\n<\/p>\n
Rep. Kevin Kiley is ditching the Republican Party and re-registering as an independent, but he still plans to caucus with the party facing a razor-thin majority in the House.<\/p>\n
Republicans now hold just 217 seats, and Kiley\u2019s exit makes him the only member of the House not registered under any party.<\/p>\n
Kiley is running in California\u2019s Sixth Congressional District this November, and he currently represents the\u00a03rd Congressional District. Kiley was heavily impacted by Prop. 50\u2019s passage last year, which instituted mid-decade redistricting in favor of five Democratic-leaning seats in the Golden State.<\/p>\n
\u201cGerrymandering is a plague on democracy, one that Gavin Newsom has brought back to California. But there\u2019s a way we can fight back and protect our democracy from his partisan games: by removing partisanship from the equation. Today, I filed for reelection as \u2018No Party Preference,\u2019\u201d Kiley posted to X on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means I will not have a party affiliation on the ballot or as an officeholder. That\u2019s how it already is with most offices in our state: mayors, city councilors, school board members, county supervisors, sheriffs, and DAs are all nonpartisan,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
On Monday, he said that he\u2019s \u201casking the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives to have that reflected in the official roster,\u201d according to Axios<\/a>. However, he did not inform Republican leadership ahead of his decision on Friday, Spectrum News DC<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n The congressman has sponsored legislation to end mid-decade redistricting at the federal level, saying in an August statement that it would \u201cstop a damaging redistricting war from breaking out across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Kiley took office in 2023 after being endorsed by President Donald Trump in 2022, after several years as a foe of Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats as a state assemblyman in Sacramento. The congressman voted in agreement with the president 98.3% of the time in 2025, according to VoteHub.<\/p>\n The Cook Political Report currently ranks both the third and sixth districts as \u201cSolid Democrat\u201d in the upcoming election, as Prop. 50 allows for a more Democrat-friendly redraw until the formal redistricting process occurs after the 2030 census.<\/p>\n The report ranks 18 House races as \u201ctoss-ups\u201d this election cycle, with 14 others considered \u201cLean Democrat\u201d and 4 considered \u201cLean Republican.\u201d Both parties are expected to pour a hefty amount of financial resources into the hotly competitive districts in order to keep the majorities for the remainder of Trump\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n Mid-decade redistricting took place in several other states this year, including Texas, which added five Republican-favored seats.<\/p>\n On April 21, Virginia will also be voting on an amendment to allow for mid-decade redistricting intended to favor Democrats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n