Newsom's redistricting ruse is sinking
Falling in line with Newsom's demand to gerrymander Cali's House districts in retaliation for Texas' own redistricting, state lawmakers unveiled a redrawn map designed to move Democrats from 43 to 48 seats out of 52 total.
NY Post Editorial Page Editor Mark Cunningham shares this story.
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Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Newsom Leading Early 2028 Democratic Primary Polls
While a little early for any official campaigning, it is clear that California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been trying to expand his national public profile in recent weeks. These efforts appear to be paying off, as recent polls show he has eclipsed Kamala Harris as the early frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028. The two latest polls from Emerson College and Politico/Citrin both put Newsom 6 points ahead of the next closest competitor in the Democratic primary. In the Emerson poll, taken Aug. 4-5, Pete Buttigieg trailed Newsom 23% to 17%. Harris followed at 11%, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was next at 9%. In the Politico poll, taken July 28-Aug. 12, Newsom led with 25%, while Harris, Buttigieg and Ocasio-Cortez trailed at 19%, 13%, and 10% respectively. A few months ago, Newsom was not leading. In a June Emerson College poll, Buttigieg topped the field at 16%, followed by Harris at 12% and Newsom at 12%. Before June, Harris led most polls at about 30%, followed by combinations of Buttigieg, Ocasio-Cortez, and Newsom around 10% each. Newsom's success in the polls stems from his greatly increased visibility in recent months. He has started a podcast, 'This is Gavin Newsom,' which has drawn hundreds of thousands of listeners/viewers with guests such as former Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, as well as conservatives Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon. Over the last few weeks, his team has also started imitating Donald Trump's all-capitalized tweeting style on Twitter, drawing millions of views. On Wednesday, he continued his parody of Trump's Truth Social posts, criticizing Fox News in the same style as the President: 'WOW! FOX NEWS CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT ME (GAVIN C. NEWSOM), AMERICA'S FAVORITE GOVERNOR!!! TONIGHT THEIR ENTIRE PRIMETIME LINEUP WAS ABOUT ME!' Newsom will remain governor of California until January 2027 and cannot run for reelection due to term limits, after serving since 2019. Over the summer, he toured South Carolina, a likely key early state in the 2028 Democratic primary calendar. While he has not said he is planning to run, signs indicate his candidacy is likely. Early polls for the Republican who will face the Democratic presidential nominee are more one-sided. An Echelon Insights poll of 1,057 likely voters conducted Aug. 14-18 found that 43% favored JD Vance in a Republican primary. Far behind Vance were Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Ron DeSantis, tied at 9%, and Marco Rubio at 6%. Newsom and Vance have begun criticizing each other over the last week as well. On Aug. 16, Newsom's press office began the exchange with a tweet saying, 'NOT EVEN JD 'JUST DANCE' VANCE CAN SAVE TRUMP FROM THE DISASTROUS MAPS 'WAR' HE HAS STARTED. NOT EVEN HIS EYELINER LINES LOOK AS PRETTY AS CALIFORNIA 'MAP' LINES.' Vance responded to Newsom's new style, saying, 'This idea that Gavin Newsom is somehow going to mimic Donald Trump's style, I think that ignores the fundamental genius of President Trump's political success, which is that he's authentic. He just is who he is. You've got to be yourself, you've got to actually talk to people honestly about the issues. I don't think it's that complicated; don't be a crazy person, be authentic, if the Democrats did that, they'd do a hell of a lot better."
Chicago Tribune
24 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
California Gov. Newsom signs legislation calling for special election on redrawn congressional map
SACRAMENTO, Calif — California voters will decide in November whether to approve a redrawn congressional map designed to help Democrats win five more U.S. House seats next year, after Texas Republicans advanced their own redrawn map to pad their House majority by the same number of seats at President Donald Trump's urging. California lawmakers voted mostly along party lines Thursday to approve legislation calling for the special election. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has led the campaign in favor of the map, then quickly signed it — the latest step in a tit-for-tat gerrymandering battle. 'We don't want this fight and we didn't choose this fight, but with our democracy on the line, we will not run away from this fight,' Democratic Assemblyman Marc Berman said. Republicans, who have filed a lawsuit and called for a federal investigation into the plan, promised to keep fighting it. California Assemblyman James Gallagher, the Republican minority leader, said Trump was 'wrong' to push for new Republican seats elsewhere, contending the president was just responding to Democratic gerrymandering in other states. But he warned that Newsom's approach, which the governor has dubbed 'fight fire with fire,' was dangerous. 'You move forward fighting fire with fire and what happens?' Gallagher asked. 'You burn it all down.' In Texas, the Republican-controlled state Senate was scheduled to vote on a map Thursday night. After that, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's signature will be all that is needed to make the map official. It's part of Trump's effort to stave off an expected loss of the GOP's majority in the U.S. House in the 2026 midterm elections. What states are doing in the battle over congressional maps as Texas pursues plan President Donald Trump soughtOn a national level, the partisan makeup of existing districts puts Democrats within three seats of a majority. The incumbent president's party usually loses congressional seats in the midterms. The president has pushed other Republican-controlled states including Indiana and Missouri to also revise their maps to add more winnable GOP seats. Ohio Republicans were also already scheduled to revise their maps to make them more partisan. The U.S. Supreme Court has said the Constitution does not outlaw partisan gerrymandering, only using race to redraw district lines. Texas Republicans embraced that when their House of Representatives passed its revision Wednesday. 'The underlying goal of this plan is straight forward: improve Republican political performance,' state Rep. Todd Hunter, the Republican who wrote the bill revising Texas' maps, said. On Thursday, California Democrats noted Hunter's comments and said they had to take extreme steps to counter the Republican move. 'What do we do, just sit back and do nothing? Or do we fight back?' Democratic state Sen. Lena Gonzalez said. 'This is how we fight back and protect our democracy.' Republicans and some Democrats championed the 2008 ballot measure that established California's nonpartisan redistricting commission, along with the 2010 one that extended its role to drawing congressional maps. Democrats have sought a national commission that would draw lines for all states but have been unable to pass legislation creating that system. Trump's midterm redistricting ploy has shifted Democrats. That was clear in California, where Newsom was one of the members of his party who backed the initial redistricting commission ballot measures, and where Assemblyman Joshua Lowenthal, whose father, Rep. Alan Lowenthal, was another Democratic champion of a nonpartisan commission, presided over the state Assembly's passage of the redistricting package. Newsom on Thursday contended his state was still setting a model. 'We'll be the first state in U.S. history, in the most democratic way, to submit to the people of our state the ability to determine their own maps,' Newsom said before signing the legislation. Former President Barack Obama, who's also backed a nationwide nonpartisan approach, has also backed Newsom's bid to redraw the California map, saying it was a necessary step to stave off the GOP's Texas move. 'I think that approach is a smart, measured approach,' Obama said Tuesday during a fundraiser for the Democratic Party's main redistricting arm, noting that California voters will still have the final say on the map. Bipartisan group led by ex-Obama officials 'rolling the dice' on new remapping plan for Illinois legislatureThe California map would last only through 2030, after which the state's commission would draw up a new map for the normal, once-a-decade redistricting to adjust district lines after the decennial U.S. Census. Democrats are also mulling reopening Maryland's and New York's maps for mid-decade redraws. However, more Democratic-run states have commission systems like California's or other redistricting limits than Republican ones do, leaving the GOP with a freer hand to swiftly redraw maps. New York, for example, can't draw new maps until 2028, and even then, only with voter approval. In Texas, outnumbered Democrats turned to unusual steps to try to delay passage, leaving the state to delay a vote by 15 days. Upon their return, they were assigned round-the-clock police monitoring. California Republicans didn't take such dramatic steps but complained bitterly about Democrats muscling the package through the Statehouse and harming what GOP State Sen. Tony Strickland called the state's 'gold-standard' nonpartisan approach. 'What you're striving for is predetermined elections,' Strickland said. 'You're taking the voice away from Californians.'
Axios
24 minutes ago
- Axios
Newsom signs California redistricting measures in response to Texas bill
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two redistricting bills into law on Thursday evening after a Democratic-controlled Legislature passed them earlier in the day. Why it matters: The legislation is in direct response to Texas' Republican-controlled House passing a new congressional map at the urging of President Trump, and the consequences of both could prove pivotal in the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election.
