Baja California’s state congress on March 26 approved a formal recommendation urging President Claudia Sheinbaum and all 32 state legislatures to adopt the state’s electoral model, which eliminated party-list lawmakers six years ago. The move came as a pointed rebuke after Sheinbaum repeatedly singled out Baja California’s legislature as the most expensive in Mexico.
Deputy Juan Manuel Molina authored the exhorto, a non-binding legislative recommendation that passed with 13 votes in the Morena-dominated congress in Mexicali. Molina noted the irony of the situation: Sheinbaum’s own federal electoral reform, which aimed to eliminate proportional representation seats nationwide, failed in the lower house of Congress on March 11. Baja California, meanwhile, successfully abolished list-based deputies back in 2020 using Molina’s original 2019 initiative.
Sheinbaum’s Criticism of BC Legislature Spending
The political backdrop is a public feud over legislative costs. Sheinbaum has repeatedly cited Baja California’s congress as the country’s priciest, pointing to a per-deputy cost of 34.9 million pesos (about $1.95 million USD) annually. That figure tops the national list. By comparison, Colima, which has the same number of state lawmakers (25), spends roughly one-seventh as much on its legislature.
Sheinbaum used those numbers to build her case for a sweeping constitutional reform that would have eliminated proportional representation, or “plurinominal,” seats in Congress. Those seats are filled from party lists rather than direct elections. The proposal also sought to cut election costs by 25% and increase oversight of party funding.
Federal Reform Failed Where BC Succeeded
The federal reform needed a two-thirds supermajority to pass as a constitutional amendment. It fell short on March 11 when even allies in Morena’s coalition broke ranks. Only one of 49 PT (Labor Party) deputies voted in favor, and just 12 of the PVEM (Green Party) caucus supported it. Sheinbaum called the defeat a non-issue and announced a “Plan B” to cap state legislative budgets through other means.
BC’s exhorto specifically recommends that all state congresses assign proportional representation seats based solely on ballot results, eliminating candidates chosen through internal party lists who never face voters directly. Baja California made that change in 2020 and has operated with a 25-member legislature of entirely directly elected deputies since then.
Intra-Party Friction on Display
The exhorto is unusual because it pits Morena state legislators against their own party’s president. BC’s Morena deputies are essentially telling Sheinbaum that the state she criticizes for overspending already achieved the electoral reform she could not pass at the federal level. The move reads as both a defense of the state legislature’s record and a public challenge to the president’s narrative.
Sheinbaum has said she will provide details on her “Plan B” approach, which may include setting maximum limits on resources allocated to state legislatures nationwide.
This story was first reported by Punto Norte.