The effects from the new, voter-approved congressional maps for California are beginning to take shape — and a picture of how Proposition 50 will impact 2026 campaigns is emerging.
In Los Angeles County, Rep. Linda Sánchez, who represents California’s 38th District, recently announced that she will seek reelection — but in what will become California’s 41st Congressional District. That’s because Whittier, where she lives, was moved into the new 41st District under the voter-approved Proposition 50 maps.
Her move over to the 41st District means that her current seat in the 38th District will be filled by a non-incumbent next year.
Of course, the 38th District looks a bit different under the new maps.
The redrawn 38th District sweeps across L.A. County, taking in the cities of Bell, Commerce, El Monte, Diamond Bar, Hacienda Heights, Montebello, Pico Rivera and West Whittier. It will also include Yorba Linda in Orange County. But it loses current constituents in Whittier, Santa Fe Springs, Norwalk and La Habra.
At least two people — L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis and Pico Rivera Councilmember Monica Sánchez (no relation to Linda Sánchez) — have announced their candidacies for the new 38th District, setting up a Democrat-on-Democrat race with potentially more candidates joining the fray in the coming weeks.
Both candidates have spoken of the need to send a “fighter” to Washington, D.C., as a foil to President Donald Trump and his administration.
“The working people of Southern California are under assault by the Trump administration — and I won’t just stand by and let it happen,” Solis said when she announced her candidacy in August.
“I’ve been standing up for the people — and against Trump — as a supervisor, and now it’s time to campaign for the House and fight for the people and democracy in the Congress,” she said.
Monica Sánchez, in a statement announcing her candidacy, said the community needs “a fighter in Washington with the energy to stand up for working people and take on the Trump administration and the corrupt system in Washington that allows corporations to get rich while we struggle to pay for healthcare, childcare, and groceries.”
“I’ll bring the change we need in Washington — to fight back against the Trump administration’s blatant abuse of human rights and the refusal of congressional Republicans to stop health insurance premium increases, and to work hard to make living in California more affordable,” said Monica Sánchez.
Solis, who lives in the San Gabriel Valley city of El Monte, is completing her final term on the county Board of Supervisors and cannot seek reelection to that seat next year due to term limits. She previously served in Congress from 2001 to 2009 and was secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor under the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013.
Seven current House members have endorsed Solis, according to her campaign website. They include Reps. Judy Chu, Laura Friedman, Robert Garcia, Luz Rivas, Brad Sherman and Maxine Waters, all of whom represent L.A. County. She’s also endorsed by Rep. Lou Correa of Orange County.
Monica Sánchez, an educator who works for the L.A. County Office of Education, previously served as mayor of Pico Rivera, one of the Gateway Cities in southeastern L.A. County.
She’s endorsed by two congressmembers — including Rep. Linda Sánchez. Rep. Norma Torres, who represents communities in L.A., Riverside & San Bernardino counties, has also endorsed the Pico Rivera councilmember, according to her campaign.
Both candidates for the 38th District have also listed a number of local mayors, city councilmembers and school board officials endorsing them on their websites.
Both candidates “have aspects of incumbency,” said Mike Bonin, the executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State LA.
“Hilda (Solis) is really well known. She was in Congress before. She has a lot of incumbent advantages even though she doesn’t actually hold that seat,” said Bonin.
But, he noted, voters used to seeing a “Sánchez” on the ballot because of the current officeholder’s name might not realize that a different Sánchez is running in the 38th District next year. Those voters, he said, might assume they’re voting for Linda Sánchez instead of Monica Sánchez, which could help her prospects.
How the race shapes up will also depend on another factor that has yet to be determined: Will the maps created by Proposition 50 that California voters just approved be the ones that House candidates ultimately run on?
That ballot measure, pushed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democrats, suspended congressional maps previously created by a nonpartisan independent redistricting commission in favor of gerrymandered maps that are likely to give Democrats five more House seats in the 2026 midterm elections. The Proposition 50 maps are to be used for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 congressional races.
Supporters of the measure said the mid-decade redistricting was a response to a similar gerrymandering effort by Texas Republicans who changed their state’s congressional maps at the prompting of Trump in an effort to help Republicans maintain control of the House next year.
But opponents claim the maps created under Proposition 50 are unconstitutional.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday joined a lawsuit previously filed by the California Republican Party that challenges the Proposition 50 maps. The Justice Department alleged that it was race, rather than partisanship, that drove Newsom and California legislators to redraw the congressional maps. In its filing, the DOJ said the maps were drawn to favor Hispanic voters and argued that racial gerrymandering is unconstitutional.
The Justice Department wants a judge to invalidate the maps approved under Proposition 50, making them unusable ahead of the 2026 elections.
“The race-based gerrymandered maps passed by the California Legislature are unlawful and unconstitutional,” Bill Essayli, who serves as the first assistant U.S. attorney, said Thursday. “We are moving swiftly to prevent these illegal maps from tainting our upcoming elections.”
The response from the Newsom administration was also swift: “These losers lost at the ballot box and soon will also lose again in court,” Brandon Richards, a spokesperson for the governor, said shortly after Thursday’s DOJ announcement.
In the meantime, Bonin doesn’t think anyone seriously mulling a run for Congress is waiting to see if or how the courts will rule on this case before announcing their candidacy.
Some candidates may wait as late as January to declare, he said, but anyone serious about running should make up their minds soon in order to have time to set up a viable campaign operation.
“If you’re going to make a run, you’ve got to be starting in the next couple of weeks,” Bonin said. “By the time it (the lawsuit) gets resolved, it would be too late to say yes (to running).”