Traditionally, the Inland Empire has produced legislators only in "wholly owned" districts. For instance, while Jim Brulte was certainly a resident of the Inland Empire, his district only included Riverside County and San Bernardino County. In districts which also include populated parts of Los Angeles County or Orange County, a candidate from LA or Orange would generally fare far better. 

The results of the June 3rd election point to a new trend. Looking to the 60th and 71st Assembly Districts, we see that while the incumbents were from Los Angeles County and Orange County, the primary winners are from San Bernardino County and Riverside County, respectively. 

In addition to that, Larry Dick (defeated candidate for the 60th District) and Neil Blais (defeated candidate for the 71st District) were both residents of Orange County.

What we saw two weeks ago was a rejection of Orange County candidates in favor of individuals from the Inland Empire. Even residents of Los Angeles County and Orange County supported the IE candidates in numbers far better than might have been guessed. In the 71st AD race, Neil Blais (of Orange County) bested Jeff Miller (of Riverside County) by only 500 votes (of some 21,000 cast)--among Orange County voters. In Riverside County, Miller won a full 77% of the votes cast, which put him over the top.

In the 60th AD race, Curt Hagman won not only in San Bernardino County, of which he is a resident, but in Los Angeles County and Orange County. He faced his toughest challenge in Orange County (as his opponent was from Orange County), but still managed to secure a 2% win among those voters. Not that it would have mattered... Hagman won by over 5,000 votes districtwide.

Also interesting is that both Hagman and Miller outspent their OC opponents by significant margins in the most recent reporting period (3/18-5/17)--$70,000 in Hagman's case and $90,000 in Miller's.

This strong fundraising ability, coupled with the movement in these split districts to IE leaders, speaks to the growing legitimacy of the Inland Empire in Sacramento.