The Rural North Lost Its Voice

What Proposition 50 Changed

Before 2025, California's rural north had representation that understood timber, ranching, and the realities of living hours from the nearest hospital. The old district lines, while imperfect, kept rural communities together with representatives who knew that "fire season" isn't just a news headline—it's life or death.

Proposition 50 changed everything. Sold to voters as "fair redistricting," the measure redrew California's congressional boundaries in ways that fundamentally altered the political calculus of the north. The new CA-2 now stretches from the Oregon border at Del Norte County all the way south to wealthy Marin County—yoking together communities with almost nothing in common except geography.

The math is brutal for rural voters. Marin and Sonoma counties alone contain more registered voters than the other seven counties combined. A traditional Republican—the kind who represented the rural north for decades—simply cannot win a district where Mill Valley progressives outnumber Yreka conservatives three to one.

The Rural North's Dilemma

The incumbent Republican representative—who fought for timber jobs, water rights, and wildfire funding—was swept out in the 2024 wave. The new representative, elected primarily by Marin and Sonoma voters, has different priorities: climate litigation, coastal preservation, and Bay Area housing policy.

Rural voters now face an impossible choice: vote for Democrats who don't understand their way of life, or vote for Republicans who can't win. Either way, the rural north loses its voice.

This is the gerrymandering paradox. By drawing lines that guarantee one party's victory, Proposition 50 didn't create "fair" representation—it created no representation for communities whose concerns don't align with the urban majority.

A No Party Preference Alternative

Gregory Burgess isn't running as a Republican who can't win or a Democrat who won't listen. He's running as No Party Preference—free to represent the entire district without owing allegiance to party bosses in Sacramento or Washington.

This isn't political positioning. It's math. In a district where neither party can claim a majority, the only viable path is a candidate who can earn votes from Modoc ranchers AND Marin environmentalists—not by abandoning principles, but by finding the common ground that actually exists.

Bills Designed for the Rural North

While other candidates offer slogans, Gregory Burgess offers solutions. Here are just some of the bills specifically designed to help the rural north get back on its feet:

Every one of these bills is drafted, properly formatted, ready to be reviewed for constitutional compliance, and ready to introduce on Day One. No other candidate—Republican, Democrat, or independent—has done this work.

Why No Party Preference Can Win

California's top-two primary system means party labels matter less than voter appeal. In the June primary, the top two vote-getters advance regardless of party. A No Party Preference candidate who can draw support from rural conservatives AND progressive environmentalists has a real path to victory.

Consider the coalition:

The Forest Resilience Act that creates timber jobs in Trinity County also reduces the fire risk threatening Marin hillsides. The Insurance Stabilization Act that keeps ranchers in Modoc also protects home values in Sonoma. The bills work for the whole district because they were designed for the whole district.

Proposition 50's gerrymandering was meant to guarantee party control. But it also created an opening for something new: a representative who works for everyone because they owe nothing to anyone except the voters.