California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has vowed for weeks to retaliate against Texas and President Donald Trump if the Lone Star state moved forward with Trump’s suggestion last month to redraw the Texas Congressional maps to add four or five more seats that potentially would favor the GOP.
With the Texas Senate approving redrawn maps earlier this week, and as Democrats on the House side pledged to stay away until the special session is over, Newsom made it official on Thursday that he was calling for a special election in November to try and counter the likely 2026 GOP gains under the proposed new Texas maps with a California map that would benefit Democrats.
Voters will be asked to vote on effectively temporarily suspending the voter-approved independent redistricting commission process in favor of maps drawn by California state lawmakers, where Democrats have a supermajority in the state legislature:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday his state will hold a Nov. 4 special election to seek voter approval of new congressional map drawn to try to win Democrats five more U.S. House seats in 2026.[…]“We can’t stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country,” Newsom said, joined by prominent labor leaders and Democratic politicians.California lawmakers must officially declare the special election, which they plan to do next week after voting on the new maps. Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers, and Newsom said he’s not worried about winning the required support from two-thirds of lawmakers to advance the maps.
Where Newsom may have to worry, however, is how voters will respond to this proposal. And the polling so far shows widespread support in California for the independent redistricting commission across party lines:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom faces a major hurdle in his quest to revamp his state’s congressional lines, according to a new poll: Californians’ deep support for its current independent redistricting commission.
By nearly a two-to-one margin, voters prefer keeping an independent line-drawing panel to determine the state’s House seats, the latest POLITICO-Citrin Center-Possibility Lab survey found. Just 36 percent of respondents back returning congressional redistricting authority to state lawmakers.
[…]
Independent voters were the most enthusiastic backers of the panel, with 72 percent in favor of the commission keeping its line-drawing authority. Support among Republicans and Democrats was roughly equal — 66 percent and 61 percent, respectively — marking a rare spot of bipartisan agreement in this hyper-polarized political moment.
The new proposed California maps haven’t been released to the public yet, but the LA Times got its hands on a draft copy:
Those changes could reduce by more than half the number of Republicans representing California in Congress. The state has the nation’s largest congressional delegation, with 52 members. Nine are Republicans.A Northern California district represented by Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) could shift to the south, shedding rural, conservative voters near the Oregon border and picking up left-leaning cities in Sonoma County. Sacramento-area Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) would see his district shift toward the bluer center of the city.The plan would also add more Democrats to the Central Valley district represented by Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), who has been a perennial target for Democrats.Southern California would see some of the biggest changes: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall) would see his safely Republican district in San Diego County become more purple through the addition of liberal Palm Springs. And Reps. Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills) and Ken Calvert (R-Corona) would be drawn into the same district, which could force the lawmakers to run against each other.
Newsom said the proposed maps would be released in the coming days.
– Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via X. –
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