Common Sense Party of California

The Common Sense Party of California is a political party in the U.S. state of California. It was founded in 2019 under the chairmanship of Tom Campbell, and has been seeking to acquire enough voter registrations to qualify as a state-recognized political party.^[2][3][4]

Common Sense Party
Abbreviation	CSP
Chairman	Tom Campbell
Founded	2019
Membership (October 2024)	18,410[1]
Ideology	Governance Reform
Political position	Center
National affiliation	Forward Party (2023)
Colors	Blue, Red, Purple
Statewide Executive Offices	0 / 8
Seats in the State Senate	0 / 40
Seats in the State Assembly	0 / 80
Website
www.cacommonsense.org
Politics of California Political parties Elections

History

The Common Sense Party was founded in 2019 by former Republican representative Tom Campbell, former Independent state Senator Quentin Kopp, former political consultant Dan Schnur, and former state Commerce Secretary Julie Meier Wright. Coming with multi-partisan experiences in California politics, these politicians collaborated to create a new political party that supports governance reform and multi-party representation.^[2][5]

On January 27, 2023, the Common Sense Party and the Forward Party announced a coalition in California with the goal of achieving the necessary 73,000 registered voters to gain qualified political party status in the state.^[6]

Political positions

The Common Sense Party focuses primarily on reform of the political system rather than specific issues, concentrating on the state level.^[7][8]

Legislative and voting reform

The Common Sense Party advocates legislative transparency and accountability (a possible example being to "require a recorded vote on every bill in committee"). It also supports alternative voting systems, for instance proposing "ranked choice voting" as a "potential solution" to limited choices of candidates."^[4][7]

Campaign finance reform

The Common Sense Party supports campaign finance reform, for instance suggesting democracy vouchers aimed at reducing the financial influence of PACs, special interest groups, and lobbies.^[7] It has also been critical of the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, which prohibited the government from restricting independent expenditures for political campaigns by corporations and other associations.^[9]

Eventual other issues

On his "position papers" web page, Tom Campbell explains that the "Common Sense Party stand[s] for...candidates who think for themselves,” and offers an extensive set of "possible beliefs such a candidate might hold," on issues including "compassionate and moderate" immigration reform, climate change ("global carbon tax"), and affordable housing (for example, "built-out" cities financially helping non-built-out cities in the region provide additional affordable housing).^[10]