The change is due to a Supreme Court decision. It used to be that Calif. Senators were elected on a scheme that gave each county a representation proportional to its land area. The Supreme Court decided that this was invalid, as states weren't ever really independent (despite the fact that Calif, like Texas, once was). So now they're elected based on population. And most of the population lives in cities.
I'm not going to decide whether this was right or wrong, but it changed the Senate from pro-agriculture to pro-urban. (The fact that the agricultural areas always voted conservative is, of course, purely a coincidence.)
The change is due to a Supreme Court decision. It used to be that Calif. Senators were elected on a scheme that gave each county a representation proportional to its land area. The Supreme Court decided that this was invalid, as states weren't ever really independent (despite the fact that Calif, like Texas, once was). So now they're elected based on population. And most of the population lives in cities.
I'm not going to decide whether this was right or wrong, but it changed the Senate from pro-agriculture to pro-urban. (The fact that the agricultural areas always voted conservative is, of course, purely a coincidence.)