An unusually long and tumultuous battle for power in the California State Capitol finally came to an end Friday when Robert Rivas was sworn in as Speaker of the Assembly. the hammer.

Rivas, a Democrat from Hollister, vowed to usher in a new era of unity after a period when Democrats were bitterly divided over the leadership of the Assembly, creating a sense of chaos in the lower house.

“We must work with urgency and unity backed by mutual trust and respect,” Rivas said. “Today I pledge to do all I can to strengthen these values. This approach will enable us to make measurable progress on the most critical issues facing Californians, and it will show the rest of the country that a progressive government works.”

Rivas highlighted his family’s immigrant roots in his inaugural address, telling the story of his grandfather, Servando Flores, who left Mexico for the fertile fields of California. Flores began picking grapes, joined the United Farm Workers movement to fight for a union contract, and became a viticultural mechanic.

“My family and I, we grew up in working-class housing, and today I stood before you as the speaker of the California State Assembly,” Rivas said to loud applause in the Assembly chamber. “That’s California’s dream.”

Rivas represents an agricultural strip of central California rich in strawberry and lettuce fields, becoming the first speaker in a generation to come from a rural region. Seven of the final eight speakers were from Los Angeles; the other was from San Diego.

Rivas symbolizes the hopes and dreams of all those who work in our farm fields across California today that as a result of the hard work and sacrifices of our parents and grandparents, the next generation can also reach the highest places in the California Legislature said Luis Alejo, a Monterey County foreman who lived in Rivas County.

Rivas first tried to take the gavel from then speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) in May 2022. But Rendon insisted that a new batch of Assembly members elected in the fall should decide on the speakership. The standoff led to lengthy closed-door negotiations and deep divisions between Rendon supporters and those who supported Rivas.

On paper, the two men don’t seem very different, both being Latino Democrats and Gen-X grandsons of Mexican immigrants. Both men have support from a range of moderate and progressive members of their caucus. The split was more about leadership style than political differences.

Rivas supporters criticized Rendon’s management of the Assembly, feeling that he was clinging to power despite only being in office for two years before the term would force him to leave. They saw Rivas as a leader for the future.

Rendon’s supporters feared that Rivas would be influenced by his brother Rick Rivas’s political connections. Rick Rivas is a vice president of the American Beverage Assn., which lobbies for the soft drink industry, and has served as a political advisor to Govern for California, a donor network largely made up of Bay Area venture capitalists that seeks to counter the mainstream public unions in the legislature.

The feud spilled over into the 2022 election, with Rivas supporters pooling donations in a political action committee to support candidates they hoped would support Rivas as speaker. Rivas traveled across the state stumping for them, something usually done by the speaker.

Days after the November election, Assembly Democrats finalized a plan for Rendon to pass the gavel to Rivas on June 30.

The timing makes Rendon the second longest-serving speaker in California history, surpassed only by Willie Brown, who famously styled himself the Assembly’s Ayatollah when he was speaker in the 1980s and 1990s. But then voters passed a law that limited lawmakers to just three two-year terms in the General Assembly (and two four-year terms in the Senate), ushering in an era of high turnover in the speakership.

Voters changed the term limit law in 2012, the same year Rendon was elected, to allow legislators to serve up to six two-year terms in the Assembly (or three four-year terms in the Senate). That ushered in a new generation of legislators who had time during their tenure to develop more expertise. Rendon led them with a decentralized approach that delegated substantial powers to the committee chairs he appointed.

It was a departure from the more autocratic style of earlier speakers. Reflecting on his speakership earlier this week, Rendon said he put up with a lot of things by using another word that starts with an S. And maybe he shouldn’t have been so overly forgiving of the members who handed it out.

I don’t always know that I was as quick with punishment as I should have been, he said Wednesday during an interview with the Public Policy Institute of California.

Rendon helped Democrats win major policy victories, including raising the minimum wage, strengthening employment protections for handyman and farm workers, launching a universal kindergarten and broadening a program to fight climate change. Under his leadership, lawmakers have amended the California police’s use of force law, expanded tenant protections and cracked down on predatory lending.

Perhaps Rendon’s most powerful achievement was in the political arena, increasing the number of Democrats in the Assembly. Under his leadership, Democrats swelled to three-quarters of the seats, more than the two-thirds supermajority that allows them to pass tax increases and fast-track legislation.

without Republican votes

. The caucus also added enough women and LGBTQ+ members to help the legislature break diversity records.

But his legacy also includes the chaotic last night of the 2020 Legislative Session, when he was publicly criticized and ultimately forced to apologize for bringing Councilman Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) to the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. the Capitol had come, despite the recent childbirth. Wick’s vote was needed to help pass a controversial housing measure, but Rendon had declined her request to vote by distance. So she dragged her newborn to Sacramento, strapped her to her chest, and took her place on the convention floor.

Backlash mounted after the housing bill died later that night. Rendon was accused of letting the measure lie dormant for hours before being put to a vote, after which it was too late for the Senate to finalize the measure before a midnight deadline.

Wicks gained national attention as a symbol of the plight of mother’s face in the workplace when a photo went viral showing her rocking her baby while giving a speech on the Assembly floor. Two years later, she became one of Riva’s most critical allies, helping him find the support needed to become a speaker.