Shawn Griffiths
California U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R) says the current redistricting war that threatens to escalate after Texas and California approved mid-decade gerrymanders is “bad for the country, bad for representation, and bad for democracy.”
He has a bill that would stop it, but the question is – will House leadership listen?
Kiley appeared on KCRA with California Capitol Correspondent Ashley Zavala and said he plans to push his bill this week, which would ban mid-decade congressional redistricting across the U.S. and nullify any maps passed before the 2030 census.
The bill was introduced specifically after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a plan to respond to Texas gerrymandering by sidestepping his state’s independent commission to put a new legislative-drawn map on a special election ballot.
“It’s especially bad here in California because our voters have said specifically, ‘we don’t want this,’” Kiley said, referring to the independent redistricting commission Californians approved in 2008 and 2010 to redraw legislative and congressional districts every 10 years.
This idea that the politicians are trying to grab the power back and move our state backward to this era of gerrymandering – it is exactly the wrong thing for our state.”
He added that he doesn’t like gerrymandering wherever it occurs, “whether it is done by Republicans or Democrats.”
The new map in California also threatens Kiley's seat in Congress. Right now, Congressional District 3 -- his seat -- extends across much of the state's border with Nevada. However, the map that will go before voters on November 4 dismantles CD-3 as GOP-leaning districts are broken up to create 5 additional Democratic-leaning districts.
California passed its plan. Texas passed its plan. Now, other states are threatening to join the tit-for-tat fight with only a few months left until the 2026 midterm election year. The longer it drags out, the more chaos it will likely sew.
There is also a concern that a state like Ohio, which has been ordered to redraw its congressional map by the courts, may try to use the current political environment to make GOP-favored gerrymandering worse.
And, a state like Maryland – which is already considered to have one of the most egregiously gerrymandered maps in the country – may try to take the only seat held by a Republican and give Democrats everything.
It’s what Nonpartisan Reformers have called “a race to the bottom.”
Kiley’s bill was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary on August 5. He said he has issued a request to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring it to the floor as quickly as possible as Congress returns to session.
“We have bipartisan support for this,” he said. “I have heard from folks on both sides of the aisle who think this [redistricting war] is the wrong thing for our country.”
He added: “The reality of the situation is that members of Congress on both sides of the aisle – Democrat and Republican – don’t want this redistricting war to go on and to escalate.”