Santa Clarita Now in a Bluer District as California Faces First General Election Under New Maps

Like most midterms, the 2026 elections are largely about the U.S. House and which party will hold power in Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump's term. In Southern California, the race also tests a new set of district lines for the first time in a general election.

Those lines come from a mid-cycle redistricting plan that California voters approved and the courts allowed last year. The goal was to make several of the state's congressional seats easier for Democrats to win, answering similar partisan map changes in states with Republican governors who wanted to help GOP candidates. A special election was called in late August last year, which gave campaigns about six weeks to make their case before voting began. Voters approved the plan by a wide margin, and the new maps were already used in the June primary.

For Santa Clarita, the biggest change is in California's 27th Congressional District, which also takes in Lancaster and Palmdale in the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys. The district has a record of switching between Democratic and Republican representation. Redistricting removed Acton and Quartz Hill and pushed the boundary south into the San Fernando Valley, adding the neighborhoods of Reseda and Lake Balboa.

The 27th was among the most competitive House contests in 2024, but that is no longer true. Democrats now hold a 15-percentage-point registration edge over Republicans in the district, and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates it solidly Democratic. The latest figures show more than 42% of registered voters are Democrats, 23% are Republicans and another 23% have no party preference.

Orange County's role in Congress has also grown. It was split into six districts when ballots were cast in 2024, and the new maps divide it into eight. Two of them, the 38th and 41st districts, mostly cover communities to the north in Los Angeles County and include only a few Orange County cities.

The 42nd Congressional District is new to many Orange County voters. It still includes Long Beach but now stretches down the coast to take in Huntington Beach and part of Newport Beach. Even with some of the county's more conservative areas added, Cook rates the district solid for Democrats. Nearly 41% of its registered voters are Democrats, 30% are Republicans and 21.5% have no party preference.

Further south, election experts describe the 48th Congressional District, which spans Riverside and San Diego counties, as more competitive than before. It picked up heavily Democratic Palm Springs in the redraw. At this time last year, 41% of its voters were Republican, 29% Democratic and 21% had no party preference. Now 37% are Democrats, 32% are Republicans and 22% have no party preference, which tilts the district slightly blue.

The new maps also set two Republican incumbents, Ken Calvert and Young Kim, against each other in the 40th Congressional District, which spans Orange and Riverside counties. Both made it through a crowded June primary, so the district is assured of being represented by a veteran lawmaker in 2027.