Border Patrol chief crashes Newsom's rollout of California redistricting campaign

San Francisco Chronicle​

6 hours ago

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday formally launched his California redistricting campaign at an event in Los Angeles.
Speaking at a podium emblazoned with the apparent slogan for the ballot measure Newsom is pushing — the Election Rigging Response Act — a series of supporters framed the measure as a response to efforts by Republicans to redraw their own maps.
'If we do not fight back, they will continue to seize unfettered power, defy the will of the people and threaten the health and wellbeing of all of us,' said Jodi Hicks, CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California.
Newsom's press office posted on social media that Border Patrol officers gathered outside the event with a photograph of masked agents, some armed with guns and zip ties. Among the officers was Gregory Bovino, head of the El Centro sector, which has aggressively touted its anti-immigrant stance on social media and is under a court injunction blocking the agency from indiscriminately arresting people based on their appearance or location.
'We're here making Los Angeles a safer place, since we don't have politicians that'll do that,' Bovino tells a reporter in the clip posted by Newsom's office.
'WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED!' the office wrote in the post.
When Newsom announced that dozens of federal agents were outside the event, the crowd booed.
'I know they say don't mess with Texas,' Newsom said. 'Well don't mess with the great Golden State.'
Officers arrested 'a few' people outside the event, Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said.
The announcement Newsom promised at the rally was mostly symbolic. Newsom has been advocating publicly for his redistricting push for weeks.
Newsom's press office hyped up the event in a series of posts on social media that mocked President Donald Trump's frequent all caps missives.
'CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE 'BEAUTIFUL MAPS,' THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!),' the office posted. 'BIG PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH POWERFUL DEMS AND GAVIN NEWSOM — YOUR FAVORITE GOVERNOR — THAT WILL BE DEVASTATING FOR 'MAGA.' THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!'
In keeping with the governor's new trolling persona, he and his allies are calling the launch Liberation Day, the name Trump used for the day he announced steep taxes on foreign imports known as tariffs on goods from most other countries.
Newsom first floated the idea of California redrawing its congressional maps to favor Democrats last month, after Texas lawmakers moved to redraw their maps to favor Republicans. He announced earlier this month he will ask voters to enact his plan in a November special election.
That gives Newsom a very short window to convince Californians to temporarily roll back a state law they passed in 2010 that took the power to draw congressional maps from the state Legislature and gave it to an independent redistricting commission. To override the current commission-drawn maps, Newsom must seek voter approval.
Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, said Democratic lawmakers will unveil the new proposed maps this week. Lawmakers are expected to pass the measure to place them on the ballot next week when they return from their summer recess. Newsom has said the rollback will be temporary and that the gerrymandered maps would only be in effect for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections.
Opponents are already gearing up for a counter-offensive. In an email, a spokesperson for the opponents said that Charles Munger Jr., the wealthy Palo Alto physicist who funded the 2010 independent redistricting measure, is prepared to 'vigorously defend the reforms he helped pass.'
'Two wrongs do not make a right, and California shouldn't stoop to the same tactics as Texas,' spokesperson Amy Thoma Tan wrote. 'Instead, we should push other states to adopt our independent, non-partisan commission model across the country.'
Republicans control a slim majority of seats in the House of Representatives — 219 compared with Democrats' 212. States redraw their congressional maps each decade after the census, but Texas Republicans' moves to redraw their maps at Trump's urging has sparked a rare mid-decade redistricting push. Republicans are hoping to stave off expected losses in the midterm elections, when a president's party typically loses seats. Democrats are hoping to counter them.