California Rep. Kevin Kiley, looking for a place to seek reelection, won't challenge Rep. Mike Thompson

David Lightman, The Sacramento Bee on Jan 13, 2026

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WASHINGTON — Rep. Kevin Kiley’s congressional district has been sliced into six pieces, and he’s ruled out running in one of them, the district now represented by Rep. Mike Thompson.

Thompson is a veteran Democrat from St. Helena and senior member of the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

Kiley said Monday night in a tweet that his decision not to run in that 4th Congressional District “means that as of January of 2027, I will very sadly no longer represent the portions of Placer and Yuba County that are merged into the new District 4, which stretches all the way to wine country.”

He said it is “truly a painful decision to make, as I love these communities and have represented some of them for nine years, between Congress and the Legislature.”

Kiley has until March 6, the filing deadline for the primary elections in June, to decide where he’s running.

Goodbye to a Republican-leaning district

Kiley now represents a huge Republican-heavy district that stretches from the Sacramento suburbs east to the Nevada line and down to Death Valley. It includes Placer County, which has been friendly to Republicans but will now be part of three different districts.

The lines were redrawn last year under Proposition 50, which created five additional Democratic-leaning congressional districts statewide.

Democrats need a net gain of three seats to win control of the House in the November election, and the California initiative was aimed at countering Texas’ move to create five Republican-friendly districts.

The Rocklin Republican has repeatedly vowed to keep fighting to return to Congress, where he’s been a member since 2023 and easily won reelection in 2024.

”Gavin Newsom broke my district into six pieces in hopes of making it easier to unseat me. I fully intend to dash his hopes,” Kiley said Monday.

Kiley and health care issues

Kiley has been inching away from other Republicans in some matters lately.

He was an early backer of extending health care premium subsidies for Obamacare-inspired policies for one to two years, and was highly critical of House GOP leadership during last year’s shutdown for not holding voting sessions.

Kiley will need to have a more pragmatic image if he runs in Sacramento-area districts, said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of the nonpartisan Sabato’s Crystal Ball, which analyzes House races.

“Kiley is going to be at a big disadvantage” if he runs against Rep. Ami Bera, D-Sacramento, or another leading Democrat in those areas, Kondik said.

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