Assembly member Marc Berman announced Monday that he will seek a new term in Sacramento, where he hopes to represent a newly reconfigured Midpeninsula district.

Berman, D-Menlo Park, is a former Palo Alto City Council member who was first elected to the Assembly in 2016. He is running to represent the new District 23, which includes much of his current domain in the Midpeninsula, including Mountain View, Palo Alto, most of Menlo Park and western San Mateo County. Unlike Berman's current district, the new one will also include communities along the coast and south of Daly City, including Pacifica and Half Moon Bay, as well as the Santa Clara County cities of Saratoga and Campbell.

Berman will no longer, however, represent East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, North Fair Oaks or Sunnyvale, with the former three communities included in the newly formed Assembly District 21, which includes the eastern portion of San Mateo County, and the lattermost joining Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara in the new Assembly District 26.

The inclusion of Campbell on the eastern tip of District 23 raised the prospect of a fiercely competitive Peninsula race between Berman and Assembly member Evan Low, a Campbell resident. That prospect fizzled on Monday, with Low announcing his intention to run in Assembly District 26 rather than in Assembly District 23.

The two Democratic lawmakers discussed their election plans last Thursday and commemorated the summit with a pillow fight in a parking lot, footage of which was posted on TikTok.

Berman alluded to the changing boundaries of the district in his Monday announcement, noting that he will "sadly no longer represent the communities of Belle Haven (in Menlo Park), East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks, and Sunnyvale.

"It has been a tremendous honor to represent the constituents of these communities over the last five years, and I look forward to my final year as their assembly member," Berman said. "I look forward to representing new communities on the Coastside and in the South Bay in the new 23rd AD."

Berman's announcement follows a year in which he had authored high-profile legislation to make California a vote-by-mail state in all elections and to phase out sales of gas-powered leaf blowers. He also currently chairs the Assembly Elections Committee and is leading an effort to revise the state's rules for recall elections.