In a move that could potentially flip control of the House of Representatives, a longtime California Republican lawmaker announced that he is leaving the GOP.
California Rep. Kevin Kiley announced late last week that he is leaving the Republican Party, becoming the first Independent in the lower chamber since 2019.
Kiley stated the move was based on his frustrations with GOP leadership and redistricting — which plays into the hands of the Democratic Party that is eager to flip control of the House and potentially complicates the GOP’s already razor-thin grip on the House.
However, is Kiley’s really a win for the Republican Party?
According to reports, Kiley stated that he will continue caucusing with Republicans for “administrative purposes.”
However, California Kiley’s switch comes against the backdrop of a massive voter redistricting effort in California that has enabled the Democratic-led state to reconfigure its congressional maps to counter redistricting in Texas.
The redistricting effort has forced Kiley, who currently represents California’s 3rd Congressional District, into the 6th District, which he filed for just last week.
The newly redrawn 6th District is expected to be competitive with Democrats and his best chance for re-election could come at the expense of ditching his Republican “affiliation” despite already noting that he will continue to caucus with the GOP.
GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley goes independent in longshot bid to stay in Congress https://t.co/FyDEHvEkBP
— POLITICO (@politico) March 7, 2026
Kiley has previously decried “gerrymandering” as “a plague on democracy.”
“Since gerrymandering seeks to elevate partisanship above everything else in our politics … the best way to counter gerrymandering and its insidious impacts on democracy is simply to take partisanship out of the equation,” Kiley told reporters, per Axios.
Kiley’s move is speculative at this point as he noted that he won’t necessarily be a reliable vote for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) despite his plans to caucus with the GOP for committee assignments.
“I don’t know if he would tell you I have been so far,” he said.
Kiley had bucked party leadership on key votes in recent weeks.
Last fall, he was critical of GOP leadership’s decision to keep the House out of session during the record-breaking 43-day-long government shutdown.
Last month, he joined a small group of entrenched Republican lawmakers, including Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), in helping to defeat a measure aimed at preventing lawmakers from establishing resolutions to undermine President Trump’s tariffs.
Kiley did not give Johnson advanced notice before his Friday announcement that he planned to leave the Republican Party, but he did have a call with the speaker over the weekend.