113 Gabriel By Laird · AB 113 Budget Act of 2026. · pass · https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/AB113/
- 2026-08-31 · voted yea · 3rd Reading AB2564 Ward et al. By Wiener · AB 2564 Surveillance pricing. · pass · https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/AB2564/
- 2026-08-31 · voted yea · 3rd Reading AB1349 Bryan et al. By Cabaldon · AB 1349 Consumer protection: ticket sellers. · pass · https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/AB1349/
- 2026-08-31 · voted yea · 3rd Reading AB187 BUDGET (Gabriel) By Laird · AB 187 Employment. · pass · https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/AB187/
- 2026-08-31 · voted yea · 3rd Reading AB2694 Alvarez et al. By Cabaldon · AB 2694 Public postsecondary education: community colleges: statewide baccalaureate degree program. · pass · https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/AB2694/
- 2026-08-31 · voted yea · 3rd Reading AB191 BUDGET (Gabriel) By Laird · AB 191 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. · pass · https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/AB191/
- 2026-08-31 · voted yea · 3rd Reading AB2059 Wilson et al. By Cortese · AB 2059 California Environmental Quality Act: transportation impacts: vehicle miles traveled: mitigation. · pass · https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/AB2059/
- 2026-08-31 · voted yea · 3rd Reading AB1680 Calderon et al. By Allen · AB 1680 California FAIR Plan Association. · pass · https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/AB1680/
- 2026-08-31 · voted yea · 3rd Reading AB1331 Elhawary et al. By Durazo · AB 1331 Workplace surveillance. · pass · https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/AB1331/
- 2026-08-31 · voted yea · 3rd Reading AB173 BUDGET (Gabriel) By Laird · AB 173 Health. · pass · https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/AB173/

## Legislation (CA 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 44 bills: 44 reached committee, 38 passed one chamber, 28 passed both, 25 became law. Cosponsored 123. 100.0% of sponsored bills got out of committee (California Senate 88.1%; rank 4 of 39).

Recent sponsored bills:

- SCA 5: A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by adding Section 16 to Article XIIIB thereof,… (passed both chambers, 2026-08-11) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SCA5/
- SR 106: Relative to Black April Memorial Month. (passed one chamber, 2026-05-07) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SR106/
- SCR 157: Relative to School Bus Drivers' Day. (became law, 2026-05-21) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SCR157/
- SR 96: Relative to National County Government Month. (passed one chamber, 2026-04-30) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SR96/
- SR 93: Relative to Jim Plunkett. (passed one chamber, 2026-04-20) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SR93/
- SB 1392: Smog check: exemption: collector motor vehicles. (became law, 2026-09-16) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1392/
- SB 1425: High-Speed Rail Authority: property: operating right-of-way. (became law, 2026-09-27) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1425/
- SB 1306: Controlled substances: gamma-butyrolactone. (became law, 2026-09-27) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1306/
- SB 1375: California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: urban intermodal rail station project. (became law, 2026-09-30) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1375/
- SB 1246: Autonomous vehicles. (became law, 2026-09-30) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1246/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $621.3K (State Senate Democrats median $55.5K). 99% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-10-26 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/SenDaveCortese, https://twitter.com/DaveCortese/status/2114854695135228180
- 2026-10-26 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/SenDaveCortese, https://twitter.com/DaveCortese/status/2114854719562936773
- 2026-10-26 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/SenDaveCortese, https://twitter.com/DaveCortese/status/2114855680465317991
- 2026-10-26 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenDaveCortese, https://twitter.com/DaveCortese/status/2114855685242708142
- 2026-10-26 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenDaveCortese, https://twitter.com/DaveCortese/status/2114855688661057881
- 2026-10-25 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenDaveCortese, https://twitter.com/DaveCortese/status/2114180809272041727
- 2026-10-25 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenDaveCortese, https://twitter.com/DaveCortese/status/2114180814124593385
- 2026-10-24 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenDaveCortese, https://twitter.com/DaveCortese/status/2114130285516476492
- 2026-10-24 · Post on X · labels: credit claiming · https://x.com/SenDaveCortese, https://twitter.com/DaveCortese/status/2114130289136202062
- 2026-10-24 · Post on X · https://x.com/SenDaveCortese, https://twitter.com/DaveCortese/status/2114130290834862286

## Links

- Official site: https://sd15.senate.ca.gov/
- Campaign site: https://davecortese.com/
- X: https://x.com/SenDaveCortese
- X: https://x.com/DaveCortese
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davecortesegov
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davecortese2024
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dave.cortese
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/senatordavecortese/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davecortese
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC75NyrFOXcfHF7SUx_7ZYpA
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-cortese-a5874a4/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/0fa65d2c-6020-4586-a6f1-5dfd41db38ff