Brian Dwain Dahle (born September 20, 1965) is an American politician and farmer who has served as a member of the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Cal ...

from the 1st district since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Dahle served as a member of the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

from the 1st district from 2012 to 2019, and as Assembly minority leader from 2017 to 2018. Before his election to the state legislature, Dahle served on the Lassen County Board of Supervisors from 1997 to 2012. On June 4, 2019, Dahle won a special election to fill the State Senate seat vacated by

Ted Gaines Edward Moore Gaines (born April 25, 1958) is an American politician and businessman serving as a member of the California Board of Equalization for the 1st district. He previously served as a California State Senator, representing the 1st Senate ...

, who resigned after his election to the

California Board of Equalization The California State Board of Equalization (BOE) is a public agency charged with tax administration and fee collection in the state of California in the United States. The authorities of the Board fall into four broad areas: sales and use taxe ...

. After Dahle joined the State Senate, his wife

Megan Dahle Megan Dahle (born July 29, 1975) is an American politician serving as a member of the California State Assembly. A Republican, she represents the 1st State Assembly district, which encompasses the northeastern corner of California, including t ...

was elected to his vacated Assembly seat. Dahle was the Republican nominee for

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, the g ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

. He was defeated by incumbent Democrat

Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who has been the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California fr ...

Early life and education

Descended from

Tule Lake Tule Lake ( ) is an intermittent lake covering an area of , long and across, in northeastern Siskiyou County and northwestern Modoc County in California, along the border with Oregon. Geography Tule Lake is fed by the Lost River. The elevat ...

homesteaders and the son and grandson of farmers, Dahle was born in Redding and grew up in rural

Lassen County Lassen County () is a county in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,730. The county seat and only incorporated city is Susanville. Lassen County comprises the Susanville, Calif ...

. His grandfather was a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

veteran who won his family farm in

Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter B ...

in a lottery during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Dahle grew up poor with an alcoholic father and graduated from Big Valley High School in Bieber. Unable to afford college, he tried his hand at farming, but lost money in the attempt. To pay back debts, he took a job at a lumber mill, and later at hydroelectric plants. He also worked in construction for several years, including in a gold mine, and eventually began a seed business, which he owns to this day.

Career

Lassen County Board of Supervisors

Dahle won his first election to the Lassen County Board of Supervisors in 1996, beating a popular teacher. He was reelected in 2000, 2004, and 2008. He represented District 4 on the board. Dahle served one-year terms as chairman of the board in 1998, 2002, 2007, and 2012. He left his seat early on November 27, 2012, in order to take office in the Assembly the following week.

California State Assembly

Dahle was first elected to the

for the 1st district with 65% of the vote in November 2012, and reelected in 2014, 2016, and 2018. He was appointed vice chair of the Assembly Environmental and Toxic Materials Committee, the Revenue and Taxation Committee, and the Natural Resources Committee. He also served as a member of the following committees: Agriculture; Water, Parks and Wildlife; Privacy and Consumer Protection; Utilities and Commerce; Fisheries and Aquaculture; Insurance; and Business and Professions. In 2018, Assembly Speaker

Anthony Rendon Anthony Michael Rendon (, ; born June 6, 1990) is an American baseball third baseman for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played for the Washington Nationals and was a member of the Nationals' 2019 World S ...

appointed Dahle to the Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response, which works to improve services for

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

staff. In the Assembly, Dahle was known for writing and passing a number of bipartisan bills under Governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

. Dahle's

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

colleagues elected him minority leader on August 24, 2017. He served in that role from September 16, 2017, to November 8, 2018. Dahle resigned from the Assembly on June 12, 2019, after winning a special election to the California State Senate. His wife

was elected to succeed him in the Assembly in a special election.

California State Senate

After

resigned, Dahle won a special election to replace him in the California State Senate and took office on June 12, 2019. He was reelected in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

with 57.7% of the vote. Dahle serves as vice chair of the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee. He also serves on the following committees: Banking and Financial Institutions; Budget and Fiscal Review; Education; Environmental Quality; and Transportation.

Caucus memberships

California Senate Republican Caucus

Legislative Outdoor Sporting Caucus

Legislative Rural Caucus

2022 California gubernatorial election

Dahle is the Republican nominee for

governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, the g ...

in the 2022 election. He placed second in the nonpartisan blanket primary, with 17.5% of the vote. In September 2022, incumbent Democratic governor

agreed to face off against Dahle in a single gubernatorial debate, sometime in late October. On October 23, Dahle and Newsom participated in a televised debate, hosted by KQED in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Political positions

Dahle favors a suspension of the California gas tax to address high fuel prices, building more

charging station A charging station, also known as a charge point or electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), is a piece of equipment that supplies electrical power for charging plug-in electric vehicles (including electric cars, electric trucks, electric ...

s for electric vehicles, building the proposed

Sites Reservoir The Sites Reservoir is a proposed $5.2 billion offstream reservoir project west of Colusa in the Sacramento Valley of northern California, to be built by the California Department of Water Resources. The project would pump per year of the w ...

project, and increasing oil production in California. He also supports rolling back parts of Proposition 47, but opposes jailing marijuana users. He has worked to stop medical patients from getting surprise medical bills from health care providers that are outside their insurance network. To reduce homelessness in California, Dahle supports building more affordable housing and tackling drug abuse. He has criticized Newsom's response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and supports streamlining the path to obtaining U.S. citizenship. Dahle has voted against bills intended to increase access to abortion and has said that abortion's legality will not change in California after the ''

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'', , is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the court held that the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion. The court's decision overruled both ''R ...

'' ruling. He voted for a bill aimed at reducing the cost of contraceptives in California. Dahle describes himself as a supporter of the

Second Amendment The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

. He has voted against SB 1327, legislation that allows private citizens to sue those who illegally sell

assault weapon In the United States, ''assault weapon'' is a controversial term used to define firearms with specified characteristics. The definition varies among regulating jurisdictions, but usually includes semi-automatic firearms with a detachable magaz ...

s or .50 BMG rifles in California, but supports making it a felony to steal a firearm, and has voted for a bill that would make it easier to confiscate guns from convicted felons.

Personal life

Dahle is married to

, who holds his former State Assembly seat. They have three children together.

Electoral history

California State Assembly

2012

2014

2016

2018

California State Senate

2019 (special)

References

External links

*
Twitter

Join California Brian Dahle
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dahle, Brian 1965 births 21st-century American politicians County supervisors in California Living people Republican Party California state senators Republican Party members of the California State Assembly People from Lassen County, California People from Redding, California