In Northeast San Diego County, Democrats See Redistricting Battle As Chance For Change

Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, October 29, 2025…

• Northeast San Diego County is becoming a battleground in the nationwide fight over congressional districts and control of the House of Representatives. Ballots are out now for a special election that could change several districts in California to give Democrats the advantage. Democrats are working on the ground in an effort to flip the congressional seat. 
• California Attorney General Rob Bonta is leading a coalition of 25 states in a lawsuit against the USDA. That’s after the federal agency announced that it will not issue SNAP benefits during the government shutdown.
• The McKinleyville Union School District in far Northern California has sued the U.S. Department of Education over a mental health grant.

Democrats In Northeast San Diego County See Proposition 50 As way to reach New Voters

In San Diego County, four out of five congressional seats are held by Democrats. But in the more rural northeast part of the county, Republicans have been on a winning streak that has lasted more than two decades.

Republican Darrell Issa, who holds California’s 48th District seat, has represented the area through multiple redistricting cycles. If Proposition 50 passes in November, Issa’s district would become almost unrecognizable, shifting from a double-digit advantage for Republicans to a 10-point lead for Democrats.

But Democratic Party activists say the district already has more liberal-leaning voters than even residents in the area might think. “When people find out that they actually have Democrats or like-minded people as their neighbors, they’re surprised,” said Andi McNew, who was canvassing in the small city of Poway in favor of Proposition 50. “While the MAGA people are loud with their flags and stuff, it kind of keeps Democrats afraid and scared. And they shouldn’t be scared.”

San Diego County Democratic Party Chair Will Rodriguez-Kennedy said his group is going “all in” on Proposition 50 messaging to reach “everyone, everywhere, all at once.” The party is expanding efforts to reach voters who speak different languages. He said activists on the ground have asked for Spanish-language material, which they’ve been delivering to locals.

California Sues Trump Administration Over Suspension Of SNAP Benefits

California and 21 other states are suing the Trump administration over its move to suspend food stamp benefits during the ongoing government shutdown.

The lawsuit, announced Tuesday morning by Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta, marks the 45th time this year that California has taken the Trump administration to court over its policies, often joined by other Democratic governors and attorneys general. Many of those lawsuits, like this one, challenge moves by the White House to withhold funding to California and other states.

This lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, alleges that the U.S. Department of Agriculture still has sufficient funds to continue administering Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits despite the government shutdown. It asks the court for a temporary restraining order to halt the suspension, set to take effect Nov. 1.

“For the first time ever, SNAP benefits will not be available to the millions of low-income individuals who depend on them to put food on the table,” Bonta said. “With the holidays around the corner, we are seeing costs for groceries continue to increase and food banks facing unprecedented demand. We are taking a stand because families will experience hunger and malnutrition if the Trump administration gets its way.”

About 5.5 million Californians rely on SNAP benefits, which are distributed as debit cards to people making less than the federal poverty line — about $31,000 for a family of four. Last year, Bonta said, 41 million Americans benefited from SNAP, most of them families with children and many of them disabled or elderly. In California, the SNAP program is known as CalFresh.

McKinleyville School District Sues Feds Over The Loss Of A Mental Health Grant

A Humboldt County school district says the U.S. Department of Education unlawfully cut short a five-year grant, leaving rural students without critical mental health support.

A federal lawsuit names U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. It alleges the Department of Education unlawfully withdrew four years of promised grant funding from the district. The complaint says the grant supported school-based mental health services for students in rural Humboldt County.

Although the grant was supposed to last for five years, the department announced in April that funding would end this December, after only one year.

Amanda Mangaser Savage, strategic litigation counsel at the nonprofit law firm Public Counsel, which represents the McKinleyville Union School District, said ending the grant will harm students. “We believe that having adequate care for trauma is necessary to access education,” she said. “[This decision] treats these kids who have very real needs as just totally disposable and sacrifices their livelihoods, their lives, their well-being, their care on the altar, basically, of ideological grandstanding.”