Our Mission

Reform California is a statewide grassroots political movement led by Carl DeMaio that is dedicated to taking back our state from the far-Left politicians and special interests.

Given that California is currently dominated by one political party with a supermajority – and the other political party has shown itself largely ineffective in its opposition role – Reform California seeks to be the counterbalance to extreme and misguided policies that are costing taxpayers and hurting working families in our state.

Under Chairman Carl DeMaio's leadership, Reform California has become the fastest growing grassroots movement in the state. Since DeMaio became a candidate for state office in December 2023, Reform California is funded as a project of DeMaio's candidate campaign committee - Carl DeMaio for State Assembly.

Reform California achieves its mission in four ways:

• Reform California Voter Guide: In each election, Reform California helps voters cut through the confusion and misinformation in the election with its Reform California "Plain English" Voter Guide that is distributed throughout the state. Reform California endorses the most principled reform-minded candidates for each office and provides an easy-to-understand truthful description of deceptive ballot measures that politicians put on the ballot. DeMaio also controls Reform California Voter Guide - a slate mail entity that is used to publicize Reform California's voter guide in each election.
• Ballot Measure Campaigns: Reform California maintains a separate ballot measure campaign committee to file, qualify, and support numerous citizen ballot initiatives to impose reform on state and local government. Reform California's ballot measure committee is also able to organize campaigns in opposition to bad initiatives proposed by politicians and special interests - such as tax increases.
• Providing an Alternative to Liberal News: The liberal media in California refuses to cover the truth and deliver the news on the growing problems in California under one-party control. That's why Carl DeMaio hosts a daily Reform California podcast to provide factual and unbiased news stories to the public yearning for the truth on what is really happening in our state and how to make positive change happen.
• The Reform California Caucus: As a member of the California State Legislature, Reform California Chairman Carl DeMaio is building a "Reform California Caucus" of like-minded principled reformers to fight for change from within the "belly of the beast." 

Our Supporters

Ordinary citizens from all walks of life are funders and supporters of Reform California. In fact, Reform California has grown into one of the largest grassroots advocacy movements in the country.

• Contributors: Reform California represents a grassroots army of over 50,000 donors who give an average of just $67 per year in small contribution levels.
• Volunteers: Reform California has recruited over 30,000 volunteers spread throughout each region of the state. These volunteers help collect signatures for ballot measures and volunteer for candidate and causes that Reform California endorses.
• Subscribers: Reform California has over 500,000 subscribers that receive its podcasts and news alerts on state policy issues and politics.

This diversity and broad-based support gives Reform California true independence from the political system because our funding is not tied to any special interests with business before the state.

Our History

Reform California was founded as a political action committee in 2003 by government reform leader Carl DeMaio with the initial focus on uncovering the financial crisis faced at that time by the state of California under Gov. Gray Davis.  Since then, Reform California has uncovered numerous cases of financial mismanagement and corruption in state and local governments.

Reform California's investigative work forced the City of San Diego to admit to falsifying its financial statements and hiding its multi-billion pension debt crisis. After exposing this financial crisis, Reform California outlined a bold fiscal reform plan that saved the City of San Diego from bankruptcy.

Since its launch in 2003, Reform California has led over two dozen initiative campaigns – both in specific regions as well as state-wide. In 2017, Reform California led the successful recall against State Senator Josh Newman (D) who cast the deciding vote in approving the costly and unfair car and gas tax hikes. This successful Recall is only the 5th time since 1912 that a state politician was successfully removed from office through a Recall. In 2018, Reform California collected over 1 million signatures to qualify Proposition 6 – the Gas Tax Repeal Initiative and in 2022 collected over 1.4 million signatures to qualify the California Taxpayer Protection Act.

To date Reform California has defeated over 300 tax hike proposals on the ballot - saving Californians over $32 billion.

Reform California’s “Plain English Voter Guide" is the most referenced voter guide in the state - and was downloaded by more than 264,000 unique voters during the 2022 election.

In 2024, Reform California Chairman Carl DeMaio announced his campaign to win a seat in the State Assembly - all part of his strategy to build a Reform California Caucus inside the "belly of the beast!" Because of state campaign finance rules, Reform California is now a project of Carl DeMaio's candidate committee - Carl DeMaio for State Assembly. DeMaio's candidate committee covers the cost of all Reform California operations. A separate ballot measure committee - called Reform California with Carl DeMaio - raises and spends funds on ballot measure campaigns.