Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom Counters Texas Redistricting Effort With One Of His Own

Last month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott used the devastating floods that killed over 100 Texans to call a special legislative session designed to trigger a mid-decade redistricting effort. Democratic leaders nationwide criticized the move as a flagrant attempt to gerrymander Texas’ electoral map. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, perhaps the most vocal critic of Texas’s redistricting effort, announced the Election Rigging Response Act on Thursday to counter Texas’s new electoral map directly. 

Gov. Newsom spoke at a news conference on Thursday alongside several state legislators and community activists. Newsom announced California will have a special election on Nov. 4, allowing voters to decide on a constitutional amendment that would allow the state legislature to draw new electoral maps ahead of the 2026 midterms. Should California voters approve the measure, the state legislature will draw the electoral maps for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 election cycles. Control of the state’s electoral maps will then revert to an independent commission after the 2030 Census. 

“We’re going to fight fire with fire,” Newsom said Wednesday on his podcast. “We’re going to neutralize whatever Abbott does next week or whenever they move forward with the next special session.” In an interview with reporters after the news conference, Newsom called on other Blue states to “fight fire with fire” and join the effort to battle against redistricting.  He added that the proposed new maps will be revealed in the coming weeks.

The redistricting battle began in July when President Trump called Gov. Greg Abbott and requested that he trigger a rare, mid-decade redistricting effort. The GOP holds a narrow majority in the House, with Democrats only needing a net gain of three seats to flip control during the 2026 midterms. Texas Republicans revealed a new electoral map last month, which adds five House seats in districts President Donald Trump won by double digits in the 2024 election. 

Texas Democrats fled the state two weeks ago to break quorum and prevent a vote from being held on Texas’ new electoral map. While the special session will likely end without a vote on the new map, Gov. Abbott has stated his intent to call as many special sessions as needed to get the latest map approved. 

Before announcing the Election Rigging Response Act, Gov. Newsom sent a letter to President Trump agreeing to drop the California redistricting push if Trump tells Texas to end its redistricting efforts. “If you will not stand down, I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states,” Gov. Newsom said in the letter.

In Texas, the power to redraw the state’s electoral map lies solely with the state legislature, which ostensibly means Texas Republicans can keep changing the state’s electoral map to their heart’s content. In California, the power to redraw the state’s electoral maps lies with an independent commission. Recent polling revealed Californians prefer keeping redistricting in the hands of the independent panel by nearly a 2-to-1 margin. 

Should voters approve the measure to place redistricting in the hands of the state legislature, California Democrats will be in a race against the clock to implement the new maps and find candidates to run for the newly created seats ahead of the 2026 midterms.

I’ve been tracking the Texas redistricting saga, and I’m somewhat at a crossroads with how Democratic states should respond. Partisan gerrymandering is inherently undemocratic, no matter how you cut it. Yet the federal government is putting undocumented people in inhumane detention facilities, removing protections for Black, brown, and LGBTQ people, waging war on poor people, removing environmental protections, and telling states they’re on their own when faced with climate disasters.

We’re not simply dealing with bad policy. Masked federal agents are disappearing people. We used to point at countries with secret police and go, “thank god that doesn’t happen here,” and now it’s happening here. Heck, Border Patrol officials conducted an operation right outside Gov. Newsom’s news conference. 

When faced with an authoritarian party that’s given up on the idea of power needing checks and balances, I find myself agreeing with the idea of fighting fire with fire. For too long, the Democratic Party’s strategy has been bringing angry letters to a gunfight. The time for ideological purity has long gone. It’s squabble up hours. If that comes in the form of partisan redistricting, well, I guess that’s better than sitting on the sidelines and watching the GOP build an autocracy around one of the dumbest men alive. 

SEE ALSO:

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