Final Redistricting Maps Shift Murrieta's Political Scope

A state redistricting commission approved its final maps for congressional and state legislative electoral districts on Friday, making it likely that they will become the voting districts until the next redistricting process in 10 years.

The final meeting of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission will be on August 15, according to the commission's spokesman Rob Wilcox. At that point, the commission will either vote to finalize the maps, or reject them. There will be no further revisions before that deadline, Wilcox said. 

That means that the maps that have been released will most likely be the next state districts. 

In Murrieta's case, the maps released Friday differ slightly on June 10. They will also present a clear change from the current existing electoral boundaries.

Congressional District

In the case of the congressional district, Murrieta would no longer be divided into two districts as it currently is. 

Instead of being part of the 45th and 49th districts--represented by Mary Bono Mack and Darrell Issa, respectively--it would be shifted to the 42nd District, currently represented by Congressman Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar, who would not likely run for the seat in 2012.

The district would encompass Murrieta, Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, Canyon Lake, Menifee, El Cerrito, Corona, Norco, and unincoporated areas near Winchester, including Temecula Wine Country. Most of Temecula would be excluded from the new district and become part of the 50th District with parts of San Diego County.

Likely to run for the seat in 2012 is Congressman Ken Calvert, R-Corona.

Assembly District

Murrieta's state districts would also see some significant changes. In its current Assembly district, the 66th, Murrieta is grouped with Temecula, Lake Elsinore, Rainbow and Valley Center. The district stretches north along the Interstate 15 corridor to El Cerrito, Pedley and Rubidoux.

In the new district, the 67th, Murrieta would lose Temecula but would still be with Lake Elsinore and Wildomar, as well as add Menifee, Canyon Lake, Homeland, Romoland and East Hemet.

Murrieta's current representative, Kevin Jeffries, will be termed out by 2012 but has announced he will run for Riverside County Supervisor, 1st District.

Jeffries gave his thoughts on removing Temecula from the district.

"It is certainly not the most desirable," said Jeffries, a Republican. "But some city, somewhere in Riverside County, was going to have to go with another county.

"Southwest Riverside stays pretty well-dominated by Republicans, and Temecula is also going with a pretty strong Republican district."

Jeffries said the only connection to San Diego for Temecula is that so many residents commute there.

Bob Magee, mayor pro tem of Lake Elsinore, has announced his intentions to run for the Assembly seat, as has Murrieta Valley Unified School District Board Member Ken Dickson. Phil Paule, district representative for Congressman Darrell Issa, will also likely run. All three are Republicans.

State Senate District

In the state Senate district, Murrieta would no longer be in the 36th, which is represented by Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine. Murrieta would remain with Temecula, but would no longer be grouped with cities in San Diego County.

Instead, it would be grouped with Lake Elsinore, Wildomar and Canyon Lake, and add the desert cities of Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indio and Coachella in the 28th District, which would stretch to the California-Arizona border.

According to Wilcox, state senators would stay with their respective district numbers. In the case of even-numbered districts, no election would be held in 2012. If this is the case, Murrieta's senator would become Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, until the next election year.

Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, has said he may run for the 28th District Senate seat in 2014.

Balance of Power

The mapping was done for the first time by a 14-member group of California citizens.

Statewide, according to an Associated Press report, redistricting experts said the new maps are likely to reduce the influence of Republicans in the state.

Two of the commission's Republican members, Michael Ward of Anaheim and Jodie Filkins Webber of Norco, voted against the new congressional boundaries.

Ward told the AP that he did not think the new citizen-led redistricting group effectively removed special interests and politics from the redistricting process.

"In my opinion, the commission failed to fulfill its mandate to strictly apply the constitutional criteria, consistently apply race and community of interest criteria, and sought to diminish dissenting viewpoints," he told the AP before final votes were taken.

At least nine of the 14 commissioners had to support the new boundaries, including at least three each from Democrats, Republicans and independents. The new Assembly, state Senate and Board of Equalization districts were approved 13-1, with Ward dissenting each time. The congressional maps were approved 12-2.

"I think you may see some lawsuits, but I think Riverside County has come up with some pretty good representation," Jeffries said.

The fianl draft maps are up for public review for two weeks, and can be seen by going to Wedrawthelines.ca.gov.

Dan Abendschein and Darren Fishell contributed to this report.