California Democrats to pass redistricting map to offset Texas
Aug. 21 (UPI) -- California is preparing to counter with a redistricting plan to add five likely Democratic seats to the U.S. House of Representatives after Texas approved its own redistricting map favoring Republicans.
The California state Assembly and Senate will consider three bills that will allow for a special election to pass a constitutional amendment to replace the state's existing congressional maps through 2030. Then Democrats must convince Californians to vote to overturn the congressional maps drafted by the independent redistricting commission voters that were first empowered to draw the lines in 2010.
Texas approved its redistricting map Thursday night, despite weeks of protest. The Texas Senate is expected to approve the measure Friday and pass the bill along to Gov. Greg Abbott, R, who will certainly sign.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, D, has vowed to create more seats for Democrats in Congress by creating a new map in its own state, the most populous in the nation.
"It's on, Texas," Newsom tweeted Wednesday night.
The orders for the special election must be transmitted to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, by Friday to get the measure on the November ballot.
California Democrats have said their redistricting push is a reaction to the Texas plan and President Donald Trump's effort to create a more favorable 2026 midterm election map. The California legislation includes a trigger clause that says the state will only redistrict if other states like Texas seek to implement their own mid-decade redistricting.
The package of bills was advanced by the Assembly and Senate's appropriations committees on Wednesday.
The state Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a challenge from state Republicans who filed a lawsuit earlier this week requesting an emergency injunction to stop the redistricting effort on the grounds that the legislature didn't give voters enough notice.
California has an independent redistricting committee process that is popular with voters, and Newsom and his allies insist that they still support that.
But they argue that their partisan response to Texas is necessary to check the power of Trump. During a call with reporters organized by the Democratic National Committee on Wednesday, Newsom said the fight is "the rule of Don versus the rule of law."
"This is a different person. This is a different presidency," Newsom said of Trump's second term. "It requires a different approach than we've seen in the past. And so I think this is the ultimate wake-up call -- trying to rig this election before one vote is even cast before 2026."
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