Newsom urges Trump to abandon redistricting fight as Texas Republicans remain stymied on new maps
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Responding to Texas, Newsom and other California Democrats are considering new boundaries to yield a five-seat shift toward Democrats. That would require, however, getting California voters to set aside existing maps drawn by an independent commission. New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker have promised similar efforts.
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Newsom urged Trump in a letter Monday to abandon his scheme, telling the president he is 'playing with fire' and 'risking the destabilization of our democracy.'
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Newsom said he prefers that independent bodies draw political districts rather than partisan legislatures, as is done in Texas and most GOP-controlled states. But, he wrote, 'California cannot stand idly by as this power grab unfolds.'
If Texas and 'the other states call off their redistricting efforts,' the governor added, 'we will happily do the same. And American democracy will be better for it.'
Dozens of Texas Democratic lawmakers are staying in Illinois, New York and elsewhere, and they say they have no intentions of returning as long as Republicans are intent on mollifying Trump.
'Democrats, especially in Texas, are standing firm,' said Representative Rhetta Bowers at a gathering of Texas lawmakers Monday in Illinois.
The minority caucus intends to run out the clock on the current special session, which cannot extend beyond Aug. 19. But Governor Greg Abbott said he'll call lawmakers back to the Statehouse again and again until enough Democrats show up to reach the 100-member threshold required to vote on the bill.
Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a US Senate candidate, want state courts to remove lawmakers, asserting that they have abandoned their posts. Paxton also has asked an Illinois court to enforce Texas civil warrants issued for the absent lawmakers' arrests. For now, the lawmakers who are out of state remain beyond the reach of Texas authorities and the warrants.
'If they show back up in the state of Texas, they will be arrested and taken to the Capitol,' Abbott said over the weekend on 'Fox News Sunday.'
At the least, Texas lawmakers face $500 daily fines for each absence under legislative rules. But Bowers and others have said they remain undeterred. She compared both the proposed Texas maps, which would disproportionately affect districts represented by Black and Latino Democrats, and Abbott's and Paxton's threats to the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-20th century.
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Republicans, she said, are using 'the very same tactics used against Black and brown Americans' who pushed for passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 'Their fight is our fight, and just like the Civil Rights heroes of the past, no matter the cost we are prepared to see it through to the end,' Bowers said.
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The Hill
a few seconds ago
- The Hill
GOP senator on DC carjacking fears: ‘I don't buckle up'
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2 minutes ago
Ukraine, left out in Trump-Putin summit, fears setbacks on key peace issues
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"We must learn from the experience of Ukraine, [and] our partners, to prevent deception by Russia," Zelenskyy said in a statement posted to social media on Wednesday. "There is no sign now that the Russians are preparing to end the war," he added. "Our coordinated efforts and joint steps -- of Ukraine, the United States, Europe, all countries that want peace -- can definitely force Russia to make peace." Trump said Wednesday after the virtual meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders that there will be "severe consequences" against Russia if Putin did not agree to stop his war on Ukraine. Oleksandr Merezhko -- a member of the Ukrainian parliament and chair of the body's foreign affairs committee -- likened the coming Alaska summit to the 1938 Munich Agreement -- a pre-World War II accord by which European powers allowed Nazi Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia without Prague's consent. 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Putin has regularly expressed concern over NATO's eastward expansion, framing the alliance's growth as an existential security threat to Russia. He has repeatedly warned the alliance against accepting Ukraine as a member, accusing the organization of trying to turn the country into a launch pad for aggression. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Grushko, said in March that Moscow is seeking "the neutral status of Ukraine, the refusal of NATO countries to accept it into the alliance." Ukrainian officials have continued in their bid to join NATO -- an ambition that has the backing of the vast majority of Ukrainians and is enshrined in the national constitution. During a news conference earlier this year, Zelenskyy offered to step down from the presidency in exchange for admission to NATO. "If to achieve peace you really need me to give up my post -- I'm ready. I can trade it for NATO membership, if there are such conditions." 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CNBC
2 minutes ago
- CNBC
Economist Sumerlin confirms he's in the running for Fed chair, backs big interest rate cut
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