Becoming an Informed Voter
Danika Young
Liberty University
GOVT 220 B07
Introduction
Voting is one of the greatest privileges we as citizens can obtain. However a considerable
number of citizens don't view voting as a top priority and therefore are not informed of their own
politicians. The objective of the lecture, “Becoming an Informed Voter” and my research paper
is to illustrate that in order to make an educated vote, a citizen must become educated. As a
citizen, it is our duty to be an informed voter so that we may choose a politician who shares the
same views, morals, and goals. As explained in the lecture, it is easy to become an informed
voter in order to educate ourselves about our politicians in our cities, in our states, and most
importantly, our country. The lecture advises citizens to look at a politicians philosophy and
compare it with your own. Decipher whether this politician is liberal or conservative and align
your morals with theirs in order to vote for the right candidate. It is critical to obtain knowledge
about our politicians, so that we can feel comfortable with the decisions that they make in the
world that we live in today.
Political Background of CA District 45
The recent political background of District 45 in California illustrates a change in parties
between Republican and Democrats.The representative of District 45 in the state of California is
Katie Porter. She is a Democrat and she ran against Mimi Walters, who is a strong Republican,
in California's 45th Congressional District Election in 2018. Mimi Walters finished with 47.9%
of the votes and Katie Porter won as a representative with 52.1% of the votes (“California’s 45th
Congressional District,” 2018). California's 45th congressional district is located in the southern
portion of California which includes part of Orange County which is where I am located.
California's 45th congressional district is not a one party district. My District has suffered some
recent and drastic changes because of its new representative, Katie Porter. Since 1982 all
throughout 2018, this District was represented by Republicans who had repeatedly run and
served this District. However in 2018, Democrat Katie Porter changed all of that. As shown by
the list of Representatives during my research (“California’s 45th Congressional District,” 2018),
this District used to be strictly Republican however has changed because now it has a democratic
influence. In addition, because of our new representative, our district has become a more liberal
state rather than a conservative state. This shows how our district has completely changed by just
one politician.
Representative Katie Porter
Katie Porter is the representative in Congress for California's 45th Congressional District.
Katie Porter was born On January 3rd in 1974. She is divorced with three children. She attended
Yale from 1992 to 1996 and continued to study Harvard University in 2001. Her political
experience includes being a representative from the United States House of Representatives in
the California District 45 from 2019 to present. She was a former law practitioner as well as a
professor at several universities. Katie Porter is pro-choice as this quote vividly explains her
views “Katie Porter will always protect a woman's right to choose and believes that Women's
Healthcare and birth control shouldn't be a luxury. She will fight any efforts by Republicans to
defund Planned Parenthood, restrict access to birth control, or ban the right to choose.”
(“California Results,” 2017). In addition to this she believes that raising tax prices will boost the
economy as shown by her tweet stating “The tax bill rewarded the ultra healthy oh, well all
exploding the deficit. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.” (“California
Results,” 2017). Because of her background and views on abortion and taxes, she is appealing to
the liberal Democrats in California. I believe the voting pattern changed because she could offer
more health care as well as higher taxes to the wealthier families in California and lower taxes
with additional Healthcare for the less fortunate families in California.
Katie Porter was able to rise to power because of the presidential election taking place
during her run. When Hillary Clinton became a democratic woman candidate, it enabled Katie
Porter to gain some recognition because she was also a democratic woman running for congress.
According to the New York Times, Katie Porter gave credit to the presidential election for
causing Republican voters to renounce their party and become Democrats and support her run for
representative. She stated “We're seeing support from across the political spectrum, we've been
talking about what Orange County families care about and that civility with which we treat each
other”, (“California Results,” 2017). Katie had run for The House of Representatives in earlier
years before but because of the presidential election going on and the renouncement in parties
during this time, she was able to obtain a majority of the votes.
Katie Porter’s scores from various interest groups are not surprising, to say the least. The
family research Council which is a conservative group gave her a 0%. The American civil
liberties Union, which is listed as a liberal group, gave her a 68%. The ADA and the ACU were
not listed however, I thought it would be interesting to include the Planned Parenthood action
fund which is an incredibly liberal group who gave her 100%, (“Vote Smart,” 2018). All of
these scores sum up that she is slightly popular with the liberal group, very much disliked by
conservatives, and adored by Planned Parenthood. I thought it was interesting how much she has
invested her time endorsing pro-choice.
Political Background of CA
Ever since the Civil War the state of California was a strong Republican state for
decades. But during the election in 1932, the state shifted to become democratic. Continuing on
to 2020, California is now considered an especially liberal state with plenty of democratic
support. However within the state itself, California's people have differing political views.
California can be considered as a democratic state because of California Senators as well as its
governor. There has not been a republican elected Statewide since 2006. In the presidential
election, only in the state of California, Hillary Clinton won 62% of the presidential vote against
Republican Donald Trump in 2016 (McGhee, 2020). These statistics illustrate how California
has turned into an extremely Democratic country with very liberal views however, within
California many people have differing political views. But, because of appointed senators and
the governor California is being run as a democratic state.
Senator Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris is one of California's state senators. She is married with two step children.
She was born on October 20th in 1964 in Oakland California. She attended Howard University,
University of California, and Hastings College of Law. She has been a senator for California
from 2017 to present. She was a former district attorney as well as a deputy district attorney in
the county of San Francisco. Kamala is viewed as a strong colored woman model for other
women today. In addition to this she is pro-choice. One quote States “ Kamala Harris has been a
champion for women's right to choose an access comprehensive reproductive Health Care
throughout her entire career” (“Vote Smart,” 2018). In addition to this she also encourages the
increase of taxes. She states, “instead of giving America's most fortunate tax breaks, let's ask
them to make a contribution a little bit more to help invest in infrastructure, job training, and
making College affordable.” (Vote Smart). Kamala Harris is an influential woman not only in the
Senate, but in the state of California. Her background may have influenced the voting patterns in
Congress because of how influential she is to women in California as well as the colored
community in California.
Kamala Harris was California's 3rd female US senator as well as the second African-
American and the first South Asian American senator in history. She has spent the entirety of her
life fighting injustice (“U.S. Senator Kamala Harris,” n.d.). And it was her passion that was
inspired by her mom, to become an activist in her community. Her passion is what was able to
boost her career and gain votes. During her previous career as an attorney, she chose to fight for
the rights of communities in all California which encouraged her to become a senator. Her
dedication to all of the citizens in California is what made her stand out and become a senator of
California.
Kamala Harris’s scores from various groups reflect greatly on her accomplishments. The
American Civil War Liberties Union which is a liberal group, gives her 100%. The American
Conservative Union which is a conservative group, gives her 0%, (“Vote Smart,” 2018). The
Americans for Democratic action give her 100%. The family research Council which is a
conservative group, gave her 0%, (“Vote Smart,” 2018). The American civil liberties Union is
not listed in her ratings. Her ratings clearly show that liberal groups are very much in support of
her while conservative groups are at a 0% which means there is absolutely no support in her
campaign.
Conclusion
Though I'm not old enough to vote yet, I understand the critical importance of being an
informed voter after writing this research paper. In order to vote for your Representative in
addition to your Senator, you must be informed of their views and how other interest groups
align with their views as well. There is much to learn about each Representative and each
Senator running for office. This is why it is very important for each citizen to become invested in
becoming an educated voter. After looking at various interest groups, it is easy to decipher which
of these politicians were liberal or considerate based upon their support groups. What was
extremely interesting about looking at different interest groups was that Planned Parenthood
supported both the senator Kamala Harris as well as Katie Porter. If I were to be voting for my
Senator as well as my Representative, this would be something that would be very important to
know. This research paper shows how critically important it is to be an informed voter in order
to apply your education for the next re-election.
References
California Results. (2017, March 1). Retrieved June 14, 2020, from
https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/results/california
California;s 45th Congressional District. (2018, November 6). Retrieved June 14, 2020, from
https://ballotpedia.org/California%27s_45th_Congressional_District
McGhee, E. M. (2020, February 3). California’s Political Geography 2020. Retrieved June 14,
2020, from https://www.ppic.org/publication/californias-political-geography/
U.S. Senator Kamala Harris. (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2020, from
https://www.harris.senate.gov/about
Vote Smart. (2018, May 3). Retrieved June 14, 2020, from
https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/179393/katie-porter
