California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he wants a special election in November to redraw the state’s congressional map.
Newsom won’t drop his insistence that President Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott are trying to gerrymander Texas.
“We’re reacting to the president of the United States and Greg Abbott trying to rig the election,” Newsom insisted. “They recognize they can’t win in the midterms. All the momentum has shifted away from them.”
Newsom believes Trump forced his hand.
“I’m not going to sit back any longer in the fetal position, a position of weakness, when in fact California can demonstrably advance strength,” added Newsom.
These maps would cover the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections. The map drawing would then return “to the control of the state Citizen Redistricting Commission.”
From Politico:
It would be an enormously expensive and politically perilous campaign. Newsom would be counting on Democrats’ anti-Trump message overcoming voters’ reluctance to return power to politicians for an explicitly partisan exercise.Newsom and his allies would need to raise monumental sums on a tight timeline so they could inform and turn out voters. And while they could tap into a national network, Trump and conservative opponents could be motivated to wade into the race to rebuke Newsom and the national party.State lawmakers would also need to go along with the plan. Putting a measure on the ballot would require a two-thirds vote in both houses of the Legislature, and while Democrats wield the necessary supermajorities, Newsom is pushing them into uncertain political terrain.
KCRA reported a few weeks ago that another option:
Option two involves calling on the California Legislature to quickly redraw the congressional district maps before the 2026 election. Elections expert Paul Mitchell posted on X Wednesday the state constitution says nothing about a mid-decade redraw for Congressional maps, which may or may not allow the legislature to do it.
Newsom seriously thinks Republicans make an effort to rig midterms every time. But it’s not unusual for the president’s party to lose seats in Congress at midterms.
Newsom actually posted an unsourced map of the “most gerrymandered states” and didn’t even include Illinois.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY