MISSION VIEJO, Calif.—Republican Reps. Ken Calvert and Young Kim are set to face off in the 2026 midterm elections for the newly drawn 40th District as a result of Proposition 50.
Calvert currently represents California’s 41st Congressional District while Kim represents the 40th Congressional District. Voters on Nov. 4 overwhelmingly approved Prop. 50, which redraws the state’s congressional boundaries for the next three elections in an effort to boost the Democratic Party’s already sizable advantage in the the state’s U.S. House delegation.
Prop. 50 was touted by Gov. Gavin Newsom as a response to a similar measure in Texas that favored Republicans. An analysis by the election news website Ballotpedia said it would shift five Republican-held congressional districts toward Democrats. Democrats currently have a 43–9 advantage in California’s House delegation.
“I announced this week, after Prop. 50’s passage, that I would be running in the newly drawn 40th Congressional District. That’s the district I currently live in and have lived in my entire life,” Calvert wrote Nov. 9 in an op-ed for Southern California News Group.
“I have previously been elected by voters to represent 70 percent of the new 40th in Congress, including voters in both Riverside and Orange Counties. Nearly two-thirds of voters in the new 40th reside in Riverside County, with the other third calling Orange County home. I have decided to run for Congress again because I have a proven record of delivering results for our region. In fact, I have never been more effective than I am now. As a senior member of the House and Appropriations Committee Subcommittee Chairman, and the third most senior Republican in the House, I am well positioned to get things done in Congress and in partnership with the Trump administration.”
Kim said she was running “because California needs proven fighters who will stand with President Trump to advance a bold America First agenda that restores law and order in our communities, strengthens our national security, and protects the American Dream for future generations.”
“Liberal Democrats like Gavin Newsom and Joe Biden have failed California and the country. We’ve seen open borders, soaring prices, and rampant crime in our communities. Now, in order to cling to power, these failed career politicians made partisan deals behind closed doors to redraw districts in ways that help themselves and their allies instead of the voters,” Kim said in a post on X.
Kim first won election to Congress in 2020.
It’s not clear if any Democrats will be joining the race for the new 40th District.
The new 40th District will include the eastern Orange County communities of Anaheim Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita and Mission Viejo, along with parts of Riverside County including Corona, Lake Elsinore and Murrieta.
Proposition 50 will increase Democratic registration in the 41st District currently represented by Calvert by adding Downey, Norwalk, Whittier, and Lakewood in Los Angeles County.
Since the voter approval of Prop. 50, state Republicans filed a federal lawsuit in Los Angeles challenging the constitutionality of the measure.
Republican Assemblyman David Tangipa from Fresno, the California Republican Party, and 18 district voters brought the lawsuit, which asks a judge to block the new district lines at least temporarily so California’s original map stays in effect for the 2026 midterm elections.
The suit, which names California Secretary of State Shirley Weber as a defendant, argues that the new maps are unconstitutional because they improperly use voters’ race as a factor in drawing districts.
The plaintiffs are represented by the Dhillon Law Group, founded by Harmeet Dhillon, who is now the assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump.
