As a United States senator, does not have much personally at stake in the congressional redistricting skirmish now sweeping through Texas, California and potentially other parts of the union. He represents a whole state, the nation’s most populous, so district boundaries do not affect his electorate.

But Padilla, a quietly influential member of his party and of the Senate, is invested in the struggle for power and advantage underway in Washington. He is a committed critic of President Donald Trump. Padilla’s attempts to stand up for the immigrants who undergird the life and culture of California crested in a memorable confrontation earlier this year when he showed up at a news conference hosted by Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem, only to be by federal officers.

The incident was c

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