SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The first draft of California’s redrawn congressional district maps has been released.
The submitted map leaves eight districts untouched and, in 20 districts, fewer than 10% of residents are impacted. It also splits fewer cities than the current map, which was changed back in 2020.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says the submitted map is consistent with the criteria laid out by California’s Citizen Redistricting Commission.
The first draft of California’s redrawn congressional district maps has been released.
View the full first draft of California’s redrawn congressional district maps here.
Right now, Republicans hold nine of the 52 House seats in California. The proposed maps would change the districts so Republicans would likely only hold four seats.
To accomplish that, the submitted map manipulates the current borders to include more Democrats in each district. That means, even if you stay in your home and your neighborhood, your representative in Congress could soon change.
Two districts in Southern California specifically that could see drastic changes if the map is approved are District 40 and District 41.
District 40, which currently goes up to Chino Hills and as far south as Laguna Niguel, would look a lot different. The new District 40 would go well past Lake Elsinore into Menifee.
A side-by-side comparison shows how California’s District 40 would change under the new proposed maps.
District 41, which currently goes from Corona to Palm Desert with an arm stretching north, would change to go from Downey to Brea and south into Lakewood.
A side-by-side comparison shows how California’s District 41 would change under the new proposed maps.
“And at the same time, we also can, in California, bolster about five of our frontline candidates around the state, making sure that we don’t make our other candidates just big targets for Republicans. So in the end, what we get is four safe Republican districts, two districts that lean Democratic, and the remainder are safe Democratic on the state map,” said Paul Mitchell, who helped develop the proposed map. “This is a proposal to the legislature, to be clear, the legislature is the one to actually work on these maps and adopt something, but this is something that I was part of and helped submit.”
California is the first Democratic-led state to wade into a brewing national redistricting fight after President Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans to draw new maps to maintain the party’s slim U.S. House majority after the 2026 midterm elections.
Re-drawing maps in Texas without voter approval could add five more Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives, and that’s why Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to get the ball rolling to add five more Democrats in California – breaking even in Congress.
State lawmakers return from their summer recess on Monday and will have until Friday, August 22, to finalize and vote to approve the proposed maps. This deadline was set by the Secretary of State’s Office.
In order to go into effect, the state legislature has to approve the maps, and they could change again in the process. Then, they would need to vote on holding a special election, and they would need a two-thirds vote to pass.
Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers – enough to act without any Republican votes – and Newsom has said he’s not worried about winning the required support from two-thirds of lawmakers to advance the maps.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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