California voters will decide in November whether to OK a new congressional map that would benefit Democrats.

California's recall ballot is finally set, but the state Republican party is still determining its best strategy for winning back the governor's office in one of the nation's most Democratic states.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s critics almost certainly have qualified a recall election for the ballot, a remarkable feat in the heavily Democratic state.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)LOS ANGELES – California Republicans eager to recall Democratic Gov. The head of the state Republican Party, Jessica Millan Patterson, is being challenged at a GOP convention this weekend by longtime conservative activist Steve Frank, who says the state party is attempting to silence conservative voices. Ad“This is California’s version of the national battle for the soul and the future of the Republican Party,” said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at the University of California, San Diego. But “just when the Republican Party in California is showing signs of life, it’s deciding to cannibalize itself,” Kousser added. For long-suffering California Republicans, party infighting could divide their ranks and make it more challenging to oust Newsom.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)LOS ANGELES – It had been over two decades since a Republican captured a Democratic-held congressional district in California. The stunning victories have California GOP leaders talking about a comeback after years of teetering on the brink of irrelevance in the heavily Democratic state. Still, California Republicans all too familiar with Election Day misery now see a template to make further inroads. Young Kim defeated Democratic Rep. Gil Cisneros in a rematch in the Democratic-leaning 39th District, anchored in Orange County. In Orange County “voters saw a different face to the Republican Party in Steel and Kim,” she said.