After a Redistricting Scramble, a California Republican Has Finally Picked Where He’s Running

Rep. Kevin Kiley announced on Monday that he will run in the newly-drawn 6th Congressional District, making him the last of California’s incumbent Republican lawmakers to announce where they’ll run after Democrats’ redistricting efforts.

Kiley’s decision to run in this district underscores how much redistricting has changed congressional races across the country, sending incumbents scrambling to figure out where to run.

“It’s true that I was fully prepared to run in the new 5th, having tested the waters and with polls showing a favorable outlook in a ‘safe’ district,” Kiley wrote in a post on X. “But doing what’s easy and what’s right are often not the same.”

Kiley, who opposed Republicans’ redistricting efforts in other states and introduced a bill banning mid-decade redistricting, has for months teased voters about which district he would run in, often posting on X about options he had discarded and why.

By running in the new district, Kiley will avoid a clash with fellow Republican Rep. Tom McClintock, who in February officially filed to run in the 5th District, one of the two districts Kiley was deciding between. President Donald Trump endorsed McClintock, posting on Jan. 23 that the congressman had his “Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election.”

“@KevinKileyCA made the right decision for the party and for the Country,” McClintock wrote on X shortly after Kiley announced his decision. “The best way to defeat the Gavinmander is to win in the 6th District, and I believe Kevin is the right candidate to do that.”

“I will do everything I can to help him return to Congress and look forward to serving with him for many years to come,” McClintock said.

Kiley, who was first elected in 2022, now faces an uphill battle in his reelection campaign because of the November passage of Proposition 50. The ballot measure significantly changed what California’s congressional districts look like and made many of them more favorable to Democrats — the newly-drawn 6th Congressional District now leans toward Democrats by about 8 percentage points, according to PBS. The district McClintock is running in was made more friendly to Republicans.

Five of nine Republican House seats were made significantly more competitive. In the redrawn 40th Congressional District, two incumbent Republicans, Rep. Ken Calvert and Rep. Young Kim, are already running against each other.

In a sign of how much this changed the landscape for California Republicans, Rep. Darrell Issa even considered running for a House seat in Texas, where Republicans redistricted the state to net up to five more seats for the party. Issa’s previously reliably Republican California seat is now tilted under the new congressional maps to give Democrats a slight advantage.

In Texas, where Democrats could lose up to five seats, some members have opted to retire in the face of tough primaries.

Where incumbents across the country are set to run is also far from decided, with redistricting efforts continuing in several states including Virginia and Florida. Moves to redistrict have also been challenged in court, but have been largely unsuccessful. In December, the Supreme Court allowed Texas to use its new congressional maps, and in February, it greenlit the new California maps.