When Rep. Mike Levin scheduled his Thursday townhall in a southern Orange County community, it was like any other of his efforts to connect with constituents in a\u00a0district that stretches north up the San Diego County coast.<\/p>\n
But things are moving so fast in state and national politics that Laguna Niguel residents might not even be his constituents much beyond next year, should California voters approve Democrats\u2019 plan to redraw congressional districts.<\/p>\n
Communities throughout California could have their representation in Washington change depending on the outcome of a November special election state lawmakers voted Thursday to hold. Under the maps they just approved, Laguna Niguel would be folded into the 47th Congressional District, a seat now held by Rep. Dave Min, a Democrat.<\/p>\n
At a Thursday night town hall at the city\u2019s senior center, Levin only briefly touched on the brewing redistricting fight, after being asked about it in the event\u2019s question-and-answer portion.<\/p>\n
Levin called Texas\u2019 redistricting \u201cthe worst partisan gerrymander in our lifetimes\u201d and noted that California\u2019s will have to go to voters for approval and, if enacted, would be temporary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are not normal times,\u201d Levin told the crowd, echoing the rationale that Newsom and other Democrats have given for their push to temporarily override the state\u2019s independent redistricting commission and gerrymander districts to secure more for their party.<\/p>\n
![\"Laguna](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SUT-L-Levin-Town-Hall-09-LO.jpg\")
Laguna Niguel residents and other constituents attend Rep. Mike Levin\u2019s townhall meeting with constituents at the Sea Country Senior and Community Center in Laguna Niguel on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, to discuss the impacts of the Republican budget law on health care and other programs. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n
Now in his fourth term, Levin\u2019s district currently stretches from Del Mar north into Orange County communities like Laguna Niguel, San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point. A proposed redraw would see it lose some of those communities but also reach farther south, all the way to UC San Diego.<\/p>\n
In the past, Levin has joined Democratic congressional efforts\u00a0to create an independent nonpartisan redistricting process that would replace the longtime practice in most other states of districts being drawn\u00a0<\/strong>by partisan state Legislatures. That proposed nationwide reform failed in the Senate in 2019 and again in 2021.<\/p>\n Should his district shift next year, it wouldn\u2019t be the first time.<\/p>\n \u201cMy feeling on that is you got to represent the constituents you have,\u201d Levin said in an interview after the event. \u201cAll that hypothetical stuff I can\u2019t worry about until and unless it happens \u2014 and if it does, we\u2019ll deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Questions posed to Levin by voters Thursday night went well beyond redistricting.<\/p>\n What does he think about the growing presence of federal law enforcement and U.S. troops in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles? Levin called it borderline illegal and said troops don\u2019t have the training to serve as civilian law enforcement.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the future of Social Security? Levin said the wealthy need to pay a proportional share of their income into the safety-net program.<\/p>\n And what will Democrats do if they take back Congress next year?<\/p>\n On that, Levin wants to restrict the president\u2019s ability to enact tariffs. And if Democrats gain control of the House of Representatives, that means \u201creal, actual, transparent, accountable oversight over the administration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will ask the tough questions,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will subpoena documents and witnesses as necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n The tenor of Thursday\u2019s was more muted than other recent townhalls held by Levin and by San Diego\u2019s Rep. Sara Jacobs. At those, Democrats restless about their party\u2019s direction grumbled at Levin\u2019s answers<\/a> and urged more action from their leaders<\/a>; one event was disrupted by protests<\/a> over Israel\u2019s killing of Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n In Laguna Niguel, many voters directed their discontent and worry more at the Trump administration than at Democrats. Others expressed dissatisfaction with the broader U.S. political system, and how difficult it is to change.<\/p>\n \u201cI think about how our democracy is backsliding,\u201d said Roland Serna,\u00a0a recent San Diego State University political science graduate who said he has previously volunteered for Levin\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re on the verge of becoming what is called competitive authoritarianism, where there are still elections but there\u2019s a dominant party that is nearly impossible to get out of power,\u201d Serna said.<\/p>\n For Levin, there\u2019s still plenty to be hopeful about in American democracy and the value of elections.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is really tough stuff,\u201d Levin said. \u201cWe can\u2019t fix this overnight. But I do think post-2029 \u2014 if we are successful in the next couple of election cycles, if it\u2019s a fair fight in \u201926 \u2014 I think we\u2019re going to be very successful.\u201d<\/p>\n Originally Published: August 22, 2025 at 9:38 AM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Rep. Mike Levin scheduled his Thursday townhall in a southern Orange County community, it was like any…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":167643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1370,728,8629,17259,50,80,3549,7264,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-167642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-local-politics","14":"tag-national-politics","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-san-diego","18":"tag-sandiego","19":"tag-top-stories-sdut","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115074902574292294","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Rep.](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SUT-L-Levin-Town-Hall-06-LO.jpg\")
Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49), right, answers a question from Matt Bruce, left, during a town hall meeting with Levin\u2019s constituents at the Sea Country Senior and Community Center in Laguna Niguel on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025 to discuss the impacts of the Republican budget law on health care and other programs. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n