Democratic Rep. Katie Porter on Monday said she’ll run for reelection in 2022 in a newly drawn coastal district that includes her hometown of Irvine, not her current House seat.
The news came after the California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission released final maps for all U.S. House districts in California. The maps, which also change district boundaries for state Assembly and Senate seats throughout California, are part of once-in-a-decade process to balance populations based on latest census data.
Orange County will lose one voice in Washington, D.C. when the new maps take effect next year. The district now represented by Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, will move north, shrinking the number of House seats that touch Orange County from seven to six.
Lowenthal announced Thursday that he doesn’t plan to run for reelection in 2022.
Porter’s shift to the coastal district, where voter registration will lean Democrat by just one point, raises the prospect of Porter facing off against GOP Rep. Michelle Steel, who lives in Seal Beach. It’s also possible that Steel, who is Korean-American, will run in a new House district that includes Little Saigon and parts of north Orange County. It is estimated that the new district will be about 38% Asian American, but voter registration will lean Democrat by about 5 percentage points.
District residency isn’t a requirement for House members, even though it’s considered politically favorable. And, despite a disadvantage in voter registration, Steel might face better odds in the north county district simply because it wouldn’t pit her against Porter, who has a national profile and raised more money last quarter than any other Democrat in the House.
Meanwhile, Steel’s fellow GOP Congresswoman and longtime friend, Rep. Young Kim, who’s also Korean American, lives just outside the new north county district. Her stretch of La Habra was drawn in with a Los Angeles County district that roughly aligns with one now represented by Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Whitter.
Political observers are speculating that Kim will run in the new version of Porter’s old seat, which now will be heavily Republican as it stretches from Rancho Mission Viejo north through Yorba Linda and into Chino Hills in San Bernardino County.
Neither of the GOP freshmen would say Monday where they planned to run in 2022, or if they’d move homes to do so. Their campaign consultant Sam Oh said Monday that Steel and Kim “will be weighing their options once the Congressional maps are finalized and approved by the California Redistricting Commission.”
Commission members were expected to approve the final maps late Monday, after the Register’s deadline, and then hold a press conference on the steps of the state Capitol on Dec. 27 as they turn final maps over to the Secretary of State.
Legal challenges still are possible. But once approved maps for California’s 52 Congressional districts, 80 Assembly districts and 40 State Senate districts otherwise will hold until the next redistricting, after the 2030 Census.
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Drafts of the maps released last month drew Seal Beach, where Steel lives, out of the north coastal district. But final maps put it back, which sets Steel up for a fight against Porter unless she moves or runs out of the district where she lives.
There’s also a question about Democrat Harley Rouda of Laguna Beach, who formerly held Steel’s seat but lost to her in 2020.
As of last week, Rouda said he still planned to challenge Steel again and try to flip the coastal seat back, calling the new district “more competitive than ever before.” But with Porter now running for that seat, that puts Rouda in a tough spot for 2022, since he doesn’t have the benefits of incumbency, the funds or the national profile that Porter brings to the race.
Democrat Jay Chen, who’s been campaigning against Kim in the current CA-39 race for months, said Monday nigt he’s now running in the new north O.C. district that includes Little Saigon. It’s not yet clear if he’ll then face Kim, Steel or another GOP challenger. His campaign also didn’t immediately respond to a question about whether he’ll move from Hacienda Heights into the targeted district.
Changes to districts represented by Lou Correa, D-Anaheim, and Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, were more minor. But they did make Levin’s district a bit more competitive for his GOP challengers, going from a few-point advantage for Democrats to a dead heat between registered Republicans and Democrats under the new maps.
The public can continue to weigh in on the maps through Dec. 27, and the commission still has live-streamed meetings scheduled over the next week.