Rep. Kevin Kiley thinks Democrats Will Fall for His Redistricting Legislation
Kevin Kiley has come out in opposition to the redistricting war being started by Donald Trump and Greg Abbott in Texas to steal power from the electorate. This comes not long after the Democrats last attempt to remove politics from the redistricting process in the form of the For The People Act of 2021, an act that the Republicans wholly rejected when brought to Congress.
Now that the odds are no longer in Republican favor, they are taking new and extralegal measures in order to circumvent the rules that we all abide by. Even as Texas’ own Democrats flee the state to avoid the dismantling of democratic traditions, Republicans remain complicit in this clearly corrupt attack on voter representation. Our reply in California is that two can play at this game.
Trump’s best efforts to undermine the integrity of our electoral institutions aren’t designed to make America great. In fact, mid-decade redistricting does nothing for the voters of the country. It doesn’t increase representation or make it easier for some communities to vote. Mid-decade redistricting removes power from the hands of the voting bloc and places that power in the hands of the ruling elite. This clear violation of electoral norms should alarm the voters of CA-3, because it sure has Kiley shaking in his loafers.
As this stand off progresses, Kiley appears on edge about keeping his job. By going against MAGA, Kiley is trying to stop the redistricting that would leave California Congressional representation completely Democratic and Kiley unemployed.
You can guess what happens next. Since Kiley is speaking out against a policy of the Trump White House by being against mid-decade redistricting, he’s on his way to becoming an enemy of the administration, just like anyone else in the Republican Party that doesn’t toe the company line.
This would mean no support from the Trump administration, no influence on policies in a Trump dominated House of Representatives, and marginalized by both sides of the aisle. He’s on his way to being reduced to the status of lame duck Congressman, and California Congressional District 3 will be sidelined on the national stage.
If the White House is soon to disown him, so too will the Republican Party. Who is left to provide support? The electorate?
As the electorate, let’s ask ourselves what Kiley has done for us to deserve a favorable review.
Has he done anything to protect due process? No, rather his priority has been to make sure corporations don’t have to provide you medical coverage by pushing for the repeal of AB 5.
Has he done anything to protect Medi-Cal for CA-3’s most vulnerable residents, the ones that rely heavily on government assistance programs like SNAP and CalFresh? Quite the opposite. According to a June 2025 Op-Ed in the Sacramento Bee:
“His district has 96,000 residents who rely on SNAP, known as CalFresh to Californians, and 28% are covered by federally subsidized health care. Still, he voted to gut their care and slash the resources their families rely on.”
Have we even SEEN him in person at a town hall? Unfortunately not. Kiley has yet to speak publicly to his constituency through in-person town hall unless we purchase a dinner plate for several thousand dollars. Perhaps he’s afraid that his constituency will threaten to vote him out like the residents of Lincoln, Nebraska did to their Congressman.
When your power comes from a king and you don’t kiss their ring, do you even have power? That would be a good question for Kiley when you see him in the unemployment line next year.
-Special to the PlacerDems Blog by William Forseth, former Editor-in-Chief with the American River Current and Roseville resident
