New Congressional Maps Mean Longtime Democrat Has to Appeal to New Voters

Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, June 1, 2026

• California voters passed Prop 50 last year to flip some congressional seats in favor of Democrats. That means one of the most progressive Democrats in congress will now have to make a case to some of the most conservative voters. 
• In a controversial move, state regulators have approved major changes to a key state climate program. California’s Air Resources Board voted Friday to create a $4 billion fund for big polluters to invest in decarbonization projects. 
• 1,037 people donning white halter dresses and platinum blonde wigs descended on Palm Springs on Saturday afternoon. They broke the Guinness World Record for most Marilyn Monroe lookalikes in one place.

What it will take to represent California’s largest congressional district

Rep. Jared Huffman has spent more than a decade representing California’s liberal North Coast. Now he’s campaigning in some of the state’s most conservative counties, where concerns about wolves, ranching and federal land management dominate political conversations.

The 2nd District changed after California voters approved Proposition 50 in 2025, a Democratic-backed redistricting plan designed to help the party gain U.S. House seats and counter Republican redistricting efforts elsewhere in the country. The new map expanded Huffman’s district eastward to include Siskiyou, Shasta and Modoc counties. The change has transformed one of the state’s most reliably Democratic districts into a far larger and more politically diverse region, forcing Huffman to introduce himself to voters who often hold very different views from his coastal base.

Huffman, first elected to Congress in 2012, has rarely faced a competitive race. He has won every election with more than two-thirds of the vote, representing a district that stretched along the Northern California coast from Del Norte County to the Golden Gate Bridge. He said he already knew most of his original district before winning his first election. “It was very familiar to me,” he said. “From fishing and doing some of my environmental advocacy.”

Despite the overwhelming Democratic support, he also represented Republican areas, including Trinity and Del Norte counties. “I’ve built great relationships with community leaders, elected officials, many of whom probably don’t even vote for me at the end of the day,” said Huffman. “But we have really productive working relationships, and to me, that’s what matters most.”

In the district’s newly added counties, Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 2-to-1.

The political shift is also geographic. The old district was anchored by coastal communities focused on fishing, tourism and environmental issues. The new territory includes ranching and timber counties where public lands, water rights, wolves and wildfire management are often top concerns. “There’s just a lot of obstacles that we face,” said Mary Rickert, a former Shasta County supervisor and rancher. “They have to be practical and understand we just don’t fit in the same categories as what goes on in the urban areas.”

One issue has become a symbol of that divide: wolves. Gray wolves, which are federally endangered, began returning to California in 2011 after nearly a century of absence. Their growing presence has sparked conflict in parts of Northern California where ranchers say livestock losses are mounting. Rickert said she has had 21 confirmed wolf kills on her ranching operations. “When we shipped cows a year ago out of our Siskiyou County operation,” she said, “we had 200 mother cows and only 160 calves, so there are 40 calves that were unaccounted for.”

Rickert said ranchers are not against wolves in general, but they believe the bad wolves that attack livestock need to be killed. Huffman said wolves are among the issues he is still learning as he campaigns in the district’s eastern reaches. “California seems to have it worse than anywhere else right now,” Huffman said. “And I’m very interested in understanding exactly why that is and what are some of the strategies that can bring us to a better point of coexistence.”

Some people in rural Northern California are concerned about whether a congressman from Marin County can effectively represent the district’s rural interior. During a debate in April, Republican Paul Saulsbury said the district needs a stronger voice for rural communities. “This is not about me,” Saulsbury said. “This is about representing the people of this district. We need a voice. We need a strong voice for this district.” Saulsbury is one of seven candidates competing against Huffman in the June primary.

Amid opposition, California regulators approve major changes to cap-and-trade program

In a controversial move, state regulators on Friday approved major changes to California’s cap-and-invest program at a lengthy board meeting that transpired over the course of two days.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted to create a $4 billion fund for big polluters to invest in decarbonization projects. Climate, affordable housing and transit advocates, however, worry the move might mean significantly less money for their programs.

But climate, affordable housing and transit advocates are skeptical as to whether those projects will truly materialize. They also worry that this new program could lower the value of allowances at auction, potentially resulting in less money for California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) programs.

Gov. Gavin Newsom lauded the effort, saying it advances affordability while keeping the state on track to meet its climate targets. “California’s nation-leading cap-and-invest program has proven that we can cut pollution, create jobs, and invest in a cleaner future at the same time,” he wrote. “These are real results that Californians can see and feel.”

Regulators said they were doing their best to strike a balance that also keeps oil and gas companies viable. “There is no direction to us, as an agency, to maximize one trade-off versus another,” said Rajinder Sahota, deputy executive officer for climate change and research at CARB. “What we’re trying to do is balance all of the pieces that we’re getting.”

Palm Springs sets world record

1,037 people donning white halter dresses and platinum blonde wigs descended on Palm Springs on Saturday afternoon, breaking the Guinness World Record for most Marilyn Monroe lookalikes in one place.

The rules were simple – blonde wig, white halter dress and red lipstick. Volunteers shouted instructions inside the glam tent.

The celebration occurred just days before what would have been Monroe’s 100th birthday. The record crowd gathered around the city’s iconic Forever Marilyn statue downtown.