Nationwide redistricting fight has some California voters feeling invisible

It's considered this, where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today, why some voters feel left behind this election cycle. The 2026 congressional map looks different than it did two years ago, due in large part to lobbying by President Trump last year when he encouraged Texas lawmakers to redraw their congressional map to benefit Republicans. Here he is speaking to reporters. "Texas would be the biggest one, and that will be five." "We're calling that for a complete redrawing of the congressional map." "No, no, I'm just a very simple redrawing, we pick up five seats." Trump's push led to action in a number of states. Legislatures in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, and North Carolina re-drew their maps to favor Republicans. In California, voters approved a ballot measure called Proposition 50, which approved the use of a new map that added five Democratic seats. "I'm 100 scores, it's been a good evening. For everybody, not just the Democratic Party, but what a night for the Democratic Party." That's California Governor Gavin Newsom speaking to a crowd right after Prop 50 passed. "We need the state of Virginia. We need the state of Maryland. We need our friends in New York, in Illinois, in Colorado. We need to see other states, the remarkable leaders that have been doing remarkable things meet this moment head on as well." Consider this. In the run-up to the midterms, Republicans and Democrats have engaged in a tid-for-tab fight over redistricting. And in one heavily Republican part of Northeastern California, some voters say this battle has left them feeling invisible. From NPR, I'm Scott Tetrell. It's considered this. From NPR, California's Proposition 50 carved up what was once a rural Republican stronghold. And now, many voters there may soon have a Democrat representing them in Washington. My co-host, Elsa Chang, recently visited some of them. "About four dozen cows are gathered around me, staring at me dead in the eye. I feel like I'm teaching a class of cows students or something." We're in Mo. County, where the cows vastly outnumber the humans. I mean, there are only two people per square mile around here. "Come balls, come balls." That's Ned Co. He's been ranching up here for decades. He still uses the same cattle call that his dad used to use back in the day. What are you actually saying, "Come, comma boys." "Come boss, bossy, bossy, oh, honey." "Come boss, come boss." We're in Mo. County because Californians voted overwhelmingly for Prop 50 to redistrict the state and gain five more Democratic seats. And so, after 13 years of being represented by a Republican farmer, Ned and his wife Valerie are probably going to be calling a Democrat from the San Francisco Bay Area, their new congressman, Jared Huffman. When a politician, his base of voters live in the city, and they don't identify with our way of life, they don't understand our way of life, he is going to make decisions that benefit them. And no consideration will be given to us because it can't be. He needs their votes. And voters in Marin County, where Huffman is based, make up 30% of the vote in this district. Whereas Mo. County makes up just 1%. And they know that we're a very small minority up here and we're largely Republican. So, pragmatically speaking, he's not going to spend time on the issues that are devastating our local economies. Issues, Valerie says, like, all the laws protecting gray wolves, which keep attacking the cattle and other livestock up here. A wolf is not in the least bit afraid of a human being. The only thing that protects us is a firearm, and you're not allowed to use a firearm against them. Do you think that the legal protection that lawmakers give to gray wolves reflects a bias against your way of life? Absolutely. This is our business, this is our way of life, and we're not allowed to protect ourselves. I mean, to know that your horse is out in the backyard being eaten by a wolf and you can't even run that pack of wolves off and you have other horses out there, it seems unfair to you. It's cruel. We care very deeply about these animals. We pride ourselves on being good stewards of the land and being good stewards of our animals. And that love of animals is evident right back at the Coe's Ranch House, where Valerie's paintings of horses and farm life decorate the walls. Would you like any sugar? Oh, no, thank you. This cattle country went solidly for President Trump in the last three presidential elections. And even though Ned and Valerie Coe are Republicans themselves, they don't like their party's role in the redistricting fight. What was done in Texas was wrong. Two wrongs do not make a right. It was done and the advantage went to the Republicans. It's still not right. And in California's case, the advantage goes to the Democrats again. And Ned says this redistricting battle has only made his job as a county supervisor here harder. He now thinks the only way he can deliver for his community is to bypass his own congressional representative. My approach has been to work with congressional members, whether they're from other parts of California or other states that will help carry issues forward. You feel that you should go work with representatives of other districts in order to make sure that your interests are taken to account. Yes. To people like the Coes, this new congressional map does count their votes, yeah. But only enough to ensure that they are politically discounted. To guarantee that this new district goes blue, a vast swath of its stretches along the entire Oregon border. Then a skinny tendril shoots down the California coast to land at the San Francisco Bay. It would take you something like 12 hours of non-stop driving to travel all that. And we do feel a bit of that trick as we make our way three hours west of the Coes range, deep into timber country to meet Tristan Allen, who's a logger. This is the Christmas tree haven right here. Is that a noble fir? We call him Chastifer, but that's a noble fir. Because you pay top dollar for that Christmas tree. I did. That's my favorite kind of Christmas tree. It's a noble fir. I call it a Charlie Brown tree. She hates them. Allen's entire logging business relies on these giant machines, which allow a single worker to pull down 2,000 trees every day. Oh my god. These trees look like toothpicks in the jaws of that machine. Yeah, it's about 150 feet tall. And then he grabs it and he throws it down. BOOM! It smells like Christmas right now. Allen's logging operation burns through roughly 4,000 gallons of diesel per day. And the war in Iran has pushed up diesel prices so much, Allen is in the red this year. But he says he would never give up his way of life here in Siskiu County. His family goes back 5 generations here. And even though he's always felt at home in Siskiu, Allen says he's always felt forgotten by California. I like to refer to Siskiu County as Baja Organ. Is derogative? Is that maybe no one in Oregon wants us? And no one in California cares about us. So we have to figure out how to be heard and make sure that they pay attention. We need to leverage our natural resources so that we can demonstrate to them that we are relevant. So there you go, that's a great word, relevant. They need us. But until I convince them that they need us, they don't want us. Do you identify as a Californian? Oh yeah. Okay. No other Californian. I just did a meeting in Canada two weeks ago and they were saying, Bayard, people were saying they're from Northern California. That's what I think. And yeah, you're from Northern California. Well, you're a central California. I'm from Northern California. I'm talking about this. This feeling that Allen has of being dismissed, of being almost invisible here in Northern California, Allen says that feeling has only gotten worse since the new district line shoved him a Republican in with those so-called central California Democrats in the San Francisco Bay area. It's a feeling that we heard all over here, from the cattle pastures, to the timberlands, as well as along the muddy banks of Bogus Creek, only about seven miles from the Oregon border. That's where we met up with Rancher, Ryan Walker. If you're going to catch any fish, you'll often see him coming through. This little creek is a tributary of the mighty Klamath River. You can sometimes see salmon fighting their way up from the Pacific Ocean to spawn here. The female salmon will make a nice little nest, and the male salmon will fertilize the eggs, and then they'll both die. So they don't even do anything together when that fertilization is happening, and then they die after the whole thing. After the whole thing. Man, it's miserable to be a salmon. Walker's family has been ranching up here for 50 years. First sheep, then cattle. He's a registered independent, and I asked him how does he feel about the torturous shape of his new district? I mean, of all the redistricting wars that have gone on, you're standing in what is clearly the most ridiculous district to be drawn. You know, the person who lives in Cedarville and the person who lives on a houseboat in Soselito, are entirely different thought process. It's just flat out not good politics, because how do we go to a town hall? in Sosolito or how to Sosolito come to a town hall in Alterus and have any kind of meaningful discussion to hash out issues. We're not a real district. This district was drawn with the purpose of making my voice less powerful. That's what Jerry Mandarin is. But all of this begs the question, when you live in a sparsely populated area, how strong of a political voice should you be entitled to in a representative democracy? So yes, we live in California. It's got some big urban centers. They are going to drive policies for the state. You've created the state that's larger than a country that has so many diverse issues going on. And so it becomes very unfair. I don't know that I think my voice should be outsized because I'm rural or in sparse. But at the same time, there does have to be a voice. Any advantages to this redistricting that you could see? So yeah, what the saying goes, it'll win indeed. That doesn't blow some good. And is there silver lining? Yeah, I think there is. Now, the wolf area is going to be split among four maybe light blue districts. You know, there's going to be more Congress people with wolf issues in their district. So perhaps they'll be a greater desire to find a comprehensive solution. For our district, the one advantage is that the entire California portion of the climate river is now in the same district. And there is a traditional friction between coastal communities and upland tributary communities. I mean, what you're saying is the climate river is an example of how when you consolidate conflicting interests, sometimes that can actually force a compromise outcome. Sure. It, it, it, it, it, well, and it just brings a force to the table that wasn't there before. So who are you going to vote for in November for your congressperson? Well, I think as I've just said, the whole point of Prop 50 was make my vote not counsel. What does it matter? I mean, realistically. Are you really not going to vote? Oh, I'll vote on things that matter. I mean, but not district to congressperson. I mean, it's such a foregone conclusion at this point. It's just, it's not even. In fact, what are struggled even to recall the last name of the Republican candidate in the congressional race, who's trailing way behind the Democrat? By the way, that Democrat, Jared Huffman, he gave us a call. He says he plans to quote work hard to show up and listen to people in Modok and Siskiu counties and in the other places he hopes to represent. He's taking a 950 mile road trip up there this week. That was my co-host, Elsa Chang reporting from Northeastern California. This episode was produced by Tyler Bartlam and Kai McNamee with Audio Engineering by J.Siz. Our director is Jonas Adams. He was edited by Christopher Tallyada and Timby Erimitz. Our executive producer is Courtney Dornick. It's considered this from NPR. I'm Scott Detra.