Barely an hour into a fundraiser at a neat gate just outside Palm Springs in late May, the soft-spoken Lisa Middleton — who could become California’s first transgender state legislator if elected in November — acknowledged her historic candidacy matter-of-factly and without fanfare.
It wasn’t until after he spoke about pedestrian safety, public transportation, college access, and climate change in the desert during his tenure as mayor that he mentioned his gender identity.
That approach is intentional: A campaign ad released last week omits the Democratic nominee’s potentially groundbreaking election and instead focuses on his ability to work with Republicans on issues like building better roads and creating jobs.
“I’ll never back down from who I am, but I’ve always tried to make it clear that it’s just part of my identity — it’s not everything,” Middleton told The Times. “And that’s not why I ran.”
However, identity politics are inevitable in the race to represent Calfornia’s 19th Senate District as LGBTQ+ caucuses and top Democrats rally behind Middleton to flip the long-held Republican seat currently held by incumbent Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Redlands). also works as “first”.
Since Ochoa Bogh, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, was elected to the state legislature in 2020, she has made being Latina a key part of her platform as the first Republican in the California Senate, calling it an overlooked demographic that values ”family, faith and work ethic. . . .” According to the Public Policy Institute of California, 16 percent of the state’s likely Latino voters are registered Republicans.
“I didn’t hear my voice as a conservative Latina being spoken,” she said. “People think Republicans only represent rich people or white people.”
Ochoa Bogh, 52, is a former teacher, real estate agent and Yucaipa school board member. He sits on the Senate Education and Housing Committees and has authored bills signed into law by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom that support mental health providers and offer free admission to fairs for military personnel.
Middleton, 72, is a longtime Palm Springs City Council member who previously oversaw fraud at the California State Compensation Insurance Fund. His campaign principles include creating affordable housing and demanding accountability for government spending such as homelessness.
Both candidates have law enforcement endorsements and promise to fight crime in an area struggling with fentanyl overdoses and human trafficking. Both consider themselves pragmatists and say they are more interested in unsexy local government issues and meetings with everyday voters than in political theater.
And both are running campaigns to give underrepresented Californians a voice at the state Capitol.
But that’s where their similarities seem to end.
Middleton supports Kamala Harris for president in November and Ochoa Bogh supports Donald Trump. Middleton has made protecting abortion rights a central part of her campaign, but Ochoa Bogh scored 0% from Planned Parenthood on her legislative record last year and authored a bill that would have required schools to teach about anti-abortion crisis centers. The bill did not make it to the governor’s desk.
For Middleton, who transitioned 30 years ago and married his wife in 2013, Ocha Boghi’s voting record in the state Senate is personal.
The Republican has opposed bills that would support gender-affirming health care services and protect transgender children and their families from being criminalized for seeking care in California. He has abstained from voting on bills that enshrined gay marriage rights in the state constitution and recognized LGBTQ+ Pride Month.
One of Ochoa Boghi’s most heated speeches in the Senate this year came when he opposed a bill that would prohibit schools from requiring teachers to notify parents of students’ gender identity changes. While Democrats warned that conservative school board rules could exclude transgender children who might not be accepted into the home, Ochoa Bogh called it “bad practice” and said “the default assumption should always be that parents are acting in the best interest of their children.”
Campaigning in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in a race boosted by a newly redistricted district that has brought in thousands of registered Democrats, Middleton has put a big difference between herself and Ocho Bogh.
“The lies that are being talked about — and they are lies — are ones that I basically know because I’ve lived this life,” Middleton said.
Middleton called coming out as transgender “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do” and said she’s lucky to maintain a relationship with her children and a successful career as others have struggled to find the same acceptance.
“I fought it for a very, very long time,” he said. “Any of us who’s ever spent time in the closet knows what it’s like to try to pretend to be something you’re not.”
Ochoa Bogh teared up as she spoke about the number of transgender suicides, saying she has “a lot of compassion and empathy” for the community.
He said his voting record does not make him anti-LGBTQ+, but he had nuanced reasons for opposing each bill. He voted against the same-sex marriage measure, for example, because it didn’t include a repeal that would ensure churches aren’t forced to hold ceremonies they don’t support, he said, and he worries about medical care when it comes. for transgender minors.
“We have a right to pursue life, liberty and happiness, whatever that looks like, as long as it doesn’t infringe on someone else’s ability to do the same,” Ochoa Bogh said from the California GOP headquarters in Sacramento last month. “I would never do anything that would be disrespectful to anyone’s life or choices. We all have family members like that.”
The state Senate race is expected to be one of the tightest legislative races this election.
In the March primary, Ochoa Bogh received 54 percent of the vote to Middleton’s 46 percent.
The newly redrawn district combines Republican strongholds of San Bernadino County, including parts of the Inland Empire and the high desert, with liberal areas of Riverside County such as Palm Springs, and is home to more than half a million voters.
The district, which once leaned right, is now nearly even in terms of party preference — 35 percent of voters are Republicans and 36 percent are Democrats, while the remaining percentages are neither partisan nor other party. Trump narrowly won the district in 2020 over President Biden.
Nearly half of the district’s voters are now new to Ochoa Bogh, a process he called “demoralizing” but has motivated him to hold about 50 town halls.
“I’m very committed because I believe it’s important to be accountable and as transparent as possible with your constituency,” he said.
Each candidate strives to differentiate themselves and avoid making their pioneering role a distraction.
Pei-Te Lien, a UC Santa Barbara professor who specializes in identity politics, said it can be tricky for politicians to navigate.
He pointed to the presidential campaign of Harris, who could be the first woman and first person of Asian descent to serve as president, but who Lien said has not strategically emphasized it too much.
“Voters are more used to it,” Lien said. “The idea that we can embrace people’s different identities and backgrounds and still see them as capable of representing us and speaking for us and understanding our concerns is certainly a good development for politics.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
