Can Republicans and Democrats stay friends? Ask these veteran California lawmakers

The internet was brand new in 1990, when Xavier Becerra, Barbara Lee and 10 other bright-eyed young lawmakers were sworn in as freshmen to the California Assembly.

Technologically and politically, it was a different era. Many state lawmakers didn’t have their own computers. Term limits were brand-new. State budgets required a two-thirds vote to pass, rather than today’s simple majority requirement.

And the Assembly class of 1990 forged close friendships across party lines that endure 35 years later.

Over breakfast Wednesday at Fox & Goose Public House, seven of the former lawmakers reunited to reminisce and trade war stories about working with — or against — legendary California politicians Willie Brown, John Burton, and others.

“It was very collegial. We worked together. We disagreed but never had hostile disagreements,” said Lee, who was sworn in as mayor of Oakland earlier this year after representing the East Bay for 26 years in the U.S. House.

“We disagreed on bills, we disagreed on issues, but we liked each other and we worked together,” agreed Paula Boland, a San Fernando Valley Republican. “It was a good experience. Too bad it’s not that way today.”

During a particularly difficult budget year, several lawmakers went to South Lake Tahoe casinos while top leaders hammered out the final details. “Someone said, ‘we’ll call you when we’re three hours out to give you time to get back here and vote,’” said Boland, who recalled rooming with five Democratic women on the trip.

“When I became the Republican leader as a freshman, I had three former Assembly Republican leaders in my caucus,” said Jim Brulte, who went on to lead the California Republican Party and who organized the reunion. “I also had the opportunity to watch the master, Willie Brown. I learned that if you want to be a good leader, you need to understand what’s in each member’s short-term and long-term interest.”

While Democrats hold a supermajority in both legislative chambers today, it was more politically split back then. Republicans even briefly took control of the Assembly between 1994-96.

“When I tell people I was here when Republicans took over the Assembly, it’s like saying Martians took over the earth,” said Tom Umberg, now a member of the state Senate. “Nobody in the Legislature (today) could completely conceive of Republicans taking over one of the houses.”

One would be forgiven for not knowing that Umberg began his legislative career more than three decades ago. The Orange County Democrat left in 1994, returned briefly ten years later, and won a state Senate seat in 2018, which he has held on to since. He said someone recently told him that they worked with his father in the Assembly and laughed as he recounted telling the person that it was him.

As Democrats’ power has grown in Sacramento, it has also become more consolidated to leaders at the very top.

As a 34-year-old freshman, Umberg recalled meeting with Republican then-Gov. Pete Wilson to weigh in on the budget, which needed 54 votes to pass the Assembly.

“I really thought I was basically controlling major parts of the budget. Now?” Umberg, who turns 70 later this month and has 12 years’ experience as a legislator under his belt, throws up his hands and shakes his head.

Republican lawmakers have not been involved in state budget negotiations for years.

“A supermajority is not good anytime, anywhere ... it wouldn’t be good if it was a Republican supermajority. It’s not a good thing” now, said Boland, who served six years in the Assembly before losing a state Senate race to a federal prosecutor named Adam Schiff.

The 85-year old is still politically involved in her community but said she wouldn’t want to be in the Legislature today.

“Not in this climate,” she said.

While they came up in a political environment that was far less divisive, the 1990 Assembly cohort proves relationships can cross party lines and last for decades.

“I love her so much,” Brulte said after bidding farewell to Lee and promising to visit her in Oakland. “I’m pretty sure she disagrees with my politics as vehemently as I disagree with hers, but she’s just a wonderful person with a great heart.”

This story was originally published September 3, 2025 at 3:53 PM.