LOS ANGELES, May 11 (Xinhua) -- More than 1 million immigrants became U.S. citizens last year, with nearly one-third of them in California, whose political landscape is being reshaped with more Latinos and Asians eligible to vote, a report said Monday.

    The increase in naturalized Asian and Latino citizens could alter policy priorities in the most populous state in the United States for years to come, according to the Los Angeles Times.

    A recent report by the U.S. Office of Immigration Statistics showed that California is leading the U.S. in new naturalized citizens, its 300,000 new citizens in 2008 represented a near-doubling over 2006. Florida recorded the second-largest group of new citizens, and Texas claimed the fastest growth.

    Mexicans, who have traditionally registered low rates of naturalization, represented the largest group, with nearly one-fourth of the total. They were followed by Indians, Filipinos, Chinese, Cubans and Vietnamese.

    Political analysts predict that more Asian and Latino voters are reshaping California's electorate and are likely to reorder the state's policy priorities. Latinos and Asians are considered more supportive than whites of public investments and broad services.

    In the U.S. presidential election last year, nonwhite voters overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama, while most whites voted for his Republican rival John McCain, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, a Washington-based think tank.

    Dowell Myers, a University of Southern California demographer, said that the surge in new citizens will accelerate by several years the California electorate's shift from majority white to nonwhite.

    Although that shift won't be completed until 2026, Latinos, Asians and African Americans are already joining with progressive whites to elect ethnically diverse candidates, Myers and other analysts said.