explaining the 1973, 1981, and 1991 California redistricting plans

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1973

San Bernardino County was almost exclusively within the 33rd District, which was a suburban gop district held by Jerry Pettis. The urban areas were removed from the district leaving it underpopulated. To get to the correct population requirements it took in some precincts from the old 38th in Riverside County. It was renamed the 37th. The 36th district was created which George Brown ran in. He originally represented a San Gabriel based district but he ran for the senate in 1970 and lost the primary. Since the district had a D incumbent (George Danielson) he decided to run in a new district. Pettis meanwhile died in the 1970s and was replaced by Jerry Lewis (who is still in office)

The 38th district was based in Imperial and Riverside counties and was held by John Tunney, who later became senator. The district  moved into San Diego county taking off the excess population from the 37th and 35th districts. Now heavily overpopulated, some of the precincts were given to the 37th to meet population requirements and the minority precincts in riverside were given to the 36th district. The remaining part of the district was called the 43rd. This was Clair Burgener's district

The 37th district which was held by Lionel Van Deerlin had its suburban areas removed and renamed the 42nd district. It became a much safer district for LVD as it was now an inner city district. He was, however, upset in 1980 by a young 32 year old lawyer by the name Duncan Hunter.

The 36th district was the northside of San Diego and was a wealthy district. I don't think the district was changed that much. Bob Wilson, who had represented the area for 20 years by this point was safe, even during the repubocalypse of 1974. He retired in 1980 and was replaced by Bill Lowery.

The 35th district I'm guessing was heavily overpopulated. This was James Utt's district who (I think) was a John Bircher. He was replaced by John Schmitz who was also a bircher. It took in all the northern suburbs of San Diego as well as much of the coastal and southern parts of Orange County. Much of the SD precincts were put in the 43rd and some of the OC precincts were put in the 39th. The only parts of SD county left were the areas in Carlsbad and points north. It was renamed the 40th. Schmitz was defeated in the primaried by Andrew Hinshaw. Hinshaw however was unseated in the primaries in 1976 by Assemblyman Robert Badham after he was being investigated for embezzlement or something like that.

The 39th District was carved out of the excess population of the 35th and 34th districts. It was basically the northern part of Orange County. I believe Charles Wiggins represented a district in LA and carpetbagged here because he knew it would be a safe district. He retired in 1978 and was replaced by Bill Dannemeyer.

The 38th district was the old 34th district with the eastern and northern parts removed. It isn't that different from the current 47th district. Jerry Patterson held this district. What I find surprising is that a democrat in freaking Orange County held this seat back when the county was much more republican than it is today.

The 34th District was the remaining areas of the old 34th attached to the Long Beach/Lakewood areas of LA county. It isn't that different from the current 46th. It was actually held by democrat Mark Hannaford who was unseated in 1978 by Dan Lungren.

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As for the rest of the state, I'm not really sure which was which and who was who; but here is what I do know: the 21st became the 29th, the 26th became the 23rd, the 23rd became the 33rd, the 24th became the 26th, the 35th became the 32nd, the 31st kept its number, the 29th became the 30th, the 28th became the 27th, the 30th became the 25th, the 22nd became the 21st,the 27th became the 20th, the 18th became the 17th, the 12th became the 16th, the 16th became the 15th, the 15th became the 14th, the 17th became the 12th, the 9th became the 10th, the 8th became the 9th, the 7th became the 8th, and the 5th and 6th switched.

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The 1981 redistricting of course was a partisanly drawn map. Phil Burton, an influential congressman from San Francisco encouraged the legislature, which, even after the 1980 onslaught, was still held by democrats, to draw a map to his liking. Here is basically what happened.

About half of the old 37th district was removed. Because the old 37th was now underpopulated it took in some areas of LA County such as Palmdale. It was renamed the 35th. This was Jerry Lewis's seat.

The old 36th district stayed pretty much the same. It was the urbanized core of the Inland Empire and was represented by former peacenik George Brown.

The remaining part of the 37th took in the Riverside portion of the 43rd and kept that name. It was an open seat won by Republican Al McCandless in 1982.


Even without the Riverside County portion, the 43rd was still heavily overpopulated as was the 40th. A district made out of the excess of the population was renamed the 43rd that took in north San Diego County and southern Orange County. It was obviously a safe republican seat but a corrupt candidate ran for the office. Ron Packard, who had lost the primary, staged a write-in candidacy and won a three-way race. He had no trouble holding the district for the rest of the cycle.

The rest of the 43rd was slightly underpopulated. It took in some of the excess population off the 42nd including Duncan Hunter's home of Coronado to convince him to run there. The district was renamed the 45th and he had no difficulty winning election in this district.

The rest of the 42nd was renamed the 44th and Democrat Jim Bates won the election in 1982. It was the most democratic of any of the San Diego districts. Michael Dukakis won 51 or 52 percent in the district in 1988. He did however get in a sexual harassment lawsuit and was unseated by Duke Cunningham by a narrow margin in 1990.

The old 41st kept its number and pretty much stayed the same. Bill Lowery was well entrenched here, but he did have a close re-election campaign in 1990.

The 40th district as I said earlier lost the Mission Viejo, north SD area as it was likely overpopulated. The district pretty much took in Irvine, El Toro, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, and Tustin. This was Robert Badham's district. He had no trouble in this district and he retired in 1988. He was replaced by Chris Cox, who was relatively young at the time and sort of an Alex P Keaton type.

The 39th District was basically the north OC district and was pretty similar to the 1970s version of the 39th. It might have taken in some GOP precincts from the old 38th maybe. It was the most republican district in California. It was Reagan's best district in the state in 1984 giving him 77 percent. It was also Bush Sr's best district in 1988 giving him 71 percent. Bill Dannemeyer represented this district who blended fiscal and social conservatism to form a lethal mixture. His deeply conservative views would hurt him in 95% of all districts, but this district fitted him like a glove.

The 38th District took in some working class areas of LA County (like Artesia, Cerritos) to help democrat incumbent Jerry Patterson. He was unseated by Bob Dornan in 1984. I found this surpising as Dornan doesn't strike me as someone with any crossover appeal. The district also had a huge increase in hispanic population over 10 years. It was 25 percent hispanic in 1980 but 45 percent by 1990.

The 34th district might have shed some dem precincts in Long Beach and maybe took in the Palos Verdes Peninsula to make it even more safe. It was renamed the 42nd. Dan Lungren was safe in this district. He retired to challenge Pete Wilson for the senate in 1988 (I think). He was replaced by Dana Rohrabacher.

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the LA Area I think was a huge clusterf-ck. I think Wayne Grisham's district was turned into a district that was around 40 percent hispanic so he carpetbagged to take on David Dreier. John Rousselot, who was a bircher, also had his district dismantled. I think the most hardcore GOP areas were put in the 22nd, 33rd, and 20th, and maybe the 21st. The rest of the district was added to the 30th district and was renamed the 31st. It was around 45% hispanic or something I'm guessing. The incumbent became a judge midway through his last term so Marty Martinez won a special election. Rousselot thought that because Martinez was a novice incumbent, he could defeat him. Rousselot lost but I think he came within 10 points which is impressive considering how bad a year for the republicans 1982 was.

The west LA area was also pretty much dismantled. Howard Berman was one of the top dogs in the California Legislature in 1981 and he drew a district that suited him. IIRC, he took in portions of the 27th and 21st and mashed them together to create a district he could run in. The rest of the 27th district which was B1 Bob's original district was, I think, put in the 23rd district. Bobbi Fiedler unseated Jim Corman in the 1980 election, which was seen as a fluke due to low turnout on the west coast because they heard Reagan had already won. I think they pretty much destroyed her district. The new vote sink district I think was Barry Goldwater Jr's district. He ran for the senate in 1982 so the seat was open and Fielder I think carpetbagged. She was supposed to be an up-and-coming member of congress and the frontrunner to take on Alan Cranston in 1986. IIRC, some allegations of corruption were leaked before the 86 primaries and she decided to retire. She was replaced by Elton Gallegly.