Who represents the Hill in state/federal redistricting?

On Dec. 27, the 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission (CCRC) submitted its final maps for the 52 Congressional, 40 state Senate, 80 Assembly and four Board of Equalization districts to the California Secretary of State. The commission made no changes to the final maps from the earlier proposed final maps.

In its news conference before submitting the final maps to the Secretary of State, Commissioner Trena Turner of San Joaquin County described the process as, “Everyone wanted what they wanted. It seemed easy if we had a square state or if we didn’t lose a Congressional seat and if people were a little better at give and take.”

Reinforcing the idea that the commission trying to balance the districts was not an obviously easy task and that the process would never meet everyone’s goals were Commissioner Patricia Sinay of San Diego County’s comments.

“Fourteen of us collectively pushed and pulled and were reminded of the past. There was no formula. The constitution doesn’t tell us how to do it. That’s the beauty of the redistricting committee,” Sinay said. “It was messy and that’s the beauty of democracy.”

Next steps

Unless litigation is filed objecting to the district boundaries CCRC set, these boundaries will first be effective in the June 7 primaries. According to the Secretary of State’s website, Feb. 10, which is 45 days from when the new maps were certified, is the last day litigation may be filed.

The Secretary of State is responsible, unless litigation is filed, for delivering the new district maps to the state Legislature and each of California’s 58 counties. The county Registrar of Voters, with help from the Secretary’s Office, will assign voter precincts according to the revised boundaries.

Unlike the county supervisorial districts, no overlapping elections for these three districts take place so the confusion of two representatives will not occur. Only the current representatives exist and any new representative will be elected in November 2022, taking office in January 2023.

How CCRC assigned the Hill communities was described in the Dec. 30 edition of the Town Crier.

Congressional

Idyllwild, Pine Cove, Mountain Center and Anza are located in the new 41st Congressional District. Its western boundary is the border between Orange and Riverside counties.

The Hill and the desert cities will no longer be represented by Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz. His new district passes north of the Hill and south into Imperial County.

However, Republican Congressman Ken Calvert did announce he would seek reelection to Congress from the new 41st District.

On Dec. 21, he posted the following statement in his Facebook account, “Today, I’m announcing my intention to run for election in the newly drawn 41st Congressional District in 2022. As many of you know, I’m a lifelong resident of Corona, which is the largest city in the newly drawn 41st Congressional District. … I have had the honor of representing the bulk of the new 41st Congressional District before and I look forward to serving them again in the House of Representatives.”

March 11 is the last day candidates can file for the primary election.

State Senate

Idyllwild and Pine Cove are located in Senate District 32, but Pinewood and north of Pine Cove are assigned to Senate District 19 (which continues north to the boundary between San Bernardino and Inyo counties.)

Currently, Sen. Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) represents the Hill. She was elected in May 2020, replacing former Sen. Jeff Stone, who had resigned to take a position in the Trump administration.

Although there has been no indication that Melendez will seek reelection to the state Senate, she has announced and has a Facebook page seeking support for a campaign for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. She also has filed campaign documents with the Secretary of State’s Office. During the first six months of 2021, she collected more than $130,000 for this race

The November 2022 General Election will determine who next represents the Hill in the Senate.

Assembly district

Only Idyllwild and Pine Cove and north are in Assembly District 47. Garner Valley, Anza and Aguanga are in Assembly District 36.

The current Assembly District 71 goes south into San Diego County. Santee resident Randy Voepel currently represents this district. However, he would no longer be a resident in the new 36th District.

The northern portion of District 36 includes Cherry Valley and the San Bernardino communities of Yucaipa and Yucca Valley, but not Twenty-nine Palms. This area is currently represented by Chad Mayes.

He is a former Republican Assembly leader. In 2019, he switched his party affiliation to No Party Preference. His campaign finance account for reelection in 2022 had $402,000 in cash at the end of June 2021.

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