California Democrats released a new gerrymandered House map on Friday night that, if implemented, would carve up deep red areas of the state that have been under Republican representation for decades.
The proposed California House district map — which was redrawn by the Democratic-dominated state legislature — aims to flip five currently Republican districts blue, in addition to making currently competitive Democratic-held seats safer. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom called for mid-decade redistricting in the state after it was reported that Texas would redraw its House lines with the intention of flipping five House seats from blue to red. (RELATED: ‘Fetal Position’: Newsom’s Attempt To Gerrymander Already-Lopsided California May Be Over Before It Begins)
If enacted, the map would likely result in a California House delegation of 48 Democrats and only four Republicans — meaning the GOP would only control 8% of seats. Meanwhile, Texas’ new proposed map would likely result in a House delegation of 30 Republicans and eight Democrats — with Democrats likely controlling 21% of seats — still a higher percentage than the 17% of current California House seats held by Republicans.
🚨🚨 The final draft map from the California state legislature is now public.
Our partisanship index (2024/2020 presidential results composite) shows:
🔵 48 Democratic seats (+5)
🔴 4 Republican seats (-5) pic.twitter.com/StPeUKEk6V— VoteHub (@VoteHubUS) August 16, 2025
“We anticipate that these maps will completely neuter and neutralize what is happening in Texas,” Newsom told reporters Thursday after announcing a November special election for Californians to vote on the gerrymandered map. California unlike Texas requires a ballot initiative to pass its proposed mid-decade map.
The Republican incumbents the proposed California map targets are California Reps. Doug LaMalfa, Ken Calvert, Darrell Issa, Kevin Kiley and David Valadao.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 14: California Governor Gavin Newsom (C) at a press conference at the Democracy Center, Japanese American National Museum on August 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Newsom spoke about a possible California referendum on redistricting to counter the legislative effort to add five Republican House seats in the state of Texas. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
LaMalfa and Calvert’s districts have both been in Republican hands for decades. The gerrymandered map seeks to replace both of their seats with safely Democratic ones.
LaMalfa has since 2013 represented California’s 1st congressional district, which currently covers a sprawling rural area stretching from the state’s Oregon and Nevada state lines to just north of Sacramento. The seat has been held by Republicans since 1981, and LaMalfa won the 2024 election by a landslide margin of 30 percentage points.
In California Democrats’ newly proposed map, the 1st district would be reconfigured to stretch into Sonoma County’s wine country. Failed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris won the deep blue county with over 70% of the vote in 2024.
California’s State Constitution prohibits politicians from drawing their own districts and doing mid-decade redistricting. Yet Democrat Members of Congress, Gavin Newsom, and Democrat Legislators (some who want to be members of Congress) are conspiring behind closed doors to draw…
— Rep. Doug LaMalfa (@RepLaMalfa) August 7, 2025
Calvert, who was first elected to Congress in 1993, represents the 41st district in Southern California, stretching from Palm Springs to Corona. Calvert won reelection in 2024 by 3.4 points in a previously safe Republican district that was redrawn to be competitive following the 2020 census.
However, under the new map, Calvert’s current seat would be eliminated and replaced with a heavily Democratic district just east of Los Angeles.
“I strongly oppose the scheme being orchestrated behind closed doors by Sacramento politicians to take constitutionally afforded power away from the Independent Citizens Redistricting
64% of Californians oppose Gavin Newsom’s power grab. It’s clear there is bipartisan support for keeping the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission and not allowing politicians to draw their district maps behind closed doors to choose their voters. https://t.co/YYlkNhZBVc
— Rep. Ken Calvert (@KenCalvert) August 14, 2025
Issa, who was elected to Congress in 2001, represents the 48th district that reaches from California’s southern border to just east of San Clemente. While Issa easily won his 2024 reelection bid by 18.6 points, the new map would shift his district from being strongly Republican to being Democratic leaning.
Kiley, who is in his second term representing California’s 3rd district spanning from the Sacramento suburbs to the California-Nevada border, defeated former Newsom appointee Jessica Morse in 2024 by 11 points. The Democrats’ new map seeks to add more Democratic areas by the state capital to Kiley’s district, effectively putting reelection out of reach for the incumbent.
Kiley is also spearheading a bill to ban mid-decade gerrymandering nationwide, and has called upon House Speaker Mike Johnson to create a bipartisan commission to bring redistricting reform so political gerrymandering is eliminated across the country by 2030.
“It was the voters themselves that said, ‘We want to take the politics and the politicians out of redistricting and have this done by an independent citizens commission,’ and the voters stand by that judgment,” Kiley said during a Thursday night appearance on MSNBC. “Democrats, Republicans, Independents all overwhelmingly favor keeping the Independent Commission because they know that when politicians are in charge of drawing district lines, that’s an inherent conflict of interests, because they’re then going to go and run in those districts.”
Once again Gavin Newsom is the great uniter. A Politico poll shows Democrats, Republicans, and Independents are all overwhelmingly opposed to his corrupt redistricting scheme. pic.twitter.com/cky77tneGK
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) August 15, 2025
The Central Valley-based 22nd district represented by Valadao will be redrawn to be slightly more Democratic under the new map. Valadao’s current seat, which voted for former President Joe Biden by double digits, notably swung nearly 20 points to the right in the 2024 presidential election.
Furthermore, California Democrats’ new proposed map also seeks to add more Democratic voters to the seats represented by California’s half dozen vulnerable Democratic incumbents, Reps. Adam Gray, Josh Harder, Mike Levin, Dave Min, Derek Tran and George Whitesides.
The nine members of the California Republican House Delegation released a joint statement Thursday on a recent poll revealing Californians greatly disapprove of the motion to override the independent redistricting commission.
“Governor Newsom is trying to grab power away from the citizens on the commission and give it to Sacramento politicians to gerrymander their own districts,” the legislators wrote in the statement. “Our delegation will stand with the citizens of California and defend their rights as they stand today in our state constitution by opposing Newsom’s ballot measure. All Californians, regardless of their political affiliation, should vote NO on this attempt to eliminate the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission’s ability to draw fair congressional districts.”
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