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View the appellate court ruling
By Miriam Raftery
File photo: St. Peter's Chaldean Catholic Cathedral in El Cajon
April 30, 2025 (El Cajon) – The 4th district Court of Appeals has ruled against the Chaldean Coalition over supervisorial redistricting. The lawsuit, Chaldean Coalition v. The County of San Diego Independent Redistricting Commission et al, filed in 2021 had argued that the Chaldean community was disenfranchised by the County’s supervisorial redistricting in East County.
The County change put Rancho San Diego into District 4 and the city of El Cajon into District 2, splitting the vote of Chaldeans, Christians from Iraq and other Middle East areas. Over 63% of Chaldeans live in the El Cajon region including Rancho San Diego, with 8.6% in Spring Valley, 4.3% in La Mesa,and 27.1% in other areas of the County. The suit sought to have Rancho San Diego and part of Spring Valley put back into district 2 , where it has historically been, which is currently represented by Joel Anderson.
A trial court ruled against the Chaldean Coalition and now the Appellate court has upheld the trial court’s ruling.
The Coalition had challenged the trial court’s ruling based on arguments of racial gerrymandering, as ECM previously reported. The group contend that the redistricting prioritizing shifting more African-American voters into District 4, which is currently represented by Monica Montgomery-Steppe.
But the Appellate Court rejected those arguments, finding among other things that the County’s Redistricting Commission had rejected an alternative plan that would have put even more African-Americans into District 4.
ECM has reached out to the Chaldean Coalition to ask whether it plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court, but has not received a response.
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