Assemblymember Heather Hadwick issued the following statement;
The Legislature passed and the Governor signed a bill package -ACA8, AB604 & SB280 that dismantles California’s independent redistricting process and puts new maps on the ballot this November.
Every state should have an independent redistricting commission to keep politics out of the process. California set that standard years ago, but now our own leaders are ignoring it.
For rural California, this isn’t just politics—it’s survival. The new maps carve up our communities and threaten to take away two Members of Congress who actually understand the needs of rural Californians, replacing them with representatives from the Bay Area. Rural families, farmers, and small towns deserve leaders who know our challenges, not voices hundreds of miles away who don’t share our way of life.
This process has been a game of political power, with rural Californians treated as pawns in a game we were never invited to play. And in Assembly District 1, where distrust of government is already high, this only confirms the worst fears—that Sacramento doesn’t listen and doesn’t care.
When voters created the Citizens Redistricting Commission, they demanded fairness and transparency. Instead, this rushed special election undermines that mandate, costs taxpayers hundreds of millions, and silences communities that already struggle to be heard.
Now it’s up to the voters this November to decide. We must stand together to protect our voice, defend fairness, and make clear that rural California will not be erased.
