How does government work in California?

What may surprise you here

• California legislators may serve 12 years in total across both chambers, and that limit applies over a lifetime, not in a row. source
• California uses a top-two primary. source

Legislature

Name

Legislature source

Senate: seats

40 source

Senate: term in years

4 source

Assembly: seats

80 source

Assembly: term in years

2 source

Term limits

12 years total in the legislature, in either chamber or split between them source

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years

4 source

Term limit

Two terms in total source

Next regular election

2030 source

Lieutenant governor

separate election source

Attorney general

elected source

Attorney general’s term in years

4 source

Secretary of state

elected source

Secretary of state’s term in years

4 source

Courts

Highest court

Supreme Court source

Intermediate appeals court

Courts of Appeal source

Main trial court

Superior Court source

How high-court judges reach the bench

mixed: governor appoints appeals judges and voters retain them; superior court judges win nonpartisan elections source

Local government

Called

county source

How many

58 source

Cities and towns

California has 482 municipal governments and no township governments, as of the 2022 Census of Governments. source

Schools

California has 1,006 independent school districts, and 55 more school systems are run by counties (2022 Census of Governments). source

Elections

Chief election official

Secretary of State source

Who runs elections locally

County clerks in most counties and registrars of voters in 14 counties source

Primary type

top-two source

Regular governor elections fall in

even source

Citizen initiatives

yes source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Gavin Newsom DDemocratic, in office since January 7, 2019. source

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Sources