This was the election cycle when Democrats followed Republicans in an open embrace of gerrymandering. After the GOP used redistricting to pass red-leaning maps in states like Texas and Florida, Democrats became concerned about “unilaterally disarming” and passed blue-leaning maps in California and Virginia. (The Virginia map was later overturned by the state’s supreme court.)
The new California map has left some of the state’s conservative members of Congress facing daunting odds in November. After his district was redrawn, Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Calif., left the Republican Party and became the only independent serving in the House of Representatives. While he shares Democrats’ frustration with Republican gerrymanders, he also took issue with Democrats’ tit-for-tat strategy in a Substack live conversation with The Argument.
“If you fight fire with fire, then the whole world burns,” he said. “There’s absolutely no reason that you should deprive your own citizens of fair representation based upon what some other state is doing.”
Republicans only held a two-vote majority at the time he left the party, so Kiley’s departure wasn’t exactly a token gesture. But given that he continues to caucus with Republicans, liberals may still view his newfound independence with suspicion.
Kiley noted that he wasn’t thrilled to continue caucusing with Republicans, but without affiliating with one party or another, he would not be allowed to serve on committees — a rule Kiley called “crazy.”
“I’m the chair of the K-12 Education Subcommittee. That’s actually the main reason I got involved in politics … to work on educational equity and educational opportunity,” he said. “So simply to fulfill that commitment for the remainder of the term, I’ve been forced to have that formal affiliation.”
Check out the full video above to hear more about being an independent in a hyperpartisan Congress.
