A divide-and-conquer ethos could shape the Inland Empire’s representation in Congress.
Maps for new House of Representatives districts going before California voters Nov. 4 would dilute — if not outright erase — GOP voters’ influence in Riverside County by splitting up red cities that form a backbone of support for Republicans Ken Calvert of Corona and Darrell Issa of San Diego County.
If approved by voters, Proposition 50, also known as the Election Rigging Response Act, would obliterate Calvert’s purple district, potentially jeopardizing his three-decade run on Capitol Hill. Issa would go from a safe red district to one with a plurality of Democratic voters.
The new maps drawn by Democrats leave existing districts in San Bernardino County and eastern Los Angeles County relatively untouched, letting incumbents of both parties run for safe seats.
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Long a GOP-friendly city, Norco would go into a blue congressional district if California voters in November approve new House of Representatives maps intended to give Democrats an edge and blunt Republican gains in Texas in the 2026 midterm elections. (File photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Long a GOP-friendly city, Norco would go into a blue congressional district if California voters in November approve new House of Representatives maps intended to give Democrats an edge and blunt Republican gains in Texas in the 2026 midterm elections. (File photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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The shifting lines also spare Reps. Mark Takano, D-Riverside and Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, whose districts include much of Riverside County.
Not surprisingly, California Republicans are seething over the overtly partisan mapmaking.
Republican Party of Riverside County Chairwoman Lori Stone called the new maps “nothing short of a blatant power grab” by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“Inland Californians have already been heavily disenfranchised through gerrymandering and now he is openly talking about erasing our voice altogether,” Stone, a Murrieta city councilmember, said via email.
California Democratic leaders, who used their supermajority to zip Prop. 50 through the legislature, argue the new maps wouldn’t be needed if Texas’ Republican majority, prompted by President Donald Trump, hadn’t redrawn the Lone Star State’s House districts to add more red seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“Californians believe in democracy and freedom, and we will not stand by while the House is hijacked by authoritarianism,” Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Salinas, said after Newsom signed legislation authorizing the November special election.
Currently, the GOP holds a narrow House majority. A few flipped seats — or gerrymandered districts — could decide control of the chamber for the remainder of Trump’s term, effectively empowering or blunting his agenda.
Historically, the president’s party loses congressional seats in midterms. And recent polls show Democrats in good position to win back the House after losing it in 2024.
Political redistricting in California normally happens 10 years after the census. An independent commission, legally obligated to exclude partisanship from mapmaking, draws the lines with public input.
Prop. 50 asks voters to use the new maps — drawn without public feedback — for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections, after which the commission would take back the mapmaking pen.
The new maps for California’s 52 House districts would not affect boundaries for state legislative districts. Nor does Prop. 50 ask voters to elect anyone.
Prop. 50 comes as Inland Republicans, after watching local Democrats gain voters and rack up a string of wins in competitive races since 2012, enjoyed a fruitful 2024 election cycle.
Trump became the first GOP presidential candidate in 20 years to win Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Underdog Republicans won two Assembly seats in Riverside County. And since 2020, the GOP has outpaced Democrats in voter registration in more than 30 Inland cities.
Inland Republicans also are making their mark statewide.
Former Inland GOP Assemblymember Bill Essayli is now U.S. attorney for much of Southern California. Republican and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is running for governor. And conservative Chino Hills school board President Sonja Shaw hopes to become the new state superintendent of public instruction.
Currently, five Democrats and four Republicans represent Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the House. Most have a clear path to reelection with the new maps, including Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia.
If voters approve redistricting, Obernolte likely would run in the new version of his 23rd Congressional District, which includes communities he now represents in San Bernardino County’s High Desert and the San Bernardino mountains. The new 23rd would expand south to include Blythe in far eastern Riverside County.
Like Obernolte’s current district, the redrawn 23rd has a plurality of GOP voters. Ruiz, Takano and Reps. Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino, and Norma Torres, D-Ontario, would likely run in blue districts encompassing much of the same turf they represent now.
Not all cities would stay in the same district if the new maps are approved.
Claremont, for example, would go from a seat held by Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena to the district where Torres would likely run in 2026. Chino Hills, Eastvale, Norco — a GOP stronghold — and north Corona also would go into a district where 43% of registered voters are Democrats compared to 26% for Republicans.
In an emailed statement, Norco Mayor Greg Newton said he’s concerned Norco “will not receive the same level of advocacy or support in a (new) district that crosses county lines, with much larger cities who have different needs than Norco.”
“We had a redistricting commission, who was conscientious about fair representation,” Newton added. “I don’t believe the time spent doing that work should be dismissed. Redistricting should be done by the people, not the politicians.”
Temecula Mayor Brenden Kalfus noted that his city, founded in 1989, has always been represented by Republicans in the House and has “benefitted greatly” by getting tens of millions of federal dollars for infrastructure.
Kalfus said the city will work with whoever represents it.
“I respect the will of the voters,” he said via email. “I respected the previous will of the voters to have an independent redistricting commission redraw the congressional lines … and I will also respect the will of the voters in November 2025, should they decide to adopt redrawn lines mid-cycle.”
Right now, Rep. Young Kim, R-Anaheim Hills, represents the 40th Congressional District, which includes parts of Orange County along with parts of Chino Hills and Corona.
Redistricting likely would put Kim, a top 2026 Democratic target, in a red district with a bigger slice of the Inland Empire. The redrawn 40th would merge parts of Orange County with Canyon Lake, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Temescal Valley, Wildomar and south Corona.
Marcia Godwin, a professor of public administration at the University of La Verne, said via email that the proposed 40th’s shape “seems to be related to Voting Rights Act compliance along with the need for Republicans in Calvert’s district to be relocated.”
“It may be incidental that Kim has been rated as one of the more effective representatives and has cosponsored bills in Democrats more than the typical Republican members,” Godwin added.
The 40th’s proposed redesign goes to the heart of Democrats’ strategy to boost their prospects by splitting up Riverside County’s red cities. Issa, for example, would lose GOP-friendly Murrieta to the redrawn 40th.
Instead, Issa’s 48th Congressional District would inherit deep blue Palm Springs. That district, which would include northeast San Diego County, would go from red — 48% Republican, 29% Democratic — to slightly blue, with 37% of voters being Democrats compared to 33% for Republicans.
The new 48th “may be more competitive than has been portrayed,” Godwin said.
“If you look just at the 2024 presidential vote, it looks like the gerrymander will be successful. If you look at several election cycles, it appears to be more evenly divided. It appears that the Democratic Party is counting on a boost in turnout from Democratic voters.”
It could be even worse for Calvert, who would lose his 41st Congressional District entirely. The new 41st would be outside the Inland Empire, potentially forcing Calvert, who’s on Democrats’ target list, to either run in a blue district or compete with fellow Republican Kim in the new 40th.
The current 41st’s demise would upend the campaigns of the half dozen or so Democrats who plan to challenge Calvert in 2026.
One, Jason Byors, recently announced plans to run for Assembly. At least two others — Anuj Dixit and Brandon Riker — plan to run in the new 48th.
“Palm Springs is my home,” Riker said via email. “While the district lines may change, my mission stays the same: to fight for this community every single day.”
Most people dislike gerrymandering and want independent commissions to draw political districts, Shaun Bowler, a UC Riverside political science professor, said via email.
He noted that the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019 allowed partisan mapmaking by refusing to overturn a GOP gerrymander in North Carolina. It’s unclear, he added, whether the high court’s conservative majority “will stand by its own precedent or overturn what California is doing because this time it is the Democrats” doing it.
“Starting down this road of gerrymandering and partisan courts means that institutions are undermined because people don’t see them as legitimate,” Bowler said.
“There may be short-term partisan gains … but with serious longer-term costs as public support erodes. It’s why many of the people who study politics and history are really quite nervous.”
