California Rep. Julia Brownley will not seek reelection after a decade in Congress

WASHINGTON — Rep. Julia Brownley, a Democrat who has represented parts of Ventura and Los Angeles counties for more than a decade, announced Thursday that she will not seek reelection.

The 73-year-old lawmaker did not provide a reason for her decision. Brownley joins more than 40 other U.S. House members who have opted against running this November.

Other California representatives retiring from the House include Nancy Pelosi and Eric Swalwell, the latter of whom is running for governor.

Brownley first entered Congress in 2012. Her career in public service also includes time on a local school board and in the California State Assembly.

In the 2024 election, Brownley won reelection with 56.6% of the vote. Her 26th District has trended more Democratic following redistricting under Proposition 50.

Hours after Brownley’s announcement, Democratic State Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin filed paperwork to run for the seat. Republican businessman Michael Koslow, who lost to Brownley in 2024, also plans to run again.

Representative Julia Brownley’s decision to retire is more than a localized departure; it serves as a microcosm of two tectonic shifts currently reshaping the U.S. political landscape. First, it adds momentum to a broader wave of congressional retirements that is leaving a significant number of seats vacant heading into the next cycle. In the calculus of American elections, open-seat contests are historically more volatile and capital-intensive than challenges against incumbents, offering a rare, high-stakes opening for both parties to gain ground.

More significantly for California, Brownley’s exit underscores the decisive impact of redistricting as a tool of political engineering. The strategic realignment of District 26 reflects a broader counter-offensive against national partisan efforts to expand the Republican map through aggressive gerrymandering. By excising Simi Valley—long a bastion of Republican support—and incorporating more demographically favorable areas, the district’s boundaries have been fundamentally redrawn to favor Democratic interests.

This transition highlights a critical reality in modern governance: the struggle for institutional power is increasingly won or lost during the boundary-setting process rather than on the campaign trail. While an open seat typically invites a competitive general election, the demographic insulation provided by the new map makes a Republican pickup in CA-26 highly improbable. Consequently, the district’s political future will likely be determined not in November, but within the theater of the Democratic primary.

The shift in congressional representation for California’s 26th District may not have a direct or immediate effect on the major Vietnamese-American hubs in Little Saigon or Santa Clara County. However, it serves as a vital reminder of the high stakes involved in both local and federal elections. From immigration policy and small business support for the nail salon industry and phở restaurants to broader advocacy for the diaspora, the people we elect directly shape the future of our community. This change underscores the ongoing need for civic engagement, highlighting that staying informed and heading to the polls are the only ways to ensure our voices are heard.