# Lola Smallwood-Cuevas

Lola Smallwood-Cuevas is a Democratic member of the California Senate for district 28.

- Party: Democrat
- Seat: California Senate, district 28
- Serving since: 2022-12-05
- Current term: CA 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/37f2dc9f-d788-4f71-b794-093c8816333b

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/37f2dc9f-d788-4f71-b794-093c8816333b (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

Smallwood-Cuevas sits at −1.39 on the CSIP scale, more liberal than 99% of State Senate Democrats.

## What Smallwood-Cuevas says (CA 2025–26 session)

22 classified statements: 22 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 | Smallwood-Cuevas | State Senate Democrats average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 4.5% | 2.4% | 56 of 329 |
| Policy criticism | 4.5% | 10.3% | 211 of 329 |
| Policy discussion | 77.3% | 42.9% | 6 of 329 |
| Bipartisanship | 13.6% | 3.4% | 12 of 329 |
| Credit claiming | 22.7% | 16.1% | 86 of 329 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 0.8% | 228 of 329 |

Most discussed policy areas: Emergency Management 56% (State Senate Democrats 3.7%); Environmental Protection 13% (State Senate Democrats 4.4%); Housing and Community Development 13% (State Senate Democrats 6.7%); Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues 6.3% (State Senate Democrats 8.4%); Health 6.3% (State Senate Democrats 17%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −1.39 (standard error 0.03), from 470 donors and 580 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 1.1% of State Senate Democrats score lower.

## Votes (CA 2025–26 session)

3,673 roll calls. Attendance 97.8% (California Senate 93.8%). Party unity 99.6% (98.7%). 9 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 nay · 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 35 bills: 35 reached committee, 25 passed one chamber, 20 passed both, 17 became law. Cosponsored 97. 94.3% of sponsored bills got out of committee (California Senate 88.1%; rank 18 of 39).

Recent sponsored bills:

- SB 1284: Medi-Cal benefits: employer reports. (passed one chamber, 2026-08-13) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1284/
- SB 1355: School safety: school security departments: contracted private licensed security agencies. (in committee, 2026-04-08) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1355/
- SB 1316: Employment. (became law, 2026-08-27) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1316/
- SB 1405: Unclaimed personal property: employee benefit plan distributions. (became law, 2026-09-27) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1405/
- SB 1241: Skilled and trained workforce requirements. (in committee, 2026-06-08) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1241/
- SB 1203: Security services. (became law, 2026-09-30) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1203/
- SB 1155: Nonpayment of rent: federal employees: government shutdown. (in committee, 2026-05-14) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1155/
- SB 1132: Workforce development: workplace rights training. (in committee, 2026-05-14) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1132/
- SB 1100: Grand juries: final reports. (became law, 2026-08-27) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1100/
- SB 1073: Income taxes: voluntary contributions: Black Cultural District Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund. (became law, 2026-09-30) https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20252026/SB1073/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $642.7K (State Senate Democrats median $55.5K). 100% 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.

- 2025-01-30 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/LolaForSenate/status/1884784985623970257
- 2025-01-30 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/LolaForSenate/status/1885041640014045654
- 2025-01-28 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/LolaForSenate/status/1884049925375418872
- 2025-01-25 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, bipartisanship · https://x.com/LolaForSenate/status/1883003002363203932
- 2025-01-25 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, bipartisanship · https://x.com/LolaForSenate/status/1883222312947998913
- 2025-01-24 · Post on X · labels: personal attacks, policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/LolaForSenate/status/1882641234193531348
- 2025-01-24 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/LolaForSenate/status/1882658025607168374
- 2025-01-23 · Post on X · https://x.com/LolaForSenate/status/1882288969880400044
- 2025-01-21 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, bipartisanship, credit claiming · https://x.com/LolaForSenate/status/1881536640885342301
- 2025-01-19 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/LolaForSenate/status/1880847872498995387

## Links

- Official site: https://sd28.senate.ca.gov/
- Campaign site: https://lolaforca.com/
- X: https://x.com/LolaForSenate
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079442017998
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lolasmallwoodcuevas/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lola-smallwood-cuevas-4406886b/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/37f2dc9f-d788-4f71-b794-093c8816333b