Seventy days remain until Long Beach voters join the rest of California in deciding how — or specifically by whom — they will be represented over the next six years.
The special election comes after California Democrats last week passed the “Election Rigging Response Act,” which would allow the state legislature to impose new Congressional district maps that would apply only to federal elections in 2026, 2028 and 2030.
The measure, passed 57-20 in the state Assembly and 30-8 in the state Senate, was proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom as a counterpunch to the Trump Administration, which first urged state lawmakers in Texas earlier this month to redraw their maps to favor Republicans.
If approved by voters, Newsom’s ballot measure will redraw California’s congressional makeup next year, giving Democrats a chance to win five more seats in the 2026 midterms. Democrats control 43 of California’s 53 seats, while Republicans hold a slim 219-212 majority in the House.
In service of that national political fight, the measure would make substantial changes to how Long Beach is represented at the federal level.
Currently, the city is divided between the 42nd and 44th Congressional Districts, represented by Democratic Reps. Robert Garcia and Nanette Barragán, respectively.
Barragán’s district would retrench from Long Beach, retreating to the neighborhoods north of Del Amo Boulevard and west of Downey Avenue, as it loses voters in West Long Beach and the communities that border Lakewood. Inversely, the congresswoman would gain Huntington Park and parts of Commerce.
Meanwhile, Garcia’s district would undergo a major change.
In the proposed map, the second-term congressman would claim a greater chunk of Long Beach, assuming the northwest neighborhoods of Wrigley, Bixby Knolls and Los Cerritos, among others.
Garcia would lose Lakewood, Downey and Gateway City neighborhoods like Commerce and Huntington Park. In exchange, he would take neighboring Seal Beach as the district stretches along the coast, absorbing Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and parts of Newport Beach.
Matt Lesenyie, a political science professor at Cal State Long Beach, said Wednesday the new districts in and around Long Beach bank heavily on Garcia’s popularity in the region, as the 42nd District would siphon Republican neighborhoods out of the 45th and 47th districts — two districts that Democrats Derek Tran and Dave Min won by slim margins last November.
Tran, a Cypress Democrat, won the 45th District seat over Republican incumbent Michelle Steel by 0.2% of the vote — a difference of 653 votes. And Min, a Costa Mesa Democrat, won last November by fewer than three percentage points, or 10,000 ballots.
Inversely, bluer cities in Garcia’s former district, like Bellflower and Downey, will be added to the 41st Congressional District, shoring up Democrat votes to wage a stronger challenge against the current representative, Republican Ken Calvert.
“If I was a strategist, I’d say you have votes to spare in Long Beach and northeast of Long Beach, Paramount,” Lesenyie said. “You don’t have a surplus south of that district.”
In a phone call last week, Garcia said the redrawing might change local priorities and make for some lively town halls, but it will not alter his overall message to voters.
“Whether it’s here or my current district in southeast LA, whether it’s in Orange County, people want to make sure that we’re taking on corruption in government,” Garcia said. “People want to make sure that programs are responsive to protecting health care and social security. They want to make sure we’re providing funds for parks and for infrastructure. … So none of that message is going to change.”
The newly proposed map makes the 42nd seat solely a beach district, as opposed to a mix of coastal and inland communities that sometimes differ on their needs. More attention could be paid toward laws that affect coastal cities, as well as grants that pay for improved water quality, wetland conservation and infrastructure at seaports.
But the district’s Democratic hold hinges on Garcia’s clout; without him or someone of similar name recognition, the new map could allow for a competitive Republican challenge.
The change, in terms of voter registration, will dilute its population of registered Democrats, from 53% to 40%. Republicans would jump from 18% to 30%, while there would be 5% more without a party preference.
“Without an experienced politician like Garcia, this could become basically a swing district,” Lesenyie said.
State Sen. Tony Strickland, who has worked as a political consultant in Huntington Beach, said the right Republican would focus on “bread and butter” issues like the rising cost of living, as well as high energy costs, crime and “overreaching” building regulations.
But it would be an uphill battle for any Republican, Strickland added.
“Right now, our district that we live in and our map is a very competitive seat that you have to actually campaign hard and earn the people’s vote versus an overwhelming Democratic seat,” he said. “So for a Republican, it would be to try to bring affordability and common sense to California.”
Lesenyie, however, thinks the most formidable Republican would be a culture warrior, one who makes few concessions to moderates and instead taps into the prevailing disdain among those in Orange County against the cultural pace and leanings — such as on gender identity and reproductive health — of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Concessions would be a “poison pill” on either side, Lesenyie said.
Will Newsom’s plan pass?
It’s unclear how people across California feel about the move. Even among supporters, it will be a measure of whether they see it as a necessary sacrifice to their own democratic process.
A UC Berkeley/Politico/Citrin Center poll taken earlier this month found that California voters resoundingly want redistricting power kept with the state’s independent commission. But another survey by the same coalition last week found that 63% of respondents think California should “fight back” against efforts in Texas and other Republican-led states to stack the deck in Congress.
Typically, Congressional districts are redrawn every 10 years, immediately following the release of U.S. Census results. Lines are agreed upon by California’s 14-member independent redistricting commission, a power it has controlled since 2010. If Newsom’s measure is approved, these new maps would circumvent the current ones until the state’s independent redistricting commission draws new boundary lines in 2031.
A mid-decade redistricting is rare, and usually only happens as the result of a court order that found some violation of the Voting Rights Act.
Proponents of Newsom’s plan, like former Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama have lauded it as a necessary response to the Trump Administration’s own push to strengthen Republican power in Texas.
The resolution reiterates California’s support for “fair, independent, and nonpartisan redistricting commissions,” and asks for federal legislation to require a system nationwide.
It also has trigger language, meaning the new maps would only take effect if Texas or another state moves forward with a mid-cycle redistricting.
But that hasn’t stopped rising opposition, most notably other California Republicans and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who argue that wresting map-drawing powers from the state’s nonpartisan commission undermines its democratic process and further erodes public trust.
Strickland called the move “authoritarian,” saying a system “where the elections are predetermined” and noncompetitive are not good for democracy.
“We have the gold standard here in California,” Strickland said, adding that unlike places like Texas, Illinois, Massachusetts — where legislators draw the maps — the system in California is designed to promote fair and engaging competition. “It’d be a shame to throw it away.”
It also won’t be cheap. An estimate by Assembly Republicans tallies the cost at more than $235 million to taxpayers, according to CalMatters.
At a town hall in Signal Hill on Monday, Garcia gave a preview of the pitch voters should expect from Democrats.
Speaking to a crowd of 70 or so people, he said he wholeheartedly supports the state’s independent commission, but, “If Republicans are going to go this extreme and try to rig an election, I think the governor’s right, and I think the response is appropriate.”
“I believe that Democrats can no longer play this respectability politics game and say we’re going to do the better thing,” Garcia continued. “I know not everyone agrees with that. ‘We’re going into the mud. We’re doing what they’re doing.’
“But I think we’ve reached a point where what’s on the line, I strongly believe, is a future where we can actually have a government that helps people and not cause so much damage to our democracy,” he said.
Editor’s note: This story was corrected to show Garcia is in his second term, not third.