InShort: Democrats aim to boost California US House seats
AP :
In a display of cutthroat yet calculated politics, Democrats unveiled a proposal Friday that could give California’s dominant political party an additional five U.S. House seats in a bid to win the fight to control of Congress next year.
The plan calls for an unusually timed reshaping of House district lines to greatly strengthen the Democratic advantage in the state ahead of midterm elections, when Republicans will be defending a fragile majority.
It amounts to a counterpunch to Texas, where the GOP is trying to add five seats to its House delegation at the urging of President Donald Trump as he tries to avoid losing control of Congress and, with it, prospects for his conservative agenda in the later part of his term.
If approved by voters in November, the California blueprint could nearly erase Republican House members in the nation’s most populous state. The Democratic plan is intended to win the party 48 of its 52 U.S. House seats, up from 43.
The campaign arm of House Democrats, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, released the maps Friday, and the Democratic-led Legislature later posted them online. State lawmakers plan to hold hearings and vote on the new maps next week.
“This is about more than drawing lines on a map. It’s about drawing a line in the sand to stop Texas and Trump from rigging the election,” state Senate Democratic leader Mike McGuire said in a statement.
New districts have boundaries to boost Democratic edge
While a general notion behind drawing districts is to unite what’s called communities of interest neighborhoods and cities that share similar concerns or demographic traits the proposed remapping would create a jigsaw of oddly shaped districts to maximize Democratic clout.
The 1st Congressional District is currently anchored in the state’s conservative far northeast corner and is represented by Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Trump supporter. The district has a nearly 18-point GOP registration edge.
Under the proposal, Democrats would end up with a 10-point registration advantage there after drastic reshaping to include parts of heavily Democratic Sonoma County near the Pacific Coast.