Lake Tahoe is a blue dot in California’s 3rd Congressional District, which covers conservative Placer and El Dorado counties and spans down the Eastern Sierra to Death Valley.
The district has long had a Republican representative in Congress, but this mountainous area that draws outdoor lovers year round usually votes blue.
Theresa May Duggan, a Democrat who goes by Tee May, has been writing postcards to voters across the state urging them to support Proposition 50. She’s lived in Tahoe for 48 years and says the region faces a lot of the same challenges as other parts of California that are often overshadowed by issues surrounding Lake Tahoe itself.
“Can you imagine if we had another vote in Congress for things for our community that didn't involve the lake?” Duggan asked. She wants a representative who will work to boost the region's housing stock.
Duggan also says she wants to feel like she’s part of California, the part that reflects her Democratic values.
“I know I live in a blue dot,” she said. “I want to live in a blue district too.”
A neighborhood street in Tahoe Vista, blocks north of Lake Tahoe. The region is part of California's third Congressional District that would be redrawn in Prop 50 passes. October 5, 2025.Laura Fitzgerald/CapRadio
Duggan could get her wish if Proposition 50 passes. California’s redistricting proposal would shrink the 3rd Congressional District and tie in parts of bluer Sacramento County. The new lines would make it easier for a Democratic candidate to win the seat, which is currently being held by Republican Kevin Kiley.
Some Democrats in the Tahoe region have expressed frustration with Kiley, and see Prop 50 as an opportunity to unseat him.
That includes Truckee resident Zeb Blais, who has been knocking on doors around Tahoe to turn voters out in support of Prop 50.
“Our representation in this area has been really poor for a long, long time,” said Blais. “District 3 in California is well over 200 miles long and our current representative uses that as an excuse to not hold town meetings.”
Kiley disputes this, telling CapRadio he’s visited this part of his district multiple times to meet with local representatives and interest groups.
“I've took questions of all kinds from people who agree with me on things, with people who disagree with me on things,” said Kiley.
But when it comes to town halls, he typically takes questions from constituents remotely. Kiley says he holds “Tele-Town Halls” to accommodate his district’s sweeping size.
Democrats here say they want to engage and ask questions in person.
“I've attended the ‘Tele-Town Halls’ that he has held and they're not enough, they're not what people are looking for,” Blais added.
Over 25,000 people called in to a virtual town hall Kiley hosted earlier this year, though many were turned away due to technical issues.
Other Tahoe residents say California’s redistricting debate is less about partisanship.
“There's just a disconnect between an understanding of what happens on the ground in the rural areas of the Sierra Nevada that are part of this district,” said Truckee Town Council member Courtney Henderson.
Henderson wants representatives higher up to pay more attention to the unique issues the region faces, including wildfire prevention, skyrocketing insurance rates, and rural access to healthcare.
“I think the cuts to the U.S. Forest Service do not serve this area,” said Henderson. “No matter what the boundary looks like or who that representative is, they have to have deep working knowledge of what happens on the ground and in rural communities and a lot of this district is very rural.”
Henderson doesn’t feel that’s the case for Tahoe’s current representative. She added that she hopes the region’s next representative will spend more time getting to know the rural Sierra Nevada.
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