So, did Kamala win California? The short answer is yes. Kamala Harris absolutely carried her home state in the 2024 presidential election. But honestly, just saying "she won" doesn't even begin to cover the weird, shifting energy that actually went down at the polls.
If you just look at the map, California is still that deep, reliable shade of blue. It handed over its massive prize of 54 electoral votes to the Harris-Walz ticket without much of a fight. But if you're a data nerd or just someone who pays attention to local vibes, the numbers tell a story that's a lot more complicated than a simple "W."
The Raw Numbers: Breaking Down the California Results
Harris took the state with roughly 58.5% of the vote. Donald Trump pulled in about 38.3%. In most other states, a 20-point lead would be a massive, historic blowout. In California, it was actually a bit of a wake-up call for the Democrats.
To put it in perspective, Joe Biden won California by nearly 30 points back in 2020. Harris, a native daughter who served as the state's Attorney General and Senator, saw that margin shrink significantly. We’re talking about the worst performance for a Democratic presidential candidate in California since 2004. Basically, she won the state, but the "Blue Wall" in the West definitely showed some cracks.
The total vote count looked something like this:
Harris brought in over 9.2 million votes.
Trump snagged about 6.1 million.
The rest was split between third-party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (who was still on the ballot in many places) and Jill Stein.
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Why the Margin Slipped
Why did a "homegrown" candidate underperform? It wasn't just one thing. It was a perfect storm of voter fatigue, economic frustration, and a massive drop in turnout.
Honestly, the turnout was the real story. Over a million fewer Californians voted in 2024 compared to 2020. That is a staggering number. While the state has been making it easier than ever to vote—mailing a ballot to every single registered voter—it seems like a lot of people just decided to sit this one out.
Specific groups that usually carry the torch for Democrats didn't show up in the same way. Latino turnout dropped by over 7 percentage points. Young voters (the 18-24 crowd) saw an even bigger dip. When your base stays home, the map starts looking a lot more purple in the rural areas and even in some suburban pockets.
The Red Shifts in Unexpected Places
You've probably heard that California is just San Francisco and LA, but the 2024 results proved that the "Inland Empire" and the Central Valley are moving in a different direction. Even in places like Riverside and San Bernardino, the margins tightened up.
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Trump actually improved his standing in almost every single California county compared to his 2020 run. He didn't win the state, obviously, but he found a way to connect with voters who felt like the "California Dream" was becoming too expensive to afford. High gas prices, insurance costs skyrocketing, and the general "vibe-cession" made the incumbent party's job really hard.
What Most People Get Wrong About the "Home State Advantage"
There’s this idea that being from a state automatically means you’ll crush it there. Harris has been a fixture in California politics for decades. She was the DA of San Francisco, then the state's "Top Cop" as Attorney General. You’d think she would have a massive "favorite daughter" boost.
In reality, being a known quantity can be a double-edged sword. Voters in California had a long track record to look at. Some progressives felt she was too moderate during her prosecutor days, while more conservative voters in the state saw her as the face of the San Francisco liberal establishment. Instead of a boost, her history in the state might have actually neutralized some of the excitement.
The Down-Ballot Surprise
Here is the kicker: even though Harris didn't perform as well as Biden, California Democrats actually did okay in other races. They managed to flip three U.S. House seats back from Republican control. This suggests that the "Kamala problem" might have been specific to the top of the ticket or the national mood, rather than a total rejection of the party in the state.
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Actionable Insights: What This Means for the Future
If you're looking at these results and wondering what's next for California politics, here are a few things to keep an eye on:
- Watch the 2026 Governor's Race: With Gavin Newsom termed out, the "moderate vs. progressive" fight within the CA Democratic party is going to get intense. The 2024 dip shows that the party can't take the "moderate middle" for granted.
- Voter Engagement is Key: The massive drop in turnout means the "mail-it-and-they-will-vote" strategy has limits. Expect to see way more aggressive "get out the vote" (GOTV) efforts in the next cycle.
- The Economic Factor: If Democrats want to return to those 30-point margins, they have to address the "cost of living" crisis in the state. Messaging on social issues didn't seem to make up for the pain people felt at the grocery store.
The bottom line is that Kamala Harris did win California, and she did it handily by any normal standard. But for a state that considers itself the heart of the resistance and the home of the Democratic future, the 2024 results were a loud reminder that no win is guaranteed forever.
To get a better sense of how your specific area voted, you should check the California Secretary of State’s official "Statement of Vote." It breaks everything down by precinct, which is where you can see if your neighbors were part of that "red shift" or if they stayed loyal to the blue wave.