Newsom’s congressional redistricting drive in California faces political and legal hurdles

August 13, 2025 By Dan Walters 3 Comments

by Dan Walters

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Gov. Gavin Newsom justifies — or rationalizes — his drive for a mid-decade reconfiguration of California’s congressional districts as a heroic mission to thwart President Donald Trump’s power grab.

Newsom, who seems to be edging ever closer to a 2028 presidential campaign, proposes to alter the state’s 53 districts to shift five or six seats now held by Republicans into Democratic hands during the 2026 elections.

If successful, it would neutralize efforts by Texas Republicans to gerrymander its districts to gain a similar number of seats. Republicans hold a paper-thin majority in the House of Representatives and Trump has sought mid-decade redistricting in Texas and other red states to block Democrats from gaining control in 2026.

The Texas situation is in limbo because Democratic legislators have fled the state, but how long they can hold out is unclear. Newsom played host to some Texas Democrats last week as he talked up action in California, which would require voter approval in a November special election.

“I think the voters will approve it. I think the voters understand what’s at stake,” Newsom said on Friday. “We live in the most un-Trump state in America.”

Well maybe, but Democratic gerrymandering of California’s districts will not be as easy as Republican gerrymandering in Texas.

In Texas, as in most states, the legislature controls redistricting. Under its current maps, enacted after the 2020 census, Republicans hold 25 of its 38 seats, Democrats have 12 and there’s one vacancy.

Ironically, Democrats fare much better in Texas than Republicans do in California, where the GOP holds just nine of the state’s 53 seats under maps drawn by an independent commission. Newsom, backed by Democratic legislative leaders, wants voters to set aside the commission’s maps for as many as three election cycles and approve a new plan with more Democratic districts.

If Texas moves forward, the proposal, which has not been shared publicly, would require the California Legislature to place it on the ballot after lawmakers return next week from summer recess — and just four days to act under current law. However, the Legislature has often exempted itself from ballot measure deadlines, so one must assume that the proposal will make the ballot.

That’s the easy part for Newsom. He would still have to persuade voters who are no more than lukewarm despite the unpopularity of Trump in California, according to private polling.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who championed the creation of an independent redistricting commission, says he’ll oppose Newsom’s plan and Charles Munger Jr., a wealthy scientist who bankrolled two ballot measures to create the commission, says he’ll support an opposition campaign.

Given the stakes, Trump and Republicans would probably flood the state with opposition campaign money while Democrats would do the same, with even more money coming from labor unions and other Democratic allies.

Newsom also faces the possibility of legal battles, such as issues over what data he uses to draw the new districts.

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Gavin Newsom says he’s always supported nonpartisan redistricting. Has he?

August 11, 2025 By Lia Russell 2 Comments

As Gov. Gavin Newsom champions a redistricting overhaul — citing GOP gerrymandering sparked by President Donald Trump’s order for Texas to carve out another five Republican seats — records show he did not initially support the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission despite his recent statements that he broke ranks with his party over the issue. The California governor has become the Democrats’ most vocal champion of partisan redistricting after Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a special legislative session last month to redraw district boundaries and shore up the GOP’s congressional majority ahead of the 2026 midterms. Newsom has proposed that voters approve temporary new congressional maps, drawn up by state lawmakers, in a special Nov. 4 election, which would be in effect for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections, before reverting redistricting power back to the commission. Democrats in Maryland, Illinois and New York are considering similar efforts, which has become the party’s most potent weapon in opposing Trump.

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Democrats in California’s congressional delegation have reviewed one version, which targets five districts held by Republican Reps. Kevin Kiley, Ken Calvert, David Valadao, Darrell Issa and Doug LaMalfa. The new boundaries would force more liberal voters into those districts, making them easier for Democrats to flip and counteract the five seats the GOP is hoping to pick up in Texas. Newsom, purportedly eyeing a run for higher office after he is termed out of the governor’s mansion next year, said earlier this week he will not move ahead with his own effort if Texas backs down. He said he supports redistricting despite personal reservations about undercutting the Citizen Redistricting Commission, a nonpartisan 14-member state body established in 2008 via Proposition 11, that draws congressional and legislative maps after each Census count.

“I actually was one of the few Democrats back in the day (to support it) when we created the independent redistricting commission, which I think personally should be the case in every state,” Newsom recently said on his podcast. “This is ridiculous. This gerrymandering is outrageous. I don’t like it on either side, and so I supported that.” On Wednesday, he sent a short email to supporters claiming the tactic was one of last resort: “I’ve long supported independent redistricting. I can’t stand these gerrymandered districts. But Democrats can’t just sit there and act holier than thou while we watch our democracy be totally degraded.”

Click here to read the full article in the Sacramento Bee

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California’s Redistricting Commission is Already ‘Gerrymandered’

August 6, 2025 By Katy Grimes 2 Comments

Rep. Kevin Kiley introducing legislation ‘to stop Newsom’s corrupt scheme to overthrow our Citizens Redistricting Commission and seize its powers for himself’

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California Governor Gavin Newsom announced his intentions last week to blow up California’s independent redistricting commission, effectively tampering with the state’s electoral maps mid-decade… because TRUMP.

Gov. Newsom plans to redraw electoral district boundaries for the state’s members of the U.S. House of Representatives. However, California is currently very gerrymandered already, even with the state’s supposed “fair-representation” California Citizens Redistricting Commission known as “We Draw The Lines.”

Newsom made this announcement as Texas continues with their current plans for a mid-decade redistricting, the Globe reported. Last month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott added redistricting to the 2025 state agenda, because the U.S. Department of Justice raised legal concerns over the constitutionality of four districts in the state over where district lines were redrawn in 2021 following the 2020 Census.

According to Texas Policy Research:

“The trigger for this redistricting session was a 2024 en banc decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In Petteway v. Galveston County, the court struck down 36 years of precedent and ruled that the Voting Rights Act (VRA) does not allow ‘coalition’ districts, where two or more minority groups combine to form a majority.

That ruling overturned Campos v. City of Baytown (1988), which had long permitted Black and Hispanic voters to be treated as a single legal coalition in redistricting cases. Now, such coalitions are no longer valid in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

The court held that Section 2 of the VRA protects ‘a class’ of citizens, not multiple distinct classes acting together. This means Texas lawmakers can no longer justify majority-minority districts built from overlapping racial and ethnic groups.”

The Texas Legislature is not a full-time Legislature.

“I’m not going to sit back any longer in the fetal position, a position of weakness, when in fact California can demonstrably advance strength. If the American people are given a fair chance and a voice and a choice, we will take back Congress,” Newsom said. “The process would unfold in a way where maps will be made available in a transparent way. A special election would be called, likely to be the first week of November to approve the changes. We will go to the people of this state in a transparent way and ask them to consider the new circumstances, to consider these new realities.”

The California Citizens Redistricting Commission is charged with completing the decennial job of drawing district lines for State Senators, State Assembly Members, U.S. Representatives, and State Board of Equalization Members. 

However, in the last round of redistricting, before their work had even begun, the commission was riddled with talk about double-dealing and management problems.

In 2021, the Globe reported that a California Public Records Act request by Attorneys Harmeet Dhillon, Michael Columbo and Mark Meuser was made on my behalf (California Globe editor Katy Grimes), which produced evidence that members of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission were holding secret meetings. The public records request was based on concerns raised in a letter from Charles T. Munger to the California Redistricting Commission dated May 7, 2021, as well as an op-ed authored by two former CRC commissioners, Cynthia Dai and Jodie P. Filkins, dated July 14, 2021.

Remember, this was done during the Covid flu pandemic, while Californians were locked down.

Attorney Columbo told the Globe the CPRA request yielded significant information not made public by the California Redistricting Commission – pages of handwritten notes and discussions, which were not part of regular, noticed redistricting commission meetings.

The redistricting commission provided the documents to the attorneys producing numerous pages of hand-written redistricting commissioners’ notes regarding redistricting meetings and communications with outside parties held in secret, and not during the noticed public CRC meetings documented on the CRC’s website.

Click here to read the full article in the California Globe

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Michael Smolens: Redistricting could mean a tough challenge for Issa — from Republicans

August 4, 2025 By Staff 1 Comment

Responding to Texas, Democratic congressional district-redrawing in California could result in fewer GOP districts

Rep. Darrell Issa may well remain in a heavily Republican congressional district if Gov. Gavin Newsom successfully pushes through a new congressional redistricting plan.

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Unfortunately for Issa, he could face serious GOP competition, potentially from other current Republican incumbents.

A redistricting arms race appears to be at hand, triggered by the Texas Republicans’ mid-decade redrawing of congressional lines in a desperate effort to retain control of the House of Representatives in the 2026 elections.

The consequences would be far reaching and upend an already volatile political world.

In California, Texas and other states that join the fray, some current Democratic and Republican members of Congress like Issa would no longer have safe seats they could occupy for a long time, provided they stayed out of trouble.

At the behest of President Donald Trump, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and legislative Lone Star Republicans are moving ahead with a realignment of congressional districts that could pad the state’s GOP congressional delegation majority by five more seats.

The razor-thin Republican control in the House presents Democrats with a prime opportunity to win the majority next year, especially given that midterm elections are generally unkind to the political party that holds the White House.

Democrats and some other political experts have decried the move in Texas because redistricting is supposed to occur only once a decade — after the national census — to realign districts to reflect population changes.

Newsom was among them, but he argues that Democratic states have no choice but to try to redraw their districts to counter Texas.

“California won’t sit back and watch this happen,” he said on social media.

There are logistical and political complications Texas doesn’t have — specifically, sidestepping independent redistricting commissions in some states, including California, where it was approved by voters.

But Newsom clearly believes those hurdles can be overcome in California and that voters can be persuaded to forge a realignment to help Democrats. Never mind that the effort has the convenient byproduct of playing into Newsom’s presidential ambitions for 2028.

Leading a high-spending redistricting campaign that, if successful, helps Democrats seize the House would seemingly make Newsom a hero among the party faithful across the country.

Click here to read the full article in the SD Union Tribune

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California Gov. Newsom says he’s considering possible Nov. 4 special election to counteract Texas redistricting

August 2, 2025 By Ashley Zavala 5 Comments

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday he is eyeing a possible special election for the first Tuesday of November, as he and state lawmakers look to redraw congressional maps to send more Democrats to Washington, D.C., and counteract Texas redistricting.

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Newsom shared the possible timeline when asked about it by KCRA 3’s Capitol Correspondent Ashley Zavala during a press conference about new wildfire fighting helicopters.

California voters would be asked to change the redistricting process, for congressional maps only, for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections, under this scenario. Then the power to draw the maps would be returned to an independent redistricting commission.

Newsom again characterized the move as in response to President Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott “trying to rig the election” for the midterms.

Texas’ Republican-led Legislature is moving to redraw its congressional districts to gain five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives for the GOP, which has a slim majority.

“If the American people are given a fair chance and a voice and a choice, we will take back Congress,“ Newsom said.

California lawmakers last drew Congressional maps more than two decades ago. Voters took the power away from them in 2008 and gave it to an independent, citizen-led redistricting commission.

Newsom said the process he envisions would “unfold in a way where maps will be made available in a transparent way.”

Earlier this week, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he believed he could defend California’s effort in court as the state’s top law enforcement official.

Click here to read the full article in KCRA

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What’s An Incumbent? Redistricting Renders Some Confusion

August 23, 2022 By Alicia Robinson and Tess Sheets Leave a Comment

Incumbent; what’s in a title? During a redistricting year, that’s a great question. 

Those interested in running for local offices, from city council to school boards, faced an Aug. 12 deadline to get the required number of signatures collected and paperwork filed in order to qualify for the November ballot. But in races without an incumbent vying for re-election, a five-day filing extension –  Aug. 17 – is triggered by California’s Elections Code.

The state code stipulates the extension should be allowed in races where the incumbent officer does not file. However, it also maintains an extension isn’t applicable if “there is no incumbent eligible to be elected.” 

An incumbent describes a person who currently holds a specific position or office. But redistricting put a metaphorical asterisk next to some officeholders’ incumbent moniker, moving them from one district to another because of where their home falls on the map. 

The Orange County Registrar of Voters initially included Rancho Santiago Community College District Trustee Area 4 and Irvine Unified School District Trustee Area 4 on its list of nearly 20 school and special contests with an extended filing period. 

But it later removed those two. After “additional review,” the Registrar of Voters concluded the current officeholders could not run for re-election in those seats because they now live outside those districts. 

In Placentia, Councilman Craig Green, who was first elected to District 2 in 2014, did not file to run. So Krista Hope, a Wagner Elementary PTA president, attempted to submit her paperwork on Monday, Aug. 15, but it was rejected. 

Green is what’s called an “ineligible incumbent.” He was “districted out” of his council seat when Placentia’s new boundaries were recently drawn.

In an interview, Hope argued city officials should have done more to make it clear this seat was not going to be eligible for an extension, especially when she went to City Hall to pull papers to run. 

“The law favors allowing candidates to run for office. Whenever there is any ambiguity, and where the city clerk did not give any warning that Mr. Green would be declared ineligible, the clerk should find in favor of allowing the candidacy,” Mark Rosen, a Mission Viejo-based attorney, said in a letter sent to Placentia’s city clerk and deputy city administrator this week. 

But Robert McKinnell, Placentia’s city clerk, said the state’s elections code does not allow for any exceptions. 

Hope said she filed on Monday, and not before the Aug. 12 deadline, because she thought she had those extra days to get her paperwork in order. 

“New districts add an element of uncertainty into the process,” said Dan Schnur, a USC politics professor. “So it is a good idea for election officials to make an additional effort to make sure that the relevant parties understand the rules.

“But ultimately, if you’re going to run for office, you need to understand the rules, you need to follow the rules, and it’s not that hard to contact the relevant election officials for clarification if necessary,” Schnur continued. 

Some of that confusion related to incumbents and redistricting has also played out among the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

Supervisors redrew the lines for the county’s five districts in November and switched to the new boundaries in January — which meant some residents found themselves with a new county representative.

But when a majority of the board tried to tell District 2 Supervisor Katrina Foley to stay in her new district, she argued that until the next election, she should be able to represent the people who put her in office. An opinion from state Attorney General Rob Bonta agreed with Foley.

On Thursday, Rosen said no decision had been made on whether to pursue legal options for securing Hope’s candidacy in the upcoming election. 

But in his letter to city officials, Rosen pointed to Orange which granted a filing extension in its District 4 City Council race even though Councilman Chip Monaco (who is not running for re-election) was voted in as an at-large member and not as that specific district’s representative. Monaco was drawn into what is now District 4 when the city switched from at-large to by-district elections in 2020 and started transitioning to the new election format.

“If somebody wants to challenge (Hope’s) right to run, the burden should be on the person trying to restrict candidates from running, not on the candidate herself,” Rosen said. 

Hope said she will be prepared to run for the Placentia City Council in four years. 

“I found out from some of my neighbors there was going to be an open seat (this year), and I started attending City Council meetings to see what they were all about and started noticing some big discrepancies,” Hope said. “Rather than sit at home and complain about how things are going, why not get out there and do something about that?”

Click here to read the full article at the OC Register

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California Redistricting: What to Know About the Final Maps

December 23, 2021 By Sameea Kamal 4 Comments

California voters have the brand new districts they’ll use to elect their members of Congress and state legislators, after the state’s independent redistricting commission voted unanimously Monday night to approve its final maps.

These districts take effect with the June 2022 primaries and continue for the next decade. Redistricting happens once every 10 years, after every census, to ensure that each district has the same amount of people. It’s the second time that California’s redrawing is being done by a 14-member independent commission. 

But it hasn’t been easy, or without contention.

In addition to balancing population numbers, the commission must comply with the federal Voting Rights Act, ensuring that no minority group’s vote is drowned out. And to create fair maps, the commission didn’t consider current district lines and isn’t supposed to weigh partisan politics. In some cases, it puts incumbents into the same district, or forces others to appeal to new voters to be re-elected.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Particularly on the congressional level, that could help shift the balance of power between Democrats and Republicans. In the U.S. House, three California Democrats are among the 23 Democrats nationally who have already opted not to run for re-election in 2022. Combined with redistricting done by Republican-led legislatures in other states, that could tip the House in favor of the GOP. 

Some California Democrats have blasted the “unilateral disarmament” of their power, though an initial analysis by the Cook Political Report says the new congressional map helps Democrats. 

The commission’s deliberations have been different from the last redistricting, in 2011, in large measure due to advances in technology, plus social media, particularly Twitter.

In 2021, it is far easier for advocacy groups and others to submit their own maps – and respond to mapping decisions in real time. As they did live line-drawing, commissioners referenced these maps, along with the feedback they were getting.

The commission was under the pressure of a court-ordered deadline to submit the maps to the secretary of state by Dec. 27 despite a nearly six-month delay in the release of census data. In the last few weeks, the panel held a number of marathon sessions late into the night to hear public comment and try to incorporate competing testimony into the maps. 

Commission chairperson Alicia Fernández acknowledged that there were constraints and disagreements along the way, but said she was proud of the commission’s work given the rules they were under.

“There was robust discussion in terms of how these maps should be drawn. We know that not everyone will be happy, but I feel that they are fair maps for Californians,” she told CalMatters.

California Common Cause — which pushed voters to create the independent panel — also defended the commission: “While the process was at times messy, it was an exercise in democracy done in public,” with 150 meetings and 30,000 pieces of public input.

Now, the maps must sit for three days for public input, though no further changes are permitted, said Fredy Ceja, communications director for the commission. In the meantime, the commission will complete its final report to deliver to the secretary of state.

Click here to read the full article at CalMatters

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Congressional Maps Favor Democrats as California Completes Redistricting

December 21, 2021 By Tal Kopan 3 Comments

WASHINGTON — The process wasn’t always pretty, but California’s redistricting commission has finalized its new map of the state’s congressional districts, largely sparing the Bay Area of major changes and overall favoring Democrats in the state.

The political boundaries that will dictate representation for the next 10 years will be officially transmitted to the secretary of state by the Dec. 27 deadline, paving the way for candidates to make final decisions about their futures by the March 11 filing deadline. The commission voted unanimously to approve its maps late Monday night.

The vote came after months of intense activity by the 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission, which is made up of five Democrats, five Republicans and four independents. The group decided to set out to draw the map from scratch rather than base its drafts on existing boundaries, causing a lengthy process that required many different proposals and changes based on public input that continued up to the last hours before maps were approved.

The decennial process is dictated by the results of the U.S. Census, which were delayed by the pandemic and litigation, shortening the window in which the commission could draw maps. Ultimately, California’s population grew at a slower rate than the nation, costing the state one of its 53 seats in Congress and forcing changes to the map.

The lost seat will essentially come from the Los Angeles area, where population growth in the state was slowest, specifically near Long Beach. The impact of losing the seat, however, will be mitigated by the retirement the lawmakers who represent the area, Democratic Reps. Alan Lowenthal of Long Beach and Lucille Roybal-Allard of Los Angeles.

In the Bay Area, there will be some changes, though none that fundamentally jeopardize incumbents. Most of the changes reflect population shifts, including increasing diversity. The commission found it had legal obligations to draw districts with strong Latino populations in the Central Valley and South Bay, as well as Asian American communities in Silicon Valley. Ultimately 12 lawmakers will represent significant portions of the Bay Area, up from 10 in the current map.

The area of Richmond and Vallejo will be a new seat in the area, which will be the likely landing place for Democratic Rep. John Garamendi, whose current Walnut Grove north state district has been largely broken up among neighboring districts. Garamendi announced his candidacy in the district shortly after the commission approved the maps.

In the South Bay, Fremont Rep. Ro Khanna’s district with a high population of Asian American voters remains largely intact, but neighboring Silicon Valley districts will see some changes. Democrat Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s San Jose district expanded significantly south to include agricultural and Latino communities south of Gilroy in San Benito and parts of Salinas. Central Coast Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, will also join the Bay Area delegation, as his district anchored by Monterey will expand to include some of South San Jose.

Click here to read the full article at the San Francisco Chronicle

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California Redistricting Commissioner Misses Key Meetings

December 18, 2021 By Hannah Wylie Leave a Comment

On the day California’s independent redistricting commission approved and released to the public long-awaited draft political maps, one of the panel’s 14 members was missing for the bulk of the key meeting.

Commissioners spent seven hours on Nov. 10 reworking draft legislative, congressional and board of equalization lines that, once finalized, will be used for the next decade. Antonio Le Mons, a No Party Preference commissioner from Studio City who now has a Rancho Mirage address, logged on late and didn’t participate in the process, video recordings and transcripts show. But before voting to approve the draft lines, he congratulated his fellow commissioners for the accomplishment.

“I’m very proud to have been a part of this process with my fellow commissioners,” he said. “This has been quite a journey in the heart of a pandemic, and I think we should all feel very good.”

This wasn’t the first time Le Mons logged on late or missed a meeting before important deadlines. The commission has marked Le Mons absent for roll call in 16 of 44 hearings since October, as members met for marathon line-drawing sessions. Commissioners have until Dec. 27 to send certified maps to Secretary of State Shirley Weber before they’re used in 2022 statewide elections.

Sometimes, as happened on Nov. 10, Le Mons was marked absent during roll call before arriving late. The commission, according to spokesperson Fredy Ceja, records attendance only to establish a quorum at the start of a meeting.

The nonpartisan panel comprises five Republicans, five Democrats and four No Party Preference voters selected during a lengthy process that began in 2019. Commissioners are charged with drawing lines using census data that “provide fair representation for all Californians” under ballot measures voters approved in 2008 and 2010 to strip the Legislature of redistricting power.

Le Mons’ commissioner profile outlines 25 years of nonprofit and private sector leadership. He’s listed as the chief operating officer of the Skid Row Housing Trust, a Los Angeles-based organization that helps homeless, disabled and poor people, along with those struggling with drug addictions, to find permanent shelter. Le Mons is also, according to his commissioner biography, a former member of the California Assn. of Marriage and Family Therapists. He now runs a personal coaching and consulting firm.

He is also a co-star on streaming channel Fox Soul’s “The House,” a show that premiered Oct. 8 and focuses on Black LGBTQ issues. It’s unclear when filming began or if it coincided with commission responsibilities.

Most commissioners have missed a meeting, and some more than one, though it’s difficult to determine how many under the commission’s record-keeping system. Certain members also participate more than others, and many turn off their cameras during meetings. Republican commissioner Derric Taylor was marked absent for nearly as many meetings — 14 — as Le Mons over the last few months. Ceja said Taylor started a new assignment with additional responsibilities in his role at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Ceja said he did not know why Le Mons had missed meetings.

Click here to read the full article at LA Times

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California Redistricting: Four Key Questions

December 4, 2021 By Sameea Kamal 1 Comment

California’s independent redistricting commission reaches a key milestone by releasing its preliminary congressional and legislative maps for public comment. But many changes are likely before final districts are adopted in late December for the 2022 election.

It took weeks of long, late-night meetings full of wonky debate and digital line drawing — as well as a haiku and at least two songs as public comment. 

But on Nov. 10, California’s independent redistricting commission reached a key milestone: Its first official maps are out. 

The citizen panel voted unanimously to release preliminary congressional, state Senate and state Assembly districts for public comment. 

The commission’s work is far from done, however. It acknowledges that these preliminary maps are far from perfect, and that it will need the six weeks before its Dec. 27 court-ordered deadline to fix them before adopting final districts for the next decade, starting with the 2022 elections. On its schedule: At least four public input meetings starting Nov. 17, then 14 line-drawing sessions between Nov. 30 and Dec. 19.

“It’s messy. It’s very slow,” commissioner Linda Akutagawa said just before the Nov. 10 vote. “But I do believe that it is a process that has enabled as many people who seek to be engaged in this process to be engaged.”

The commission is working toward “final maps that will best reflect everybody,” added Akutagawa, a no party preference voter from Huntington Beach who is president and CEO of Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics. 

Some key questions as the 14 commissioners start their next phase: 

How much could the maps change?

A lot, commissioners concede. 

While they’re required to follow a specific set of criteria, with equal population numbers being the highest priority, there are different ways to achieve those goals. 

The draft maps that were approved Wednesday night are generally along the lines of the final round of “visualizations” that the commission worked on this week. They include reworked congressional districts in Northern California, the Central Valley and San Diego in response to public feedback. 

For example, the progressive city of Davis was moved from a U.S. House district with politically conservative, rural areas in Northern California in earlier maps into a more urban, liberal district that includes parts of Yolo, Solano and Contra Costa counties. 

To meet its self-imposed deadline so it could avoid meetings around Thanksgiving, the commission also put a pin in several areas that need further work, including congressional and legislative districts in Los Angeles. 

Who are some early winners and losers?

The commission responded to concerns about earlier maps that combined two congressional districts represented by longtime African American representatives into one, and kept them separate in the latest maps. Commissioners were also able to keep the Hmong community united in congressional maps, and kept Native American tribes mostly united in Congressional and state Assembly maps. 

The commission also addressed concerns from community members in Orange County’s Little Saigon by ensuring they were in the same state Senate district. San Joaquin County community leaders who wanted less divided districts are also likely happy with the draft maps.

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Meanwhile, voters in and near Tracy who were disappointed with being grouped into a congressional district with the Bay Area were relieved to see their city placed back with the Central Valley. 

But other areas and advocacy groups are on the losing end so far.

Inyo and Mono counties, where officials asked to be kept together, were split in congressional and Senate districts, as was the city of Santa Clarita in Senate maps. 

Advocates say that proposed state Assembly districts divide Asian Americans and Pacific Islander communities in San Francisco.

“Losers” also include voters in Sacramento County, which hasn’t been as vocal in the process and is in danger of being sliced into several congressional districts, according to Jeff Burdick, a political blogger and 2020 congressional candidate.

And the uncertainty surrounding the districts is making it difficult for candidates and campaigns to get going for the June primary, some political professionals told Politico.

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