Californians are deciding House races for the primary time below a brand new congressional map designed to assist Democrats decide up extra seats by way of redistricting.
Last 12 months, voters overwhelmingly authorized a poll measure, which changed a map drawn by an unbiased fee with one drawn by Democrats who management the state’s levers of energy. The purpose: assist the get together flip as many as 5 GOP seats to remove positive aspects sought by Texas Republicans in that state’s redistricting push.
There’s no assure that Democrats will win all of the seats they search, however as we speak’s election gives an early check of whether or not the get together’s costly redistricting gambit would possibly repay this fall. Democrats at the moment management 43 of the state’s 52 House seats.
The new map already has scrambled Golden State politics.
For occasion, Rep. Kevin Kiley, who has represented a district hugging California’s jap border with Nevada as a Republican, is now operating as an unbiased in a blue-tinged district within the Sacramento space. The contest for the open seat has drawn a giant subject of candidates.
In southern California, in the meantime, Reps. Ken Calvert and Young Kim are going through off in a primary that pits House Republican incumbents towards each other.