Where Was Torrance in Congressional Politics? 1973-1975 CD 28, CD 31, and CD 35

Election  1972 turned into a real uagmire for Congressional poltiics.

The first set of Congressional districts presented by the California legislature to Governor Reagan was really biased, slanted, completely gerrymandered.

During the decade 1973-1983, Torrance was divided into three distinct districts!

CD 28: Alphonzo Bell.

Alphonzo Bell's district was pushed to hug the Coastline.

In fact, only one samll part of Torrance, Torrance Beach, was included:

Right there in the blue circle, specifically:

Results:

Then the greater part of Torrance fell into the next 31st Congressional District, represented by:

Charles Wilson,

Yes, he's the one who's named after the Park in Central Torrance.

Here's the map of the district below:

Results:

Notice that the section of Torrance South of the 405 Freeway between Crenshaw Blvd. and Western Ave falls into another district.

That would be CD 35, which was represented by:

Glenn Anderson

Results:

Of course, following Governor Reagans veto of these gerrymandered districts, Torrance would still remain divided into three districts.

Where was Torrance in Congressional Politics? 1963-1973 CD 17 and CD 27

From Election 1962, Torrance was divided into two different districts.

From California's statehood until this time, Torrance remaine whole within a district.

How did the state legislature divide the city? Who represented which parts of the city?

North and East Torrance (CD-17)

You guessed it ...

Cecil King remained the Congressman for the eastern and northern sections of the city, which have been consistently Democratic to begin with. The district would rise northward and include Gardena, sections of South Los Angeles, as well as Hawthorne, and down South to Wilmington and San Pedro.

Cecil King faced consistent opposition, but never fell below 60%:

1962 was not only a wild election year for King, but Democrats doubled their numbers as the redistricting created 8 more seats for the state.

Check out the results:

Of course, King faced some hard-core partisans opposed to his ongoing incumbency:

What about the succeeding races?

Election 1964

Election 1966

Election 1968 changed things up.

Cecil King stepped down, deciding not to run for re-election.

One theory: The Nixon Wave was coming, and Republicans might have taken over Congress.

Another theory: As a vocal champion of Medicare, he finally witnessed the passage of this program.

He then announced his retirement in February 1968

For more information, click here.

Who took King's place?

Glenn Anderson, the former mayor of Hawthorne California, then he served as California's Lieutenant Governor for two terms.

He would as chairman of the Transportation Committee.

The 105 Freeway is named after him.

This eletion was the closest in the district's history. Anderson would face token opposition for the rest of his Congressional career:

Then Election 1970

So, CD 17 covered Eastern and North Torrance.

What about South and West Torrance?

Who was the Congress for those sections of the city?

Alphonzo Bell, of Bel Air.

He represented District 28:

notice how the distrit looks a lot like the current CD-33 Congressional district, currently represented by Congressman Ted Lieu.

And here's a close-up focusing on the different sections of Torrance represented within the district:

He had represnted the Westside and Malibu coastlines in 1960.

The new district tilte all the way down to the South Bay.

Election 1962 results:

Election 1964

Election 1966

Election 1968

Election 1970

Just as an FYI--notice that Bell's share of the vote went from 60% to 70%.

How?

Palos Verdes? The entire Peninsula turned into a Republican strong hold.