The California Democratic Party is the state branch of the Democratic Party in the state of California, headquartered in Sacramento. It is chaired by veteran Democratic politician and former United States Representative John L. Burton, who succeeded Art Torres in April 2009. It is the majority party in both chambers of the California State Legislature, i.e. the State Assembly and the Senate.The Party has at times been a powerful majority party and, at other times, been divided and ineffectual. When California was admitted as a U.S. state in 1850, the California Democratic Party was the majority party. The Party controlled the State Senate, the Assembly, the majority of the delegation to the federal House of Representatives, one United States Senate seat and the governorship.