Democrats get supermajority in Legislature Marisa Lagos Updated 9:28 a.m., Wednesday, November 7, 20 [View all]

[nadinbrzezinski]

(11-07) 09:25 PST SACRAMENTO -- California Democrats appear to have picked up a supermajority in both houses of the state Legislature Tuesday night, a surprise outcome that gives the party the ability to unilaterally raise taxes and leaves Republicans essentially irrelevant in Sacramento.

Democrats were long expected to gain a two-thirds advantage in the Senate, but Assembly Speaker John Pérez had downplayed expectations that the party could win a supermajority in the lower house. The party's apparent capture of 54 seats in the 80-member Assembly and 27 in the 40-member Senate would mark the first time in nearly 80 years that one party controlled two-thirds of both houses, according to Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg.

While several legislative races in swing districts are still close - including an Assembly race in the Central Valley and another in Orange County - both Pérez and Steinberg said Wednesday that they are confident Democrats' slim leads will hold

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Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Democrats-get-supermajority-in-Legislature-4015861.php#ixzz2BZXg5OPS

Suffice it to say republicans are irrelevant in Cali