Trump Attacked California's Congressional Maps. Republicans Want to Save Them.
'California's gerrymandered,' Mr. Trump said last week. 'We should have many more seats in Congress in California.' The week before, Vice President JD Vance wrote on X that 'the gerrymander in California is outrageous.'
Political scientists who study redistricting say that the state's system for drawing maps, which is overseen by a bipartisan independent commission, gives Democrats a slight statistical edge. Even so, Republican officials in California say that the commission is considerably better than the alternative: letting the Democrat-dominated legislature draw the lines.
'I would argue that independent redistricting benefits Republicans in California,' said Matt Rexroad, a Republican political consultant and redistricting expert.
The commission is receiving more scrutiny as a fierce tit-for-tat over redistricting ricochets across the country. At Mr. Trump's request, Texas lawmakers have drafted new maps to help Republicans win five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has vowed to respond in kind, by redrawing congressional districts in his state to create more seats that Democrats are likely to win.
Mr. Newsom's plan would toss the independent commission's maps through 2030 and replace them with intentionally partisan districts created by Democratic lawmakers. That has California Republicans working to preserve the maps Mr. Trump criticized as they try to block Mr. Newsom's attempt at a Democratic gerrymander.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas just banned smartphones at school. I regret ever buying my kids one.
I have a love-hate relationship with my kids' smartphones. So I was relieved when I saw that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed legislation that bans cell phones in public schools. School starts soon for us, and as a parent with children who have had phones at school, I'm glad to see the ban go into effect this 2025-26 school year. 'Educators and researchers have raised concerns about the impact that smartphones have on student learning and student engagement,' Abbott said. 'Experts have explained that smartphones and social media affect the mental health of children. If we are going to be number one in education, it is going to require the undivided attention of our students in the classroom.' In my kids' district, elementary and middle school students previously have been discouraged from using phones. But high school students were allowed to use them in class. In fact, it seemed as if some teachers encouraged cell phone use for schoolwork. I would receive texts from my kids at school about all manner of things and an occasional email from a teacher that one of my children had been on their phone when they were supposed to be listening. Some parents have concerns about whether their children would be able to reach them during emergencies. I hope they still can. But I also hope that schools remain firm in enforcing the new state policy. If students cannot arbitrarily access their phones during school hours, it will be a net good for everyone. States banning phones in schools is a growing trend Texas joins more than a dozen states that have enacted bans on phones. More states have some kind of anti-cell phones in school policy than don't. In 2023, Florida banned phones in middle and elementary schools, with looser restrictions in high schools. Now Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has signed a bill that requires "bell-to-bell" cell phone-free classrooms in public K–12 schools. New York has a similar policy. Opinion newsletter: Sign up for our newsletter on conservative values, family and religion from columnist Nicole Russell. Get it delivered to your inbox. Most educators agree with these measures, perhaps because they've seen firsthand the problems with kids having phones. According to Pew Research Center's 2024 polling data, 72% of high school teachers say phone distractions are a major problem. A June 2025 Pew poll found that 74% of U.S. adults say they support banning middle and high school students from using phones during class, up from 68% the prior year. Opinion: School cell phone bans are a distraction. The real crisis isn't in your kid's hand. Smartphones are a land mine for kids, parents and educators As a parent, phones have been more of a land mine than I thought they would be. I was cautious at first about their use, but I also could see the practical benefits, especially for logistics. What if my child needs to be picked up from practice early? What if my child needs to contact me while at a friend's house? But smartphones also open a world of issues I couldn't have predicted when I purchased them for my older children years ago. I now regret that I did − and not even because of the worst dangers such as online predators. Opinion: My 4-year-old asked for a smartphone. Here's what I did next as a parent. One of the hardest things to combat is how phones rewire kids' brains, so that they crave 24/7 access to the internet for entertainment and connecting with friends. Few things can capture a kid's attention faster than a notification on their phone. Even with house rules in place, it's an ongoing matter of discussion and tension. Using phones at school exacerbates the problems. But bans on the use of smartphones at school give me hope that students will begin to connect with the real world. Research backs this up. In an Aug. 4 article in The Atlantic, "What Kids Told Us About How to Get Them Off Their Phones," writers Lenore Skenazy, Zach Rausch and Jonathan Haidt noted that many children have more freedom to roam virtual worlds than the real one we inhabit. But deep down, the writers conclude, children want and need real-life interactions. Without phones in school, students are more likely to socialize with their peers. They're more likely to have real experiences and make real friends. And that's better for educators, parents and kids. Nicole Russell is a columnist at USA TODAY and a mother of four who lives in Texas. Contact her at nrussell@ and follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @russell_nm. Sign up for her weekly newsletter, The Right Track, here. You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Should schools ban phones? As a parent, I'm all for it | Opinion
Politico
12 minutes ago
- Politico
Another megabill? Senate Republicans have their doubts.
And Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said he's open to considering as many as 200 tax proposals from his members that were ultimately not included in the first megabill. But most senators have questions about what could go into another reconciliation package — and they're casting doubts on whether it's even politically possible to do this all over again. 'You have to have a reason to do it,' said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). 'It's not easy to do, so you have to have a purpose for doing it in the first place.' That unifying purpose for Republicans the first time around was a desire to deliver Trump a major legislative victory early in his second term and prevent a tax hike that they feared would weaken the economy. Republican leaders' decision to throw in a debt limit extension through 2026 as Treasury warned the nation would soon exceed its borrowing authority added a do-or-die incentive. 'Without the pressure, I don't see how you get it done,' said one Republican senator, granted anonymity to speak freely, about prospects for passing a second reconciliation bill without an existential impetus for action. 'I don't think I see what the pressure is here.' At the same time, despite the White House's enthusiasm for another reconciliation bill, administration officials have not yet told lawmakers what policies they want considered, according to three people speaking on condition of anonymity. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) — chairs of the committees on Armed Services and Budget, respectively — also said before leaving for recess they have not received guidance from the White House. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said he still hadn't heard from the administration about its broader set of legislative priorities heading into the fall. At this point, the loudest reconciliation push in the Senate is coming from deficit hawks like Sen. Ron Johnson, who wants to use another bill to cut spending further than what conservatives were able to achieve in the first package.
Bloomberg
12 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Stock Movers: Orsted, S4 Capital, Rheinmetall
On this episode of Stock Movers: - Shares in Danish company Orsted A/S dropped as much as 24% after it announced it will conduct a rights offering to raise as much as 60 billion Danish kroner ($9.4 billion). -S4 Capital, the advertising agency founded by Martin Sorrell, is in talks to combine with private equity-owned MSQ Partners. - European defense stocks are significantly underperforming on Monday morning, with markets looking to US President Donald Trump's efforts to broker an agreement to end the war in Ukraine through a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week.
