Another Pro-impeachment Republican Punished in Redistricting

Joel B. PollakDecember 22, 2021

Another Republican who voted for the second impeachment of President Donald Trump in January has seen his district redrawn in a way that makes it more difficult for him to win reelection next year — this time, Rep. David Valadao (R-CA).

In October, Illinois Democrats rewarded Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-CA) — who not only voted for impeachment, but serves on the controversial January 6 committee — by redrawing his district in a way that forced him to announce his retirement.

In Illinois, billionaire Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) had campaigned on the promise to introducing an independent, non-partisan redistricting commission — a promise he broke by handing the process over to partisan Democrats in the state legislature.

In California, an independent commission has been in charge of redistricting since the last Census. However, as in the last redistricting effort, the commission has produced a map that favors incumbent Democrats and hurts incumbent Republicans.

NEW: California’s near-final draft map looks terrific for Dems. All 42 Dem incumbents (except retiring Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D), whose Long Beach seat is folded in w/ LA Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D)’s), get strong seats.

Meanwhile, *five* of 11 GOP seats get more vulnerable. pic.twitter.com/EUAtN2SRsI

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) December 20, 2021

Biggest losers on this draft map:#CA04 McClintock (R) – Trump +10 to +2#CA21 Valadao (R) – Biden +11 to +13#CA25 Garcia (R) – Biden +10 to +12#CA42 Calvert (R) – Trump +7 to +1#CA48 Steel (R) – Biden +2 to +6

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) December 20, 2021

In Valadao’s case, the Washington Post notes, Democrats made an already-difficult district even harder for him to win:

An example of the potential benefits to Democrats is the new 22nd Congressional District, located in the state’s expansive Central Valley. It is represented by Rep. David G. Valadao, a Republican who lost his seat in the 2018 Democratic midterm wave and won it back in 2020.

Valadao, who is one of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump over his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, will face an even more Democratic electorate next year in a district Biden would have won by 13 percentage points and in which nearly 60 percent of potential voters are Latino. Valadao previously prevailed in a district Biden won by 11 percentage points.

Valadao lost some of his more Republican territory to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R), whose new 20th District juts into Valadao’s current district like an outstretched arm.

“If Democrats are going to control Congress, it’s my prediction that will happen because a bunch of 18-year-old Latinos showed up to vote in the [Valadao’s] district and flipped that seat,” said Christian Arana, vice president of policy at the Latino Community Foundation.

In 2011, liberal ProPublica exposed the fact that Democrats manipulated the nominally non-partisan and independent redistricting commission in California to produce a partisan map that wiped out several Republican representatives.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.