However behind the scenes, consultants, lawmakers and would-be candidates already are jockeying for place within the newly aggressive or vastly redrawn districts which will quickly exist throughout the state.
As rumblings emerged that there in all probability can be a brand new southeast Los Angeles County congressional seat — later confirmed by the official maps launched final week — political watchers braced for a full-on feeding frenzy. A contemporary seat in a secure Democratic district generally is a once-in-a-generation alternative, notably in a area crowded with bold politicians.
However a race that doesn’t even formally exist but appears to already be virtually tied up with a bow.
L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis hasn’t publicly introduced her candidacy. However she’s made her intention to run for the redrawn thirty eighth district clear inside the close-knit world of California politics. And different would-be candidates seem like staying out of the veteran politician’s manner.
Within the brass-knuckles world of southeast L.A. County politics, Solis, 67, has lengthy been a starring participant.
She beforehand served in Congress and the statehouse earlier than turning into one of many 5 “little queens” holding the reins of the county kingdom.
Her want for the brand new seat and her capability to claw again potential competitors are extensively recognized, in keeping with conversations with greater than a dozen political operatives and present and former lawmakers, most of whom requested for anonymity to talk freely a couple of delicate subject. By way of a advisor, Solis didn’t reply to repeated requests for remark.
Solis was telling California lawmakers and different civic leaders that she was planning to run and was searching for endorsements, even earlier than the maps have been finalized.
At the least one California lawmaker famous that Solis referred to the district as “my seat” when asking for backing — a reference to the seat she as soon as held, although the brand new district doesn’t but exist.
Some have bristled on the alacrity with which Solis has appeared to consolidate help. The frustration is sharpened at a time when getting older politicians in Washington have change into a political flashpoint and Democratic leaders have been criticized for sidelining youthful expertise.
“It kind of looks like Hilda Solis has completely sewn up that seat in one night of making phone calls. And the excitement of a brand new seat was quickly extinguished,” one Southern California Democratic political advisor mentioned.
A number of of the advisor’s shoppers have already agreed to endorse Solis, they added.
“Unless Cesar Chavez himself is running out there, Hilda Solis will get our support,” a frontrunner of 1 politically influential union mentioned, name-checking the late labor trailblazer.
Solis was reelected to a 3rd and last time period on the highly effective county Board of Supervisors in 2022, representing a district that sprawls from downtown and northeast Los Angeles to Pomona. She has been a frontrunner on environmental justice and immigrant points and made historical past early in her profession as the primary Latina within the state Senate.
Congress can be a homecoming of kinds for her — she was elected to the Home in 2000 and served a number of phrases earlier than stepping down for a task as President Obama’s Secretary of Labor in 2009.
Below the proposed maps, Democrats might choose up 5 seats now held by Republicans whereas bolstering weak Democratic Reps. Adam Grey, Josh Tougher, George Whitesides, Derek Tran and Dave Min. To make these modifications work, the maps vastly alter different districts across the state whereas creating a further district in L.A. County.
A large swath of what’s now the thirty eighth Congressional District, represented by Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Whittier), can be divided into two neighboring southeast L.A. County districts.
As a result of members of Congress would not have to reside within the district they symbolize, and since the proposed thirty eighth and forty first districts each embody a big chunk of Sánchez’s present district, it was initially unclear which might lack an incumbent and be seen because the “new” district.
However ought to the maps go, Sánchez is probably going planning to run within the forty first district, in keeping with a supply near her.
Through the state’s final redistricting course of — when California misplaced a congressional seat for the primary time as a result of dwindling inhabitants — the Southeast L.A. County seat held by Lucille Roybal-Allard, the primary Mexican American lady elected to Congress, was eradicated.
Each of the proposed new districts include parts of Roybal-Allard’s previous district — which had essentially the most Latino voters of any district within the nation, in keeping with the 2010 census.
The proposed thirty eighth District, the place Solis is planning to run, would come with a swath of southeast L.A. County, together with some or all of cities akin to Bell, Montebello and Pico Rivera, in addition to El Monte, Metropolis of Trade and Hacienda Heights, stretching east to Diamond Bar earlier than dipping south to embody the Orange County metropolis of Yorba Linda.
The proposed new forty first District, the place Sánchez is predicted to run for reelection, would come with some or all of Downey, Whittier and Lakewood, in addition to La Habra and Brea in Orange County. (The “old” forty first District, represented by GOP Rep. Ken Calvert, is positioned fully in Riverside County, stretching from Corona to Palm Springs.)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom poses for a photograph with Los Angeles space Democratic lawmakers Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio, heart, and her sister Sen. Susan Rubio, proper, after his State of the State tackle in 2020.
(Wealthy Pedroncelli/AP)
There initially had been discuss that one of many politically bold Rubios of Baldwin Park, who grew to become the primary sisters to serve collectively within the state Legislature, could be within the thirty eighth.
However Susan Rubio did not make it previous the first in a Home bid final 12 months, and her Senate seat is up for reelection in 2026, making her much less more likely to forgo a comparatively straightforward path again to Sacramento for a far riskier congressional contest. A spokesperson mentioned Rubio has not expressed curiosity within the seat.
Blanca Rubio mentioned via a spokesperson Tuesday that she is solely centered on her Meeting district.
Solis’ place as a robust county supervisor, alongside along with her years of title recognition, would give her a robust benefit in drumming up cash and endorsements.
Nonetheless, ought to the brand new maps go, it’s unlikely that she would go fully unchallenged. Whilst some seem able to anoint her, others are prepared for a generational change.
Former state Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo of Boyle Heights cited Democratic leaders akin to Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Greg Casar of Texas, all of whom are below 40.
“The area includes a lot of smaller cities with a lot of dynamic leaders and is obviously representative of a very diverse community,” Carrillo mentioned of Southeast L.A. County. “The Democratic Party has an opportunity to elect a new generation of leaders that can inspire the voter base and can inspire the future of the Democratic Party.”
Instances workers author Seema Mehta contributed to this report.
