California Republicans say redistricting battle should play out in the state, not Congress

California Republicans are facing the possibility of a new congressional district map ahead of next year’s midterms, one that would make their reelection prospects more difficult. But what are they doing from Congress to keep their jobs in Congress?

Not much.

“I’ve been here. I’ve had a long career,” Rep. Darrell Issa told NOTUS. “I continue to serve because the voters of my district want me to. But I’m not clinging to this job. I can do other things, and it won’t bother me.”

When asked by NOTUS what measures he may take to protect his seat, Issa replied: “Nothing.” He then waited in silence for three full seconds before adding that he would let voters in November decide what happens.

That’s when Californians will vote on a ballot proposition on whether they approve of a new partisan map aimed at favoring Democrats, drawn in response to Texas’ new Republican-friendly map. California Republicans are taking some steps to fight the initiative, Proposition 50, including a statewide campaign against it and several legal challenges that, so far, have failed in state courts.

But those efforts have not translated to the congressional level, where Rep. Kevin Kiley, whose Northern California district would change drastically in favor of Democrats if voters approve the proposition, seems to be alone in trying to pass legislation to impose a federal ban on mid-decade redistricting.

“I’ve had a lot of people on both sides of the aisle tell me that they support this approach. No one likes this. It’s totally disruptive and destabilizing for people in every state,” Kiley told reporters in response to a question from NOTUS.

“That’s not the way this is supposed to work. It is really bad for representation, and I think this is a highly shared view among Democrat and Republican colleagues,” he added.

Kiley has repeatedly called on Speaker Mike Johnson to bring his bill to the floor, and he is convinced that most of his colleagues would support the bill if they got a chance to vote on it. But, at least publicly, other congressional Republicans from Kiley’s state are much less enthusiastic. Issa, for example, was skeptical about the legislation’s prospects, even though he left the door open to supporting it.

And he is not the only one with doubts.

“Nah, that’s not gonna work,” Rep. Doug LaMalfa told NOTUS about the legislation. “We simply need to take care of defeating the proposition, and hopefully that lesson will be learned about that we shouldn’t be tweaking districts mid-decade. No state should be able to do this. No one should be doing this.”

LaMalfa isn’t alone in his skepticism of a federal intervention and thinking the focus should be on trying to defeat Prop. 50.

“We’re going to beat the initiative,” Rep. Ken Calvert, who has been in and out of Congress since 1982, told NOTUS when asked what he was doing to keep his current seat.

“I mean, we’ve got to beat the initiative that’s going to be on the ballots. First, we have to do that,” Calvert said when asked whether he supported Kiley’s bill. “Right now, we’re just focused on beating the initiative.”

Rep. David Valadao, one of the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress, did not address Kiley’s bill when NOTUS inquired about it.

“Neither political party should have the authority to rig maps to protect their own political power, and California Congressional Republicans stand united against mid-decade redistricting,” Valadao said in a statement.

Meanwhile, it’s very unlikely that Kiley’s bill will ever come to the floor, as Republicans in red states are also working to redistrict in ways that would favor their party at the request of President Donald Trump.

Johnson said Thursday that he would not meddle with state-level redistricting efforts.

“I’m going to be comfortable with whatever maps are produced all across the country because I’ve got to win either way,” Johnson said. “I keep having to remind all my colleagues: No one asked me about this. This is a battle between governors and states.”

Polling has found that voters in California overwhelmingly support its independent redistricting commission, enacted in 2008. But internal polling commissioned by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been the face of Democrats’ redistricting efforts, found that voters also support enacting new maps if pitched around opposing Republican’s own redistricting efforts.

California is the first blue state to try to push back against Texas’ redistricting efforts. Last month, the state Legislature approved the constitutional-amendment ballot initiative and special election to ask voters whether they agree with temporarily sidestepping the state’s independent commission and passing a new map.

“I appreciate Kevin’s commitment to protecting the voters and the integrity of the redistricting process,” Rep. Vince Fong told NOTUS. “You know, I’m still reviewing this bill, but the immediate issue right now is to make sure that Californians understand what’s happening in California.

“We have an immediate issue before us. We have an election in under 60 days, ballots are coming out in October and our focus right now is to unite not only our conference but to unite Californians to reject Prop. 50,” he added.

This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS — a publication from the nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute — and NEWSWELL, home of Times of San Diego, Santa Barbara News-Press and Stocktonia.