In an unusual move, California Attorney General Rob Bonta is directing Los Angeles to redraw its council districts to better represent Latinos.
Bonta has been investigating the city council’s contentious redistricting process for nearly two years. He’s calling for the city to prepare a new map for the 2026 election that complies with the Voting Rights Act, which requires district boundaries to be drawn to ensure underrepresented groups have the ability to elect candidates of their choice.
The attorney general singled out two council districts on the Eastside, saying they don’t have a sufficient number of Latino voters.
Sara Sadhwani, a member of the state's Citizens Redistricting Commission, called it an “interesting move” for Bonta to step in.
“Typically, if there is a Voting Rights Act complaint, it comes from the communities on the ground,” she said. “No one has actually brought such a lawsuit – not the Latino community, not the Black community, not the Asian-American community.”
She added that city officials are going to consider Bonta’s decision an overreach.
“Any time the state comes in and involves itself in a city as long as Los Angeles – and a charter city that has a whole lot of autonomy from the state – most likely they're not going to look too kindly on this,” she said.
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Sadhwani said that redrawing the districts at this point in time would cause “a whole lot of chaos.”
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