COALINGA, Calif. - A new law, Proposition 50, is reshaping California’s political boundaries, and one rural town in the Central Valley is feeling the impact.
Prop 50, which was overwhelmingly approved by California voters last fall, redrew congressional district lines across the state. The move came as Democratic leaders sought to counter political efforts in Texas to redraw congressional maps in favor of Republicans.
In California’s rural San Joaquin Valley, one of the communities that has landed in a newly configured district is Coalinga. This agricultural town of 17,000 in western Fresno County will now be part of Congressional District 18. The district covers a region that stretches over 100 miles northwest to Gilroy, Salinas, and even San Jose.
That’s a long way, both culturally and geographically, from Coalinga.
This town, which is tucked in the western hills of the Valley, is surrounded by oil fields and farmland. It’s the kind of place where people grow up, leave, and then return. It’s also a place where everybody knows everybody.
Robert Pimentel, the chancellor of the West Hills Community College District, has lived that life. He calls Coalinga, “a little jewel out here on the west side.”
He says Coalinga used to be powered by prisons, a state hospital, and oil fields. Slowly, that’s been changing – just as political representation has.
Before Prop 50, Coalinga belonged to Congressional District 13 and was represented by Democratic Congressman Adam Gray. Now under District 18, the town will be represented by Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren if she is reelected.
In this politically conservative town, that shift has sparked mixed reactions. In 2024, most voters here supported President Donald Trump. Republicans tried to stop California's redistricting effort, even taking the case to the Supreme Court. But the high court rejected the case.
Theresa Dancses says she sees the change as being part of a “tit-for-tat” over redistricting going on nationally, and she worries about losing Republican representation in the process.
Her biggest concern? Agriculture.
“I think that’ll be overlooked big time, because we already don’t get enough water,” Dancses says.
Water access has been a persistent issue across the Valley, where farming drives the economy.
Debbie Hill, a Coalinga resident and lifelong Republican, says Democratic leaders don’t reflect her values.
“I’m a Republican all my life,” Hill says. “I vote Republican, and so I want a Republican, not a Democrat woman, because I don’t even like having a Democrat governor.”
She worries that lawmakers may not fully understand communities like Coalinga, or even know where the town is located.
Congresswoman Lofgren says she recognizes that the Valley is different, which presents its challenges but also some opportunities.
Her current district already blends agriculture with Silicon Valley tech, giving her experience navigating both the ag world and the tech world.
“That’s been fun,” Lofgren told KVPR. “But what I’ve learned is you don’t go in and tell people what to think. You go in and listen to what they have, to tell you what they need and how you can help them.”
Recently, Lofgren secured federal funding for a nearby community that lacked running water as an example of her approach.
For Pimentel, party affiliation matters less than the results. He says small, far-flung communities often feel overlooked simply because they don’t have the population numbers to bring in the political attention.
“It doesn’t matter too much whether they are Republicans or Democrats,” Pimentel says. “I think at the end of the day, what they want to see is the representatives to go out and advocate for small, rural communities.”
Political maps can change on paper, but residents in Coalinga say their issues are the same.
Midterm elections take place this November. That’s when voters in this town will decide who represents them next, and whether anything changes.
