Newsom to unveil redistricting plan for California in response to Texas
Newsom and other Democratic leaders plan to announce an effort to quickly redraw the state's congressional districts.
This move comes after Texas announced plans to add five more Republican districts.
The California legislature will take up the issue next week to call a Nov. 4 special election.
LOS ANGELES - California Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to formally unveil his plan on Thursday to redistrict California's congressional districts in response to Trump's plan to redraw Texas.
Newom said if Texas redistricts its congressional districts to add five more Republican districts, then California will change its maps to add five more Democratic districts.
Newsom, along with other Democratic leaders, will hold a press conference at 11:30 a.m. in Los Angeles.
Fight fire with fire'
Taking a note from Trump himself, Newsom took to X to announce his news conference in all caps:
"HUGE "HISTORIC" EVENT — THURSDAY 11:30AM PACIFIC IN LOS ANGELES!!! A "BEAUTIFUL RALLY" / PRESS CONFERENCE WITH GAVIN CHRISTOPHER NEWSOM & STRONG DEMS. DEMOCRATS WILL DESTROY GREG ABBOTT'S "TOTALLY RIGGED MAPS." TREMENDOUS WORK IS BEING DONE. DONALD TRUMP (THE CRIMINAL PRESIDENT) GET READY FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PAYBACK YOU'VE EVER SEEN!!! COULD BE THE WORST DAY OF YOUR LIFE AS YOUR PRESIDENCY ENDS (DEMS RETAKE CONGRESS!). AMERICA WILL BE LIBERATED — "LIBERATION DAY" MANY ARE CALLING IT!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! — GCN."
Newsom's social media team also mocked Speaker Mike Johnson and President Trump by saying in a separate post on X that California will "fire him with new, more beautiful maps."
Redrawing Texas
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.
Redistricting plan could be left to voters
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.
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.
"This is crazy," Mitchell said. "It is unprecedented. It shouldn't be happening. But since it is happening, I think California voters are ready. We'll fight fire with fire if we have to."
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.
The Source
Information for this story came from a series of posts on X made by Gov. Newsom's press office. City News Service and KTVU's James Torres contributed to this report.
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