Gavin Newsom is having a moment. In the national struggle over U.S. House control, perhaps no politician has more at stake than the California governor, who has emerged as the leading Democratic adversary to President Donald Trump in what many see as a lightly masked trial run for his own future White House bid.

If Newsom's redistricting ballot initiative succeeds, many in Doug LaMalfa's congressional district could suddenly find themselves represented by a Democrat for the first time.