New Map Pairs Oregon Border Ranches With Bay Area Voters

ALTURAS, Calif. Ned Coe has called cattle home in Modoc County for decades, using the same call his father taught him. Come boss. Now a new congressional map is poised to hand him a representative based in the San Francisco Bay Area after 13 years under a Republican farmer.

Voters across California approved Prop 50 in the ballot measure that redrew the state's congressional districts and added five Democratic seats. The measure carries political consequences for ranchers and loggers in the state's far northeastern corner. Modoc County sits two people per square mile. Cattle outnumber residents.

The district that would represent Coe places Marin County voters at 30 percent of the vote. Modoc County accounts for 1 percent. Jared Huffman, the Democratic congressman based in Marin County, would take over the seat.

Valerie Coe, Ned's wife, said a representative whose base lives in the city cannot serve rural interests. "When a politician, his base of voters live in the city and they don't identify with our way of life, they don't understand our way of life, he is going to make decisions that benefit them, and no consideration will be given to us because it can't be. He needs their votes," she said. She pointed to laws protecting gray wolves that attack cattle and other livestock. "A wolf is not in the least bit afraid of a human being. The only thing that protects us is a firearm, and you're not allowed to use a firearm against them," she said.

The Coes' county went for President Trump in the last three presidential elections. Both are Republicans. Valerie Coe said Texas redistricting that favored her party was wrong. "Two wrongs do not make a right," she said. Ned Coe, who serves as a county supervisor, said the map has made his work harder. "My approach has been to work with congressional members, whether they're from other parts of California or other states, that will help carry issues forward," he said.

Three hours west of the Coes' ranch, in Siskiyou County timber country, Tristan Allen runs a logging operation that burns about 4,000 gallons of diesel a day. Rising diesel prices tied to the war in Iran have put him in the red this year. Allen's family has been in Siskiyou County for five generations. He said he feels at home there. "I like to refer to Siskiyou County as Baja, Oregon," he said. "No one in Oregon wants us and no one in California cares about us." He identifies as Californian. "A hundred percent," he said.

Ryan Walker has ranched near Bogus Creek, about 7 miles from the Oregon border, for 50 years. He is a registered independent. "I mean, of all the redistricting wars that have gone on, you're standing in what is clearly the most ridiculous district to be drawn," Walker said. "You know, the person who lives in Cedarville and the person who lives in on a houseboat in Sausalito are entirely different thought process." He added: "This district was drawn with the purpose of making my voice less powerful. That's what gerrymandering is."

Walker said the map does bring the entire California portion of the Klamath River into one district, and splits wolf country across four districts that lean blue. "I don't know that I think my voice should be outsized because I'm rural and sparse, but at the same time, there does have to be a voice," Walker said. Asked about his vote for the congressional seat in November, he said the contest is settled. "Oh, I mean, it's such a foregone conclusion at this point," Walker said.

The district runs along the Oregon border and extends down the coast to the San Francisco Bay. The drive across it takes roughly 12 hours nonstop. Huffman, the Democratic candidate, said in a call that he plans to work hard for the seat.