As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to redraw California’s congressional maps plays out at the state Capitol and on the national stage, a quieter but no less bloody scramble is simultaneously underway.
Newsom’s plan — a bid to counter President Trump’s drive for more GOP House seats with his own California show of force — still needs to be approved by the state Legislature before voters decide its fate in November.
But behind the scenes, consultants, lawmakers and would-be candidates already are jockeying for position in the newly competitive or vastly redrawn districts that may soon exist across the state.
As rumblings emerged that there probably would be a new southeast Los Angeles County congressional seat — later confirmed by the official maps released last week — political watchers braced for a full-on feeding frenzy. A fresh seat in a safe Democratic district can be a once-in-a-generation opportunity, particularly in a region crowded with ambitious politicians.
But a race that doesn’t even officially exist yet seems to already be practically tied up with a bow.
L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis hasn’t publicly announced her candidacy. But she’s made her intention to run for the redrawn 38th district clear within the close-knit world of California politics. And other would-be candidates appear to be staying out of the veteran politician’s way.
In the brass-knuckles world of southeast L.A. County politics, Solis, 67, has long been a starring player.
She previously served in Congress and the statehouse before becoming one of the five “little queens” holding the reins of the county kingdom.
Her desire for the new seat and her ability to claw back potential competition are widely known, according to conversations with more than a dozen political operatives and current and former lawmakers, most of whom asked for anonymity to speak freely about a sensitive topic. Through a consultant, Solis did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Solis was telling California lawmakers and other civic leaders that she was planning to run and was seeking endorsements, even before the maps were finalized.
At least one California lawmaker noted that Solis referred to the district as “my seat” when asking for backing — a reference to the seat she once held, even though the new district doesn’t yet exist.
Some have bristled at the alacrity with which Solis has appeared to consolidate support. The frustration is sharpened at a time when aging politicians in Washington have become a political flashpoint and Democratic leaders have been criticized for sidelining younger talent.
“It kind of looks like Hilda Solis has completely sewn up that seat in one night of making phone calls. And the excitement of a brand new seat was quickly extinguished,” one Southern California Democratic political consultant said.
Several of the consultant’s clients have already agreed to endorse Solis, they added.
“Unless Cesar Chavez himself is running out there, Hilda Solis will get our support,” a leader of one politically influential union said, name-checking the late labor trailblazer.
Solis was reelected to a third and final term on the powerful county Board of Supervisors in 2022, representing a district that sprawls from downtown and northeast Los Angeles to Pomona. She has been a leader on environmental justice and immigrant issues and made history early in her career as the first Latina in the state Senate.
Congress would be a homecoming of sorts for her — she was elected to the House in 2000 and served several terms before stepping down for a role as President Obama’s Secretary of Labor in 2009.
Under the proposed maps, Democrats could pick up five seats now held by Republicans while bolstering vulnerable Democratic Reps. Adam Gray, Josh Harder, George Whitesides, Derek Tran and Dave Min. To make those changes work, the maps vastly alter other districts around the state while creating an additional district in L.A. County.
A wide swath of what is now the 38th Congressional District, represented by Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Whittier), would be divided into two neighboring southeast L.A. County districts.
Because members of Congress do not have to live in the district they represent, and because the proposed 38th and 41st districts both include a large chunk of Sánchez’s current district, it was initially unclear which would lack an incumbent and be seen as the “new” district.
But should the maps pass, Sánchez is likely planning to run in the 41st district, according to a source close to her.
During the state’s last redistricting process — when California lost a congressional seat for the first time due to dwindling population — the Southeast L.A. County seat held by Lucille Roybal-Allard, the first Mexican American woman elected to Congress, was eliminated.
Both of the proposed new districts contain portions of Roybal-Allard’s old district — which had the most Latino voters of any district in the country, according to the 2010 census.
“The L.A. delegation gets one more member of Congress when this is all over, and that member will be elected by the Latino community,” said Paul Mitchell, the political data expert tapped by Newsom to draw the new lines.
The proposed 38th District, where Solis is planning to run, would include a swath of southeast L.A. County, including some or all of cities such as Bell, Montebello and Pico Rivera, as well as El Monte, City of Industry and Hacienda Heights, stretching east to Diamond Bar before dipping south to encompass the Orange County city of Yorba Linda.
The proposed new 41st District, where Sánchez is expected to run for reelection, would include some or all of Downey, Whittier and Lakewood, as well as La Habra and Brea in Orange County. (The “old” 41st District, represented by GOP Rep. Ken Calvert, is located entirely in Riverside County, stretching from Corona to Palm Springs.)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom poses for a photo with Los Angeles area Democratic lawmakers Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio, center, and her sister Sen. Susan Rubio, right, after his State of the State address in 2020.
But Susan Rubio failed to make it past the primary in a House bid last year, and her Senate seat is up for reelection in 2026, making her less likely to forgo a relatively easy path back to Sacramento for a far riskier congressional contest. A spokesperson said Rubio has not expressed interest in the seat.
Blanca Rubio said through a spokesperson Tuesday that she is solely focused on her Assembly district.
Solis’ position as a powerful county supervisor, along with her years of name recognition, would give her a strong advantage in drumming up money and endorsements.
Still, should the new maps pass, it’s unlikely that she would go entirely unchallenged. Even as some appear ready to anoint her, others are ready for a generational change.
Former state Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo of Boyle Heights cited Democratic leaders such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Greg Casar of Texas, all of whom are under 40.
“The area includes a lot of smaller cities with a lot of dynamic leaders and is obviously representative of a very diverse community,” Carrillo said of Southeast L.A. County. “The Democratic Party has an opportunity to elect a new generation of leaders that can inspire the voter base and can inspire the future of the Democratic Party.”
Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.
A travel consultant has shared the best times you should travel to Italy if you’re not bound by things like school holidays – and you may be shocked to hear when she recommends
12:27, 29 Jun 2025Updated 12:39, 29 Jun 2025
She shared the times she thought were best to travel (stock image)(Image: Francesco Riccardo Iacomino via Getty Images)
A travel consultant has shared when the best time to go to Italy is if you “have control over your dates,” and it won’t be when you think. Jenna, who posts on TikTok as @italy.with.jenna, shared that the “best time to go to Italy is when you can,” but if you can choose the dates and want good weather with fewer crowds, she shared her intel.
First, she said that her “most favourite” time to go to Italy is “mid-September through early November, so basically in October or either end of that”. She also said that she loves Italy “well into November” but, for most people, the weather gets a bit “cool” for them to enjoy a holiday there.
“That being said, the other window I would look at is early to mid-March into mid-May,” she shared, saying that both of these time frames have “nice temperatures”.
Jenna said there was a “little risk of rain,” but at least most of the things you can do “would be open”.
Content cannot be displayed without consent
She said if you’re “going to a main tourist destination like the Amalfi Coast,” it’s important that you note it “shuts down from the end of October through early April” so, if you go, expect lots of things to be closed.
“But Rome, Florence, Venice, any of the cities or any of the main areas, everything’s open for the bulk of it,” Jenna explained.
She then shared the “worst times” to go, in her opinion, because she “hates the heat” and also isn’t a fan of crowds. “So, for me, mid-June to early September is off the table unless I absolutely need to go,” Jenna said.
She continued: “I hate being in Italy in the summer, July and August, I think [are the worst months to go] August definitely being one of the worst months”.
Jenna also shared that Italians tend to take “their big holidays” during those months too, and this means that things can be “shut down”.
She said that this advice was just for “general travel in Italy,” saying that “these are really nice ranges for people”.
In the comments, someone wrote: “Winter, I spent the best time in Italy, going to several different cities. No tourists! You should’ve seen Piazza San Marco , not a soul in sight. It was heaven.”
Another added: “I’m flying out tomorrow. Unfortunately, with my sister being bound to school holidays, this was about the only time. Hopefully won’t be a problem next year though”.
“I went during March this year, and it was PERFECT. So much less busy,” a woman gushed in agreement.
Of course, when you decide to go to Italy is completely personal, and depends on the weather you prefer, and whether or not you mind the crowds.
Veteran Los Angeles political consultant Rick Taylor said he was pulled aside by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents while returning from a trip abroad, asked if he was from California and then separated from his family and put in a holding room with several Latino travelers for nearly an hour.
“I know how the system works and have pretty good connections and I was still freaking out,” said Taylor, 71. “I could only imagine how I would be feeling if I didn’t understand the language and I didn’t know anyone.”
Taylor said he was at a loss to explain why he was singled out for extra questioning, but he speculated that perhaps it was because of the Obama-Biden T-shirt packed in his suitcase.
Taylor was returning from a weeklong vacation in Turks and Caicos with his wife and daughter, who were in a separate customs line, when a CBP agent asked, “Are you from California?” He said he answered, “Yeah, I live in Los Angeles.”
The man who ran campaigns for L.A.’s last Republican mayor and for current Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla when he was a budding Los Angeles City Council candidate in the 1990s found himself escorted to a waiting room and separated from his family.
There, Taylor said he waited 45 minutes without being released, alleging he was unjustly marked for detention and intimidated by CBP agents.
“I have no idea why I was targeted,” said Taylor, a consultant with the campaign to reelect L.A. City Councilwoman Traci Park. “They don’t talk to you. They don’t give you a reason. You’re just left confused, angry and worried.”
Former Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said the incident brought to mind Sen. Alex Padilla, who was arrested and handcuffed June 12 while trying to ask a question during a Los Angeles press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“My former chief of staff and political consultant, Rick Taylor, was detained at Miami International Airport by federal authorities after returning from an international vacation,” he said in an email. “As Senator Alex Padilla said a couple of weeks ago, ‘if it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone.’ This Federal government operation is OUT OF CONTROL! Where will it end?!”
A representative from the Customs and Border Protection in Florida said an inquiry made by the Los Angeles Times and received late Friday afternoon will likely be answered next week.
“If Mr. Taylor feels the need to, he is more than welcome to file a complaint online on our website and someone will reach out to him to try and get to the bottom of things,” CBP Public Affairs Specialist Alan Regalado said in an email.
Taylor, a partner at Dakota Communications, a strategic communications and marketing firm, said he was more concerned about traveling and returning to the U.S. with his wife, a U.S. citizen and native of Vietnam.
He said he reached out to a Trump administration member before leaving on vacation, asking if he could contact that individual in case his wife was detained.
The family flew American Airlines and landed in Miami on June 20, where he planned to visit friends before returning to Los Angeles on Tuesday.
In a twist, Taylor’s wife and daughter, both Global Entry cardholders, breezed through security while Taylor, who does not have Global Entry, was detained, he said.
He said after the agent confirmed he was a Los Angeles resident, he placed a small orange tag on his passport and was told to follow a green line. That led him to another agent and his eventual holding room.
Taylor described “95% of the population” inside the room as Latino and largely Spanish-speaking.
“I was one of three white dudes in the room,” he said. “I just kept wondering, ‘What I am doing here?’”
He said the lack of communication was “very intimidating,” though he was allowed to keep his phone and did send text message updates to his family.
“I have traveled a fair amount internationally and have never been pulled aside,” he said.
About 45 minutes into his holding, Taylor said an agent asked him to collect his luggage and hand it over for inspection.
He said he was released shortly after.
“The agents have succeeded in making me reassess travel,” Taylor said. “I would tell others to really think twice about traveling internationally while you have this administration in charge.”
