What if your House seat opened up?

[Greedo punched first]

I live in CA-47, mostly made up of blue (red on the Atlas) Long Beach; but I live in the red (blue on the Atlas) neighborhood of West Garden Grove (which Trump won every precinct). I am a socially liberal moderate Republican/Libertarian type. What should I do to attract Long Beach voters? Should I run as a moderate George Pataki/Brian Sandoval Republican or a moderate Bill Weld Libertarian? Would I do poorly with the conservative electorate of West Garden Grove/northwesternmost precincts of Westminster (which are full of middle class and blue collar white voters) by being a social liberal?

[Greedo punched first]

Since your district is mostly Democrats, your best shot is as a Bill Weld type Libertarian. Trump voters will vote for you anyway if you're running against a Democrat.

My district is very odd. It's mostly Democratic only because of Long Beach, which makes up over half the district's population. Because of this gerrymandering, Orange County voters in the district are disenfranchised. The much less populated Orange County side is heavily Republican. Long Beach does have a fair amount of Republicans in higher-income neighborhoods like Belmont Shore and the mostly white middle class Los Altos neighborhood. The conservative voters in West Garden Grove, Cypress, and Westminster would still vote for me even if I run as a Bill Weld moderate Republican/Libertarian? I literally did not see any campaign signs for Lowenthal on the Orange County side of the district, but saw a massive number of signs for Whallon. Orange County voters in the district vote against Lowenthal every election. Long Beach is the only reason Lowenthal even wins by wide margins. Without Long Beach, Lowenthal would lose to a Republican.

[Greedo punched first]

Since your district is mostly Democrats, your best shot is as a Bill Weld type Libertarian. Trump voters will vote for you anyway if you're running against a Democrat.

My district is very odd. It's mostly Democratic only because of Long Beach, which makes up over half the district's population. Because of this gerrymandering, Orange County voters in the district are disenfranchised. The much less populated Orange County side is heavily Republican. Long Beach does have a fair amount of Republicans in higher-income neighborhoods like Belmont Shore and the mostly white middle class Los Altos neighborhood. The conservative voters in West Garden Grove, Cypress, and Westminster would still vote for me even if I run as a Bill Weld moderate Republican/Libertarian? I literally did not see any campaign signs for Lowenthal on the Orange County side of the district, but saw a massive number of signs for Whallon. Orange County voters in the district vote against Lowenthal every election. Long Beach is the only reason Lowenthal even wins by wide margins. Without Long Beach, Lowenthal would lose to a Republican.

I mean, Long Beach isn't going away. The district is D+8 and that's pre-Trump PVI. Also just because a district has a heterogeneous population does not mean it's "gerrymandered."

It's not just heterogeneous, there is a clear geographic, county, and partisan divide between Long Beach and the Orange County side of the district. Long Beach voters have full control of the district. I feel my neighborhood (where Trump won every precinct) and neighboring cities are disenfranchised. Could 2020 redistricting make it more competitive by taking out parts of Long Beach? It's possible Long Beach goes away by being moved into another district with future redistricting. It's also possible my neighborhood gets moved into CA-48 after redistricting.

[Greedo punched first]

Whallon hates Trump. What if Trump ends up being unpopular and the GOP shifts away from that? I thought Whallon would do somewhat better than this because he's NeverTrump. Trump still won my neighborhood, West Garden Grove, which has a large working-class white population. Trump got over 50% in every West Garden Grove precinct. Vietnamese-Americans tend to vote GOP. Central Garden Grove and Stanton helped Lowenthal (I forgot that Stanton and central Garden Grove were in CA-47, not CA-46). Could an anti-Trump pro-choice pro-gay marriage moderate/liberal Republican type like me do better with Hispanics, Asian-Americans, and social liberals?