countered Bush's improved performance in Southern California and the Central Valley with large swings towards the Democratic Party in Northern California and the Central Coast. He improved on Al Gore's vote share by over 5% in Alameda, Sonoma, Marin, Santa Barbara, and San Mateo Counties, and in the city of San Francisco; and by over 10% in Santa Cruz County; he also improved on Gore by nearly 5% in San Luis Obispo County, although he didn't succeed in flipping it. In San Francisco, he became the first presidential nominee of any party in at least over a century to crack 80%, as Bush's vote share dipped below not only what he had gotten in 2000, but below Dole's in 1996. Results By county Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic Alpine (largest municipality: Markleeville) Mono (largest municipality: Mammoth Lakes) By congressional district Kerry won 31 of 53 congressional districts. Bush won 22 congressional districts, including two districts held by Democrats. Electors Technically the voters of California cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. California is allocated 55 electors because it has 53 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 53 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 53 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector. The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 13, 2004, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols. The following were the members of the Electoral College from California. All were pledged to and voted for John Kerry and John Edwards. Robert H. Manley Barbara Schraeger Paul Johnson Gary Simmons Paul Batterson Diana Madoshi Kyriakos Tsakopoulos Donald Linker Paula Sandusky Adam Woo Chloe Drew Karl Sliferv Gary Prost Joseph Cotchett John Smith George Marcus Mark Hsu Adele Bihn Darrell Darling Amarjit Dhaliwal Rocco Davis Kenneth