There are many forces weighing on the 2026 midterm map—gerrymandering, high-profile retirements, generational political warfare—and California’s dealing with them all. And few congressional battles will be as dramatic as the primary to replace Nancy Pelosi, whose exit from the House next year will kick off a messy transfer of power on her home turf. Pelosi’s daughter, Christine, who was long considered a possible successor, is running instead for state Senate—seeking the seat currently occupied by Scott Weiner, another longtime Pelosi-successor darkhorse who is running to replace her. Meanwhile, national observers are also paying attention to Saikat Chakrabarti, who once served as chief of staff to erstwhile Pelosi nemesis Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. As California Democratic consultant Michael Trujillo told me recently, “In San Francisco, politics is a donnybrook.”