SACRAMENTO, California — Shannon Grove is a Trump-supporting, anti-abortion Republican from the beating red heart of California’s Central Valley.
She’s also one of Democratic lawmakers’ most beloved colleagues in Sacramento.
The Bakersfield state senator has gained widespread notoriety in recent years for challenging the majority party’s reluctance to increase criminal penalties, often gathering support from even the most liberal Democrats to increase sentencing for human trafficking and set new protections for children.
On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1414, Grove’s bill that charges the solicitation of a minor as a felony, rather than a misdemeanor. It received near-unanimous support in the Senate, and was even championed by First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
Grove’s crusades have been backed, in large part, by the conservatives like her who are outraged over the state’s approach to crime, but have also gained a boost from the unlikely alliances she’s forged with the opposing party over her nearly 15 years in the building.