2025 Special Election (redistricting)
Reported every 10 years, Census data usually requires adjustments to political boundaries. As part of that process, most U.S. states let their legislators determine the boundaries of Congressional Districts. As the years went by, some states (including California) drew political boundaries that protected incumbents or discriminated against minorites or other voting blocs - a practice known as Gerrymandering. In 2008, in an effort to reduce partisan influence in the redistricting process, California voters established a commission that operates independently from the state legislature. The California Citizens Redistricting Commission (CCRC) has been the state's Census redistricting entity, assigning geographic areas for Congressional Districts, state Legislative Districts and the state Board of Equalization Districts.
Our community was once represented in Congress by John Moss, a Sacramentan who held CD-03 from 1953-1978. The Federal Building at 650 Capital Mall in downtown Sacramento bears his name. In those days, CD-03 extended from Sacramento up to Tehama County. Congressman Moss was replaced by Bob Matsui. Congressman Matsui went on to represent citizens in CD-05 after redistricting due to the 1990 Census. After he passed away in 2004, his widow, Doris Matsui, was elected to replace him in a special election in 2005. She has held her seat ever since. Census redistricting in 2010 resulted in reconfiguration of Doris Matsui's district as CD-06, which split Arden Arcade E-W - Doris Matsui had the western parts and Ami Bera had the eastern parts. The 2020 redistricting reconfigured Matsui's district as CD-07, generally south of the American River and Bera's District as CD-06, generally north of the river plus Rancho Cordova.
Yesterday, November 4, 2025, voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 50, which establishes new Congressional District lines in response to gerrymandering in other states. The new districts will remain in effect until the after 2030 Census results are in. Redistricting under the Proposition puts Arden Arcade back into CD-03, which now extends from Florin and Lemon Hill/65th eastward and NE to include parts of Carmichael along with Fair Oaks, Rancho Cordova and Folsom, then northward through Granite Bay to Auburn and the eastbound I-80 corridor to the Tahoe area of Placer County until the state line, all of Nevada County, and the Highway 50 corridor in El Dorado County from Pollack Pines to the Nevada line. Proposition 50 only changes Congressional Districts; state Legislative Districts and Board of Equalization Districts are unchanged. Congressional elections impacted by Proposition 50 will occur in 2026, 2028 and 2030. New Congressional District lines will be drawn by the CCRC based on the 2030 Census.
Unincorporated communities like ours, being voiceless and thus lacking political clout, are always vulnerable to redistricting mischief, regardless of who does the redistricting. Right now we have an Assemblymember from Land Park in the City of Sacramento, with an E-W district that is 38% unincorporated Sacramento County but doesn't include our Carmichael neighbors. We have a State Senator from Fair Oaks who represents territory running N-S from Wheatland to Galt that is 37% unincorporated across two counties, a district that does include Carmichael. History has shown that our community gets tossed around, whether the tossing is done by partisan hacks or allegedly "independent" decision makers. The CCRC is said to be independent, but it is comprised of appointees from political parties that are assumed to be in some kind of equilibrium that is, in fact, out of proportion with the state's partisan representation data within the electorate. Our community's focus, then, needs to be on the candidates themselves and how well their policy preferences will serve our community. May the odds be ever in our favor, right?
