Latino political power is a big winner in California’s new congressional map

Latino voters would see a major boost in political clout under new congressional and legislative districts approved unanimously Monday by the independent citizen panel charged with redrawing the state’s political map.

Although the panel, created by voter initiative in 2008, does not take partisan balance into account in drawing district lines, the maps it produced all but guarantee that Democrats will retain super majorities in the Legislature and their current lopsided majority in California’s congressional delegation.

Nearly one-third of the state’s 52 new congressional districts would have a majority of Latino citizens of voting age under the new maps. That’s an increase of three districts even as California lost a seat for the first time in its history because its population did not grow as fast as other states’.

Latino civil rights advocates said the increase in political power — which probably will lead to an increase in the number of Latino representatives — was fitting since much of the state’s population growth over the past decade has taken place in their communities.

“This is a substantial increase in the potential for candidates supported by the Latino community to be elected to Congress,” said Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

“It’s a long time coming and appropriate for a state that is now 40% Latino in population and 27% of registered voters,” Saenz said.

Advocates for Black and Asian American voters, who had feared their communities’ voices would be diminished under earlier drafts of the maps, said they were pleased by the final product.

The commission managed to avoid pitting one minority group against another, said James Woodson, policy director of the California Black Census and Redistricting Hub.

The key question was “how can we expand Latino political power while continuing to protect Black political power?” Woodson said. “It was doable, and I think the commission got there eventually, with some pushing. We landed in a good place.”

The commission must formally submit its maps to the Secretary of State’s office by Dec. 27. Candidates have a mid-March deadline for filing for office, with primary elections held in June.

The state’s 42 Democratic congressional incumbents largely fared well in the once-a-decade process of redistricting.

“Democrats gained some electoral opportunities,” said Evan McLaughlin, vice president of Redistricting Partners, a Sacramento-based firm that consults with local governments.

On the other side of the political aisle, nearly half the state’s 11 Republican members of Congress will see their districts grow more blue — putting their political futures more at risk.

“Whereas Republicans are on offense in most of country, they could be on defense in California,” said redistricting expert David Wasserman, senior editor of The Cook Political Report.

Rep. Mike Garcia of Santa Clarita, for example, won last year by 333 votes. His district, which stretches over much of northern Los Angeles County, will grow more Democratic partly because of the loss of Simi Valley. Garcia blasted the…