A conversation with Toni Atkins, the outgoing leader of the Senate

Toni Atkins has been one of the most powerful politicians in California for years, even though her name is unknown to many people in the state.

Atkins had been a state lawmaker representing San Diego for fourteen years. He served as speaker of the Assembly and, more recently, president pro tem of the Senate — the first person in more than a century, and the only woman, to hold both positions. from the top positions of the legislature.

During her tenure, she quietly negotiated eight state budgets and helped craft some of California's most impactful legislation: Medicaid expansions that extend health insurance to all eligible adults, regardless of immigration status. Laws that expand access to reproductive health care and protect health care providers after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Free meals for public school students. Tax credits for poor families.

Atkins, a Democrat, is leaving the Senate after this year due to term limits, and will relinquish her leadership post next week. Sen. Mike McGuire of Healdsburg is expected to succeed her.

But her career in politics is hardly over. A few weeks ago, Atkins announced she would compete in 2026 to succeed Governor Gavin Newsom, who cannot seek a third term.

She agreed to an exit interview and we spoke on the phone around the time she was there announcing her campaign for governor. I planned to focus on her political legacy, but we ended up talking mostly about her roots in Appalachia. Here's our chat, lightly edited.

Tell me something about yourself.

I grew up in a small community in southwestern Virginia, Wythe County. My father was a coal and lead miner, and my mother was a seamstress. We lived in a house with an outbuilding and no running water. At about seven or eight o'clock we moved to the “big city” of Roanoke, but before that we got our water from a well.

What brought you to California?

My sister was in the Navy and married another Navy man. He was getting ready to be deployed for eight months, and she was getting ready to give birth to their first child. I came to help with her newborn baby.

That was in 1985, right? It must have been a culture shock.

I always thought I didn't belong. I was too rural. I was too poor. And then I came out as LGBTQ when I was 17 or 18. I grew up in a community that I didn't really feel was about me. I saw California as the future. I couldn't wait to get here.

How did you end up in government service?

I saw an advertisement for a job at a feminist health center. When I went to the interview, the clinic was blocked by scammers. I didn't get that particular job, but a year later the director called me back and invited me to a training program.

I became a clinic manager, and after about seven years I went to work for Christine Kehoe, the first openly gay person to serve on the San Diego City Council. Helping everyday people get the services they needed felt like working on my own difficult life growing up.

You followed your boss to the council in 2000 and then joined the Legislature in 2010. What have you learned in nearly a quarter century of rule?

To build bridges. San Diego now has a Democratic mayor and council, but when I served we had a Republican majority. I know some people do politics for sport, but politics is how we get work done. I have learned that collaboration is very important.

In fact, you are friends with State Senator Shannon Grove, a Republican from the Central Valley.

And politically we agree on almost nothing. But we grew up in similar circumstances. In 2022, we teamed up to launch Dolly Parton's Imagination Library to California, to promote children's ability to learn to read.

Tell me something that might surprise readers about California.

There are parts of California that remind me of where I grew up.

As?

Bakersfield. I'm a big fan of the Bakersfield sound.

What else do you love about this state?

Oh, food in San Francisco. The skyline as you drive into LA San Diego, which is so misunderstood to this day. There is still the perception that it is a sleepy military town.

What is that sound?

My dogs. Joey is a white terrier, an adopted mutt, and Mia is a chocolate toy poodle. I got her in March of the year we went into the pandemic. She was our Covid puppy.

I have to take them for a walk. They're sitting here looking at me. Oh, now you're going to hear the squeaky toy!

Tell us

If you live in the Bay Area, chances are you cross a lot of bridges. Which one is your favorite, and why?

Tell us at CAtoday@nytimes.com. Please include your name and the city in which you live.

And before you go: good news

A Northern California ranch will be transformed into a sprawling nature preserve with a network of public hiking trails, The San Francisco Chronicle reports this.

The property, called the Richmond Ranch, includes 3,654 acres of meadows and foothills between the Diablo and Santa Cruz Mountains near San Jose. Previously owned by a Chinese company, the land was recently purchased by the Conservation Fund, a nonprofit environmental organization, with the intention of transferring ownership to Santa Clara County and eventually turning the land into a nature preserve and hiking area.

Conservationists and park officials hope the reserve will act as an important wildlife corridor for local pumas, moose and badgers. Trails on the property will be included in the growing Bay Area Ridge Trail network, officials say.

“The views are just beautiful,” Eric Ross, a real estate agent for the county's Parks and Recreation Department, told The Chronicle. “Once we get some paths through there, it will be excellent.”

Thank you for reading. We'll be back tomorrow.

PS Here it is today's mini crossword.

Soumya Karlamangla, Maia Coleman and Briana Scalia contributed to California Today. You can reach the team via CAtoday@nytimes.com.

Sign up here to receive this newsletter in your inbox.