State Sen. Brian Jones of Santee was unanimously elected minority leader in the California State Senate on Monday, increasing the San Diego area’s clout in the top legislative body.
The Republican who represents the 40th District in East County joins San Diego Democrat Toni Atkins, the long-serving senate president pro tem, in a top leadership position.
“Californians are best served by hard-working elected officials that put bipartisanship and the betterment of the community first,” said Jones after the California Senate Republican Caucus voted.
“This philosophy is something I have always tried to adhere to in the past and I will carry over as Senate Minority Leader,” he said.
He promised that “we in the minority party will continue stepping up and offering alternative solutions that we think work better than the stale, big-government, Democrat Party knee-jerk standard responses.”
Jones served on the Santee City Council and in the state Assembly before being elected to the Senate for the first time in 2018.
Jones succeeds Sen. Scott Wilk of Santa Clarita and will officially take the leadership reins on Jan. 1.