California's congressional districts

California is the most populous U.S. state and as a result has the most representation in the United States House of Representatives, with 53 Representatives. Each Representative represents one congressional district.

California's Congressional districts since 2013.

1992: Court ordered districts

The 1990 census gave California seven additional congressional seats. Attempts by the legislature to draw up new districts were unsuccessful, as three different plans drawn up by the Democratic-controlled Legislature were vetoed by Republican governor Pete Wilson. In September 1991 the California Supreme Court took jurisdiction over the redistricting process to break the stalemate.[1][2] Districts were drawn up by a panel of retired judges.

2002: Bipartisan redistricting
California's 38th congressional district, 2003-2013

After the 2000 census, the California State Legislature was obliged to complete redistricting[3] for House of Representatives districts (in accordance with Article 1, Section 4 of the United States Constitution) as well as California State Assembly and California State Senate districts. It was mutually decided by legislators that the status quo in terms of balance of power would be preserved - a so-called Incumbent Protection Plan.[4] A bipartisan gerrymandering effort was done, and districts were configured in such a way that they were dominated by one or the other party, with few districts that could be considered competitive. In some cases this resulted in extremely convoluted boundary lines.

In the 2004 elections, a win by less than 55 percent of the vote was quite rare. This was seen in only five out of 80 State Assembly seats and two out of 20 State Senate seats up for election. The congressional seats were even less competitive than the state legislative districts - just three of the 53 districts were won with less than 60 percent of the vote in 2004.

2012: Citizens Redistricting Commission

Proposition 11, a California ballot proposition known as the Voters FIRST Act, was approved by the voters on November 4, 2008. It removed from the California Legislature the responsibility for drawing the state's congressional districts, and gave the responsibility instead to a 14-member Citizens Commission.[5] The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of removing the responsibility from the legislature. The proposition also required that the districts drawn up (1) comply with the federal Voting Rights Act; (2) make districts contiguous; (3) respect, to the extent possible, the integrity of cities, counties, neighborhoods and "communities of interest"; and (4) to the extent possible, make districts compact. Several of these terms are not defined in law.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had earlier proposed placing the redistricting process in the hands of retired judges, which was on the November ballot as an initiative in a special election (called by the Governor on June 14, 2005), Proposition 77. The special election was held on November 8, 2005. However, the initiative was overwhelmingly defeated, with 59 percent voting no. All initiatives, including those proposed by the Governor's allies and several independent initiatives, failed that year.

The California Citizens Redistricting Commission certified final district maps on August 15, 2011, and they took effect with the 2012 election.[6] The new districts are described as more "purple" than "red" or "blue" - that is, more mixed in electoral composition compared to the mostly "safe" districts of the previous decade, where incumbents were almost guaranteed re-election. These new districts, combined with demographic trends over several decades that favored the Democratic party, resulted in a gain of four House of Representatives seats for California Democrats in the 2012 elections.

Current districts and representatives

List of members of the California United States House delegation, their terms in office, district boundaries, and their political ratings according to the CPVI. The delegation for the 116th Congress has a total of 53 members, with 45 Democrats (including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi) and 7 Republicans (including minority leader Kevin McCarthy). This represents an increase in the Democrats' hold on California from the preceding 115th Congress; in the 2018 elections, Democrats were elected in 7 previously Republican-held seats. In May 2020, Republican Mike Garcia won the 25th district special election to succeed Democrat Katie Hill increasing Republican's seat total by 1.

District Representative Party CPVI Incumbent time in office District map
1st Doug LaMalfa (R-Oroville) Republican R+11 January 3, 2013 – present
2nd Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) Democratic D+22 January 3, 2013 – present
3rd John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) Democratic D+5 November 3, 2009 – present
4th Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) Republican R+10 January 3, 2009 – present
5th Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) Democratic D+21 January 3, 1999 – present
6th Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento) Democratic D+21 March 10, 2005 – present
7th Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove) Democratic D+3 January 3, 2013 – present
8th Jay Obernolte (R-Big Bear Lake) Republican R+9 January 3, 2021 – present
9th Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton) Democratic D+8 January 3, 2007 – present
10th Josh Harder (D-Turlock) Democratic EVEN January 3, 2019 – present
11th Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) Democratic D+21 January 3, 2015 – present
12th Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) Democratic D+37 June 2, 1987 – present
13th Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) Democratic D+40 April 21, 1998 – present
14th Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) Democratic D+27 April 8, 2008 – present
15th Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) Democratic D+20 January 3, 2013 – present
16th Jim Costa (D-Fresno) Democratic D+9 January 3, 2005 – present
17th Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) Democratic D+25 January 3, 2017 – present
18th Anna Eshoo (D-Atherton) Democratic D+23 January 3, 1993 – present
19th Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) Democratic D+24 January 3, 1995 – present
20th Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel Valley) Democratic D+23 January 3, 2017 – present
21st David Valadao (R-Hanford) Republican D+5 January 3, 2021 – present
22nd Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) Republican R+8 January 3, 2003 – present
23rd Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) Republican R+14 January 3, 2007 – present
24th Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) Democratic D+7 January 3, 2017 – present
25th Mike Garcia (R-Santa Clarita) Republican EVEN May 19, 2020 – present
26th Julia Brownley (D-Westlake Village) Democratic D+7 January 3, 2013 – present
27th Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) Democratic D+16 July 14, 2009 – present
28th Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) Democratic D+23 January 3, 2001 – present
29th Tony Cárdenas (D-Pacoima) Democratic D+29 January 3, 2013 – present
30th Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) Democratic D+18 January 3, 1997 – present
31st Pete Aguilar (D - Redlands) Democratic D+8 January 3, 2015 – present
32nd Grace Napolitano (D-Norwalk) Democratic D+17 January 3, 1999 – present
33rd Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) Democratic D+16 January 3, 2015 – present
34th Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles) Democratic D+35 July 11, 2017 – present
35th Norma Torres (D-Pomona) Democratic D+19 January 3, 2015 – present
36th Raul Ruiz (D-Coachella) Democratic D+2 January 3, 2013 – present
37th Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) Democratic D+37 January 3, 2011 – present
38th Linda Sánchez (D-Whittier) Democratic D+17 January 3, 2003 – present
39th Young Kim (R-La Habra) Republican EVEN January 3, 2021 – present
40th Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Downey) Democratic D+33 January 3, 1993 – present
41st Mark Takano (D-Riverside) Democratic D+12 January 3, 2013 – present
42nd Ken Calvert (R-Corona) Republican R+9 January 3, 1993 – present
43rd Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) Democratic D+29 January 3, 1991 – present
44th Nanette Barragán (D-San Pedro) Democratic D+35 January 3, 2017 – present
45th Katie Porter (D-Irvine) Democratic R+3 January 3, 2019 – present
46th Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) Democratic D+15 January 3, 2017 – present
47th Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) Democratic D+13 January 3, 2013 – present
48th Michelle Steel (R-Surfside) Republican R+4 January 3, 2021 – present
49th Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano) Democratic R+1 January 3, 2019 – present
50th Darrell Issa (R-San Diego) Republican R+11 January 3, 2021 – present
51st Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) Democratic D+22 January 3, 2013 – present
52nd Scott Peters (D-San Diego) Democratic D+6 January 3, 2013 – present
53rd Sara Jacobs (D-San Diego) Democratic D+14 January 3, 2021 – present

Historical district boundaries
  • Districts from 2003–2013

See also

References
  1. "Supreme Court takes over remapping job". Sacramento Bee. September 26, 1991. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  2. "Court Remap Plan Could Cut Democrats' Clout in California". Washington Post. December 4, 1991. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  3. The word "gerrymandering" is replaced with redistricting as the word "gerrymandering" refers, by definition, to the redrawing of districts to the advantage of a single party or for partisan gain
  4. "Latinos May Gain Few Seats in Redistricting; Politics: Their push for more representation in Congress clashes with Democrats' desire to protect incumbents as district boundaries are redrawn". Los Angeles Times. August 26, 2001. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
  5. "Citizens Commission website: background". Archived from the original on September 2, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  6. "California Citizens Redistricting Commission | "Fair Representation - Democracy at Work!"".
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