RIVERSIDE, California — The five California Republican lawmakers now on the chopping block after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) redistricting win this week say they aren’t going anywhere despite being the clear underdogs in their redrawn districts.
“California is my home,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), a MAGA Republican, told the Washington Examiner. “And it’s worth fighting for.”
Issa represents the solidly red 48th Congressional District, which encompasses the central and eastern parts of San Diego and a portion of Riverside County and the mountain and desert areas of the San Diego-Imperial County line. The new map would stretch his district more than 100 miles and include a lot more liberals.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Issa said. “I’ll continue to represent the people of California — regardless of their party or where they live. I’m not quitting on California and neither should anyone else.”
“I’ll continue to represent the people of california — regardless of their party oR where they live. i’m not quitting on california and nother should anyone else.” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)
Issa said the Proposition 50 campaign, which passed quickly on election night, “pitted neighbor against neighbor and divided the state as never before. “It was difficult to watch as Gavin Newsom and Sacramento’s special interests set about shredding the state constitution, disenfranchising millions of Californians solely because of how they vote, and delivering what they know is an undeserved advantage to Democrats,” Issa said.
Particularly petty is that mapmakers studied the home addresses of Republican lawmakers and out of spite, drew Issa out of his own district.
“They looked at my home address in Bonsall, and drew it out, my actual residence,” Issa added. “And there was no reason to do it, except that they were carefully drawing me out of it so that I either have to move again or be somebody running that can’t vote for themselves.”
Also calling foul is Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), a Republican who serves the 41st District, centered in the competitive western Inland Empire. It’s an area he’s served for 33 years. Calvert watched his district be redrawn twice and came out on top. This time it’s different.
Democrats wiped his district out completely and drew in Los Angeles County — shifting him from a Republican-leaning seat to a solidly Democratic one.
Calvert has accused Newsom of being on the ultimate power trip and said the governor, who is eyeing a 2028 presidential run, used intimidation tactics to bully donors and secure a “backroom deal” to wipe out California Republican representation in Congress.
“His quest is to eliminate any opposing voices,” Calvert told the Washington Examiner. “It’s just ultimate power.”
Calvert announced Wednesday he would seek re-election next year in an adjoining GOP-held district that Proposition 50 made more conservative, the neighboring 40th District. But in order to win there, Calvert, the powerful House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman, will have to beat incumbent Rep. Young Kim (R-CA). That won’t be an easy task.
Kim is a fundraising superstar and entered October with already $4.8 million in the bank, something she highlighted when she announced she would seek a fourth term in the redrawn 40th District. Calvert has $2.9 million in his election coffer.
Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA), who told the Washington Examiner he didn’t support mid-decade redistricting efforts from any party, said he still plans to run for office next year but didn’t say it would be in the same district.
Kiley currently represents the state’s 3rd Congressional District, a conservative-leaning area that is also the most geographically diverse in the state. It spans most of the California-Nevada border, including Sierra, Nevada, Placer, Alpine, Mono, Unyo, parts of El Dorado, Yuba, and a few outer Sacramento counties. The district spans Lake Tahoe, Death Valley National Park, and five national forests, making it one of the most rural areas in the state.
The new map would thin out the number of GOP voters, turning it into something that loosely resembles, of all things, an elephant.
The new toss-up district would also combine more liberal coastal communities with the rural, conservative areas that make up the current district. That could make representation tricky for the candidate who wins.
Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), a fourth-generation rice farmer from Richvale, is also in jeopardy.
Democrats have long targeted his seat, but the new map puts him at a huge disadvantage.
LaMalfa represents California’s 1st Congressional District, which, in its current form, sweeps south from the Oregon border almost to Sacramento. It covers the rice fields and walnut and almond orchards of the Sacramento Valley to the forested foothills of the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Range. The vast majority of the residents are farming families who have harvested the land for decades. The rural district is among the most conservative and least diverse in the state.
DOUG LAMALFA WARNS PROPOSITION 50 COULD SILENCE CALIFORNIA’S RURAL VOICES
The new map splits the district in two. The new 1st District would be redrawn to include Democratic voters in Santa Rosa through Chico, a university town, to the Nevada border. It would also turn LaMalfa, an incumbent who won reelection last year with nearly two-thirds of the vote, into a candidate that has an uphill fight on his hands.
LaMalfa posted on Facebook, “I hope and expect the courts will see this for what it is — blatantly corrupt and unconstitutional. Through the court or a miraculous change in the vote, I hope the independently drawn lines remain in place, rather than those that were dreamed up i na back room by a termed-out state legislator looking for a new job along with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.”
While it’s not clear what Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) will do but he, LaMalfa, Issa, Kim, and other Republicans issued a statement calling the results of Proposition 50 “a disappointing setback for fairness and democracy in our state.”
“Governor Newsom and the supermajority of Sacramento Democrats sold Prop 50 as a fight for democracy, but in reality, it was never anything more than a calculated power grab to cement their control.”
Other Republican pushback following the passage of Proposition 50 includes a lawsuit filed in federal court.The California Republican Party, Assemblymember David Tangipa (R-CA), and 18 voters filed a federal lawsuit in Los Angeles challenging the redrawn map, arguing that it violates the Constitution.
CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN REP. KEVIN KILEY CALLS PROPOSITION 50 A ‘DIRECT ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY’
GOP megadonor Charles Munger Jr. also announced he would pursue national districting reform and called for resources and independent legal counsel for the state’s independent commission after Prop 50 retires its map in 2030.
Munger was the largest donor to the No to Prop 50 campaign. Fundraising failures coupled with a chaotic rollout and other strategic and outdated marketing missteps seemed to tank the campaign pretty early on.