Newsom unveils plan for redistricting California

LOS ANGELES – California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday stood with other prominent Democratic leaders to announce that the state will move forward with a partisan plan to redraw congressional maps in an effort to help his party win five more U.S. House seats in 2026.

Push for Nov. 4 special election

What we know:

“We can’t stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country,” Newsom said as he called for a Nov. 4 special election to put the new maps before voters.

“Donald Trump, you have poked the bear and we will punch back,” Newsom said.

The California map would only take effect if Texas and other states move forward with their own redistricting efforts, and they would remain through the 2030 elections. 

After that, Democrats say they would return mapmaking power to an independent redistricting commission approved by voters more than a decade ago.

The announcement marks the first time any state beyond Texas is officially wading into the mid-decade redistricting fight, kicking off a national standoff that could continue spilling into other states.

Reason for redistricting 

The backstory:

The move is a direct response to a Republican-led effort in Texas, pushed by President Trump, as his party seeks to maintain its slim House majority after the midterm elections. 

Texas lawmakers are considering a new map that would help them send five more Republicans to Washington, but Democrats have so far halted a vote by leaving the state to prevent their GOP colleagues from meeting Trump’s demands.

“We can’t stand back and watch this amok or this bankruptcy disappear. We can’t stand back and watch this democracy disappear, district by district, all across this country, not just in Texas, but in Missouri, where J.D. Vance went just a week ago in Indiana, in places like Ohio and places like Florida. We need to stand up, not just California. Other blue states need to stand up,” Newsom said. 

There are 435 seats in the U.S. House and Republicans currently hold an 219-212 majority, with four vacancies. New maps are typically drawn once a decade after the census is conducted. 

Many states give legislators the power to draw maps but some, like California, rely on an independent commission that is supposed to be nonpartisan.

California Democrats already hold 43 of the state’s 52 House seats, and the state has some of the most competitive House seats.

‘Fight fire with fire’

Dig deeper:

Newsom has repeatedly criticized efforts that are continuing in Texas to redraw that state’s congressional districts ahead of next year’s mid-term elections, with the new maps potentially adding between three and five Republican seats in Congress, bolstering the GOP’s slim majority in the House of Representatives.

That redistricting effort has been on hold due to Texas state Democrats leaving the state, blocking the legislature’s ability to achieve a quorum and vote on the issue.

But Newsom acknowledged in an interview this week that the move in Texas is likely to ultimately succeed.

“We’re going to fight fire with fire,” Newsom said.

What we don’t know:

The Democrats’ proposed maps have not been released.

Redistricting plan could be left to voters 

What’s next:

He said the California legislature will take up the issue next week to call a Nov. 4 special election to put new maps before voters to increase Democratic representation in Congress — offsetting the actions of Texas. The move would set aside the current California district maps that were drawn by an independent commission.

U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla must officially declare the special election, which they plan to do next week.

“We’ll be asking for the people on November 4th, a special election coinciding with a lot of local municipal elections, to provide a temporary pathway for congressional maps. We will affirm our commitment to the state’s independent redistricting after the 2030 census,” Newsom said. 

“But we’re asking the voters for their consent to do midterm redistricting in 2026, 2028 and 2030 for the congressional maps to respond to what’s happening in Texas, to respond to what Trump is trying to excite. And we’ll do so in a way that also affirms our desire as a state to level the playing field all across the United States. We believe in a national independent redistricting framework.”

Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Incorporated, a bipartisan voter data firm, said the idea of doing a mid-decade redistricting is pretty unheard of, especially in a compressed timeline. He said this would also be the first time voters would get to vote on the maps. 

Newsom to unveil California redistricting plan

Governor Gavin Newsom plans to propose a mid-decade redistricting plan to counter Texas. This would be the first time in the country’s history that a state has ever done a redistricting plan where they let voters decide.

Newsom recently sent a letter to Trump saying California would halt its redistricting effort if Texas agreed to do the same, but Trump did not respond to the request.

Corrin Rankin, chair of the California Republican Party, issued a statement this week saying the party would go to court to fight Newsom’s plans to redistrict the state.

“The California Republican Party will fight it in the courts, at the ballot box and in every community,” Rankin said.

Abbott told Fox News that if California does move to redraw its district, Texas will simply counter by amending its lines again to add even more Republican seats in Washington.

“If California thinks they’re going to move their needle to the extreme and eliminate five Republican numbers of the United States Congress there, Texas is not going to do five: We will add 10 more Republican seats using the same procedure they are using in California,” Abbott said.