In a sea of congressional bloviators, Kevin Kiley has always stood out. The two-term California lawmaker, unlike most of his colleagues, does not reflexively defend the president and, at least recently, has been a frequent critic of his own party's leadership. So it shouldn't have been particularly shocking when, earlier this week, Kiley announced that he would run for reelection not as a Republican, but as an independent. Kiley will be the newest initiate of Congress's tiny club of independents, which, until this week, consisted of just two senators: Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine. More important, though, the switch represents the latest example of the Republican Party eating its own. Politically, Kiley's decision is something of a Hail Mary pass. The new House maps that California voters approved last fall as part of the Democrats' retaliation for GOP gerrymandering in Texas carved up his district, which stretches from the Sacramento suburbs hundreds of miles...
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