Monday, 18 Aug 2025

Newsom unveils California redistricting effort to counter Trump-backed push in Texas

Democratic Gov. Newsom teams with congressional leaders to unveil strategy against GOP efforts to create Republican-friendly districts in multiple states.


Newsom unveils California redistricting effort to counter Trump-backed push in Texas
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California is center stage on Thursday in the national battle over congressional redistricting ahead of next year's midterm elections.

"Today is liberation day in the state of California," Newsom said. "Donald Trump, you have poked the bear and we will punch back."

And Newsom vowed to "meet fire with fire" with his push for rare-but not unheard of-mid-decade redistricting.

Newsom says Trump missed a deadline to stand down on his push to redistrict in Texas.

"DONALD 'TACO' TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, 'MISSED' THE DEADLINE!!! CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE 'BEAUTIFUL MAPS,' THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!)," Newsom wrote earlier this week in a social media post posted by his press office, which was meant to mock how Trump writes his own social media posts.

"BIG PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH POWERFUL DEMS AND GAVIN NEWSOM - YOUR FAVORITE GOVERNOR - THAT WILL BE DEVASTATING FOR 'MAGA.' THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! - GN," he added. 

Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats stormed back to grab the House majority in the 2018 midterms. 

In GOP-dominated Texas, Republicans plan to enact the new maps they drew up once enough state Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to prevent the legislature from passing the measure return to Texas.

The governor is moving to hold a special election this year, to obtain voter approval to undo the constitutional amendments that created the non-partisan redistricting commission. A two-thirds majority vote in the Democrat-dominated California legislature would be needed to hold the referendum.

Democratic Party leaders are confident they'll have the votes to push the constitutional amendment and the new proposed congressional maps through the legislature.

"Here we are in open and plain sight before one vote is cast in the 2026 midterm election and here [Trump] is once again trying to rig the system," Newsom charged.

Newsom said his plan is "not complicated. We're doing this in reaction to a President of the United States that called a sitting governor in the state of Texas and said 'find me five seats.' We're doing it in reaction to that act."

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) charged that "Newsom's made it clear: he'll shred California's Constitution and trample over democracy - running a cynical, self-serving playbook where Californians are an afterthought and power is the only priority."

But Newsom defended his actions, saying "we're working through a very transparent, temporary and public process. We're putting the maps on the ballot and putting the power to the people."

Thursday's appearance by Newsom, who is considered a likely contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, will also serve as a fundraising kickoff to raise massive amounts of campaign cash needed to sell the redistricting push statewide in California. 

The non-partisan redistricting commission, created over 15 years ago, remains popular with most Californians, according to public opinion polling.

That's why Newsom and California Democratic lawmakers are promising not to scrap the commission entirely, but rather replace it temporarily by the legislature for the next three election cycles.

"We will affirm our commitment to the state independent redistricting after the 2030 census, but we asking the voters for their consent to do midterm redistricting," Newsom said.

But their efforts are opposed by a number of coalition of figures supportive of the non-partisan commission.

Among the most visible members is former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the last Republican elected governor in Democrat-dominated California.

Schwarzenegger, during his tenure as governor, had a starring role in the passage of constitutional amendments in California in 2008 and 2010 that took the power to draw state legislative and congressional districts away from politicians and place it in the hands of an independent commission.

"Most people don't really think about an independent commission much, one way or another. And that's both an opportunity and a challenge for Newsom," Jack Pitney, an American politics professor at California's Claremont McKenna College, told Fox News.

But he added that "it's going to take a lot of effort and money to energize Democrats and motivate them to show up at the polls" and that Newsom's effort "is all about motivating people who don't like Trump."

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