Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican from California, is calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson to pass legislation he introduced earlier this week to end the redistricting battles that are sweeping the nation after Texas Republicans announced plans to do a mid-decade redistricting that would give Republicans five more winnable seats ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
More than 50 lawmakers left Texas to stop a vote on the Republican plan.
In California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said he’s moving forward with an effort to bypass the state’s independent redistricting commission and draw a new map that would eliminate Republican seats. Voters would have to approve it in November.
Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican from California, said these redistricting battles are “nuts.”
“I’m calling on [House Speaker Mike Johnson] to bring it to the floor when we get back from recess,” Kiley said. “I think that, honestly, this is an opportunity for all of us just to take a deep breath to say, ‘Is this a path that we really want to go down? Is this really good for our country? Is it good for voters? Is it good for representation?’ I think the answer to all of those questions is no.”
6 questions with Rep. Kevin Kiley
If Newsom gets his way, are you likely to lose your seat?
“Well, I’m actually not super concerned about my own seat. I was fortunate to win my last race by 46,000 votes, and I have a track record of getting support from Republicans, Independents, and Democrats.
“But I am concerned about protecting democracy in California, and this scheme that is afoot to get rid of our independent redistricting commission and to override the will of voters who put that commission in place. I think it’s a very dangerous thing for our state. And that’s not just me saying it: It’s the Democrat-aligned group Common Cause that fights for fair elections. It’s the League of Women Voters of California and a very broad coalition that has come out against this plan.”
How do you think voters will respond to Newsom’s proposal?
“I think if it’s put before the voters fairly, then voters will vote to preserve the commission, and the reason I think that is because they fairly recently voted overwhelmingly to establish the commission.
“Voters said we don’t think that politicians should be drawing the lines for their own district and then be running for office in those districts. That’s an inherent conflict of interest. And so I think if the question is put to voters in a fair way, people would overwhelmingly vote for it to remain in place. The problem is we already see an attempt to twist the language of the question on the ballot to make voters think that ‘yes’ means ‘no’ and ‘no’ means ‘yes,’ which is exactly the sort of political games that I think make people so disillusioned with politics.”
This started in Texas. Do your fellow Republicans in Texas deserve the blame here?
“Yeah, so I distinguish actually the folks who are in the legislature in Texas from those who are in Congress because my colleagues in the House who are Republicans in the Texas delegation, they actually don’t like what’s going on in Texas.
“And the reason for that is that having a mid-decade redistricting process, it’s incredibly disruptive for them in their districts, even if it makes them more likely to win or at least doesn’t threaten their ability to win reelection. Suddenly, they’re going to have communities that they’ve represented for a while, they’ve gotten to know the people, they’ve gotten to know the issues, and they’re going to be tossed out of their district.
“I don’t think gerrymandering is a good thing. I think it’s a problem wherever it occurs, whether it’s in a Republican state or a Democrat state, and I especially think it’s bad when it’s happening in an unscheduled way, as we’re seeing right now. “
What’s your plan to stop mid-decade redistricting?
“I’ve introduced a bill to do just that. And so, this would apply to all 50 states, and it would say that we do redistricting once a decade after the census. I’m calling on the speaker to bring it to the floor when we get back from recess, and I think that, honestly, this is an opportunity for all of us just to take a deep breath to say, ‘Is this a path that we really want to go down? Is this really good for our country? Is it good for voters? Is it good for representation?’ I think the answer to all of those questions is no. And I’ve actually gotten a lot of support for the bill since I introduced it from folks on both sides of the aisle.”
Does Speaker Johnson support it?
“Well, I’ve been pretty clear both publicly and in my conversations with the speaker that I think he and the Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries need to show some leadership here because Mike Johnson is the leader of the Republicans in Congress, and the Republicans in Congress don’t like what’s going on. Hakeem Jeffries is the leader of the Democrats in Congress, and the Democrats in Congress don’t like what’s going on. So, I’ve publicly called on him and the minority leader to show some leadership here, to come together to say ‘enough is enough,’ and I think that my bill offers the vehicle for doing that.”
Do you think the pressure coming from Republicans to force Texas Democrats back to the state is appropriate?
“I think people watching what’s going on are looking at this whole thing like, ‘This is nuts.’ I mean this is not the way that the process is supposed to work. This is not the way politics and representative government is supposed to work, and I think the whole spectacle just underscores the need to have a return to sanity here.
“I think that wherever this is occurring, it’s not a good thing. It’s especially pernicious in California, where you have an attempt to override the will of voters in order to revert to having a politically driven redistricting process.”
This interview has been edited for clarity.
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Kalyani Saxena produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Micaela Rodríguez. Michael Scotto produced it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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