Candidates are scrambling after redistricting shakes up California’s congressional races

After two years the residents of Huntington Beach voted successfully ban Pride flags from the demonstration in the city area, the conservative coastal city may be represented by the gay member of Congress and the main critic of President Trump – Representative Robert Garcia.

That reversal of fortune comes after an unprecedented mid-decade reshuffle of California’s congressional districts.

Voters in November overwhelmingly approved Proposition 50 – Gov. Gavin Newsom to end the abuse of Republicans in Texas – to help Democrats win the House this November and put a sound check on the Trump administration.

The political tremors caused by the polls are already reshaping California’s political landscape.

Veteran Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of northern San Diego County, a perennial thorn in President Obama’s back, has called it quits. Northern California Rep. Kevin Kiley has ditched his GOP label to run as an independent. And two Republican congressional leaders find themselves in a political death match in a newly formed district that spans Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The new 42nd District still stands in Garcia’s home turf of Long Beach. But under the new lines, it has transformed Southeast LA communities like Downey and Bell Gardens into the MAGA-friendly towns of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.

“I say every time a district crosses the L.A.-Orange County border, a Democrat gains wings,” said Paul Mitchell, a redistricting expert who drew new lines for Democrats. “Drawing the Long Beach district down to Huntington Beach meant giving Robert Garcia a public, City Council election, a real shame for him as a person, to be a non-gay member of Congress.”

The change means Garcia’s district is shifting to the right with more Republican voters, but still a Democratic majority. Former Vice President Kamala Harris would have won the new district in the 2024 presidential race by 13 points, making Democrats confident that it is still one where Garcia can win.

As the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Garcia is poised to gain more leverage in pushing back against the Trump administration if history holds true and Democrats take back the House majority in November.

Garcia was not available for an interview, but many of the new voters who will have to take him to court are represented by Rep. Dave Min (D-Irvine), who won a closely divided Orange County seat in 2024 and now faces a slightly greener voting base in his newly formed district.

“I have a lot of voters to introduce myself to,” said Min, who described himself as “progressive in Orange County” because he cares about protecting civil rights but generally aligns with law enforcement and small business interests.

“The message [to new voters] that you may not always agree with me, but I will try everything I say. I will fight to fulfill the promises I make, I will fight for the principles I show that I care about. And I listen to those who voted for me,” he said, noting that he has just held his seventh hall since he was elected.

In neighboring Orange County, Republican Reps. Young Kim and Ken Calvert will fight for control of the only safe Republican seat after Proposition 50. That district also crosses state lines – into Corona, Chino Hills and other parts of western Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Republicans may be disappointed to see two popular party leaders battle it out in what promises to be a brutal and expensive election.

“Republican primary voters are looking for a way to differentiate between common interests,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican political strategist. “Republican voters are going to like both, so how do you make that decision?

“A lot of the time, it depends on who their friends are,” he said, noting that endorsements from interest groups and other elected officials are often more important in primaries than in general elections.

A number of Democratic candidates have declared for the seat, which campaign strategists say could split the liberal vote and allow Calvert and Kim to advance to the general election.

Issa says goodbye, Kiley drops GOP label

Issa’s decision to withdraw from re-election came as a surprise on Friday, although speculation has been rife over his future after newly drawn congressional districts put him in the seat where Democratic voters outnumbered Republicans. That was a major downgrade from his current district, which swallows eastern San Diego County and tight pockets of Temecula and Murrieta.

“This decision has been on my mind for a long time and I did not take it lightly,” said Issa in a statement. “But after a century in Congress — and before that, a century in business — the time is right for a new chapter and new challenges.”

Democrats celebrated the departure of Issa, who helped finance the successful 2003 recall of California Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, and led the congressional investigation into the 2012 attack on the US embassy in Benghazi during the Obama administration.

“After more than two decades of disastrous representation, Darrell Issa is running again to get out — and back,” said Anna Elsasser, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Several Democrats have already announced plans to challenge Issa, including San Diego Council Member Marni Lynn von Wilpert.

Proposition 50 also split the up-and-coming district held by Kiley, a Republican from Rocklin, into six, leaving the Northern California Congress and a regular Newsom critic with few good options.

In the following months, Kiley took to social media to announce – like the dating show “The Bachelor” – that he would not run until he reached two districts: a safe Republican seat that would force Kiley to enter the primary school with Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) or the district with a 9-point Democratic registration advantage.

Kiley chose to avoid challenging McClintock and presented his final rose in the new 6th District with a twist: On Friday the congressman announced that he will run as an independent rather than a Republican.

Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) in his office in Washington in 2025.

(Richard Pierrin / For The Times)

In a lengthy post on social media and an accompanying video, Kiley said he was “frustrated, sometimes angry, by the divisiveness of Congress” and that he answers to voters, “not party leaders.”

But without a political party behind him, Kiley’s campaign is “entirely his responsibility,” said Republican strategist Matt Rexroad. “He won’t get the group’s approval. He’s on his own.”

Without a letter identifying a political party next to their name on the ballot, independents have been lost to history.

Another candidate, a Christian writer named Michael Stansfield, confirmed Friday that he has filed to run as a Republican, giving Kiley an automatic runoff for conservative votes.

Several Democrats have already announced campaigns for the seat — which includes liberal Sacramento suburbs close to the capital — including Sen. Richard Pan of the state, Sacramento Dist. He said. Thien Ho, West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero and Lauren Babb, community affairs leader for Planned Parenthood clinics in California and Nevada.

The race could reignite the pandemic-era rivalry between Kiley and Pan, who clashed over public health policy and legislation while serving in the state Legislature.

New regions, new challenges

For some longtime Democrats like Rep. Brad Sherman, the addition of new GOP voters could help them face challenges from younger progressive candidates.

Half a dozen Democrats, most of them progressives, have filed papers to challenge Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), 71, who has represented parts of the San Fernando Valley for nearly 30 years.

The 32nd district remains blue behind Proposition 50, but only approx swinging seven points to the right “It makes it less likely that two Democrats will go to the general election, which makes it less likely that that will happen [Sherman] he’s going to get hit,” Mitchell said.

Same story for Reps. Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento), Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) and John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove), all in their 70s and 80s and facing minors, continue to challenge.

While finding conservative voters can help some candidates avoid facing another Democrat in November, the threat of such a face keeps them active in the campaign, Rexroad said.

“You see a lot of work being done by Doris Matsui and Mike Thompson and John Garamendi because they have been challenged, because they love their seats and they want to hold on to them,” said Rexroad.

Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.