The latest redistricting maps for the various legislative seats representing the Santa Clarita Valley, at both the state and federal level, show potentially significant changes to the boundaries and constituencies for each respective representative.
One of the more perceivable changes happening to the local political landscape, should the most recently proposed map be adopted come the official deadline on Dec. 27, involves the restructuring of the 25th Congressional District represented currently by Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita.
According to the latest map proposed by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission on Wednesday, the 25th District would continue to encompass the entire SCV, and gain Sylmar in the south and Lancaster in the north, while removing its portion of Ventura County (Simi Valley), Porter Ranch in the south, and eastern sections, such as Llano and Lake Los Angeles.
In their most recent runoff against one another during the Nov. 3, 2020, general election, Garcia beat out Democratic candidate Christy Smith, 169,638 votes to 169,305 — a margin of 333 ballots.
The Los Angeles County vote totals for the election showed Smith winning the county, including the SCV, by a margin of 5,375. However, the incumbent congressman edged out his former-assemblywoman challenger after collecting 5,708 more votes in Ventura County.
Sylmar, which would now be included in the district as of the Dec. 15 map, previously fell into the 29th Congressional District. The congressional seat has been held by Democrats since 1957, and was an area President Joe Biden handedly won in 2020.
In a report published Wednesday following the release of the new map iteration, FiveThirtyEight stated the 25th District would become, under the newest map, roughly “4% bluer” and that Garcia “would be in more danger under this map.”
Garcia’s office declined to comment.
One of the other larger changes that was announced in a map published Friday for the California State Senate districts involves District 27, represented by Sen. Henry Stern, D-Los Angeles, and would remove Stevenson Ranch from the boundaries, placing the unincorporated community into District 21, which is currently represented by Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita.
In terms of the state Assembly, the 38th District, currently represented by Assemblywoman Suzette Valladares, R-Santa Clarita, would expand further into communities south of the SCV, but would relinquish Agua Dulce to the 36th Assembly District, currently represented by Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Antelope Valley.
The deadline for filing the final version of the various maps is Dec. 27. The final version for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors redistricting map, which was drawn by the L.A. County Citizens Redistricting Commission, was approved on Wednesday.
For more information on redistricting, visit wedrawthelinesca.org.
