‘I'll be back': Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to take on Newsom over gerrymandering in California
In retaliation against President Donald Trump 's push for aggressive partisan redistricting in Texas, Newsom said he aims to redraw California's U.S. House maps before the 2026 midterm elections.
Now Schwarzenegger, the architect of California's nonpartisan redistricting system, is preparing to campaign against Newsom's partisan gerrymandering proposal.
'He calls gerrymandering evil, and he means that. He thinks it's truly evil for politicians to take power from people,' Schwarzenegger spokesperson Daniel Ketchell told Politico on Monday.
'He's opposed to what Texas is doing, and he's opposed to the idea that California would race to the bottom to do the same thing.'
Newsom said Thursday that he was considering asking the state Legislature to place his proposition to alter the map on November's Uniform District Election ballot.
'This is not going to be done in a back room,' Newsom told reporters. 'It's going to be given to the voters for their consideration in a very transparent way, so they know exactly what they're doing.'
The move is seen as a response to Texas lawmakers' plan to approve a new congressional map aimed at flipping five Democrat-held districts to Republican control.
The Legislature's ongoing special session ground to a halt on Sunday after Texas Democrats fled from their state to Chicago and New York evening to block the redistricting vote.
On Monday, Newsom, a Democrat, told reporters that he is ready to fight 'fire with fire.'
If the governor secures a two-thirds majority in the state Legislature to place his proposal on the ballot, it could derail a key legacy of Schwarzenegger's seven-year tenure as California's last GOP governor from 2003 to 2011.
Schwarzenegger is reportedly preparing to be the face of a 'No' campaign, reuniting many of the forces that came together during his time in office to oppose Newsom's measure if it appears on the ballot.
Charles Munger Jr, a GOP donor who funded the push to create the independent commission, wrote on X last month: 'Any attempt to undermine the nonpartisan California Redistricting Commission will be strongly opposed in the courts and at the ballot box.'
Munger, the son of Warren Buffett's business partner, was one of the California Republican Party's leading funders during Schwarzenegger's governorship.
The 78-year-old Hollywood star led the effort to curb gerrymandering in California, resulting in two successful ballot measures in 2008 and 2010.
That pair of constitutional amendments placed an independent commision, not a lawmaker, in charge of drawing California's political map once per decade.
After leaving office, Schwarzenegger lobbied other states to adopt nonpartisan systems with mixed results in Michigan, Colorado, Virginia and Ohio.
He also filed an amicus brief when the U.S. Supreme Court took up a landmark case on gerrymandering in 2019, arguing that the tactic undermines democracy and voter trust.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
15 minutes ago
- The Independent
‘We're not leaving': Border Patrol uses ‘Trojan Horse' unmarked truck to resume deportation raids
A group of masked Border Patrol agents leapt out of an unmarked commercial truck and arrested 16 people on Wednesday outside a Home Depot store in the Westlake section of Los Angeles, in an operation critics say violates a series of recent court rulings against the Trump administration. 'For those who thought immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again,' Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, whose district includes Los Angeles, wrote in a statement on X. 'The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable, and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.' The raid, which officials later called Operation Trojan Horse, began around 6:45am, according to bystanders. A yellow Penske box truck reportedly approached day laborers in the parking lot of the store and someone asked for workers in Spanish. As a crowd gathered, the doors to the truck's trailer flew open and agents jumped out, chasing people through the parking lot. "This is the worst feeling ever," a day laborer who identified himself as Caesar told The Los Angeles Times of watching the raid. Critics said the raid violated a Friday ruling from the federal Ninth Circuit Court, which upheld a temporary restraining order barring Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement from carrying out roving immigration raids solely on the basis of people's perceived ethnicity, language, location, or occupation. The ruling came after a lower court paused such raids in response to a lawsuit from immigrants and civil rights groups accusing federal agents of racial profiling during their immigration sweeps across the Los Angeles area, making arrests that included a U.S. citizen and a lawfully present day laborer outside a Home Depot. 'Border Patrol at a Home Depot in Los Angeles days after the 9th circuit affirmed a court order that purports to block this exact behavior,' David Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute think tank, wrote on Bluesky. 'They don't even know who they're chasing! This is insane. Send them all to jail.' The Department of Homeland Security believes that the MS-13 gang has a 'chokehold' on the area, part of the rationale for such 'highly optic immigration raids,' Matt Finn of Fox News, who embedded with agents for the Home Depot operation, reported on X. The Independent has contacted the Border Patrol, the Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli's office for comment. 'Penske strictly prohibits the transportation of people in the cargo area of its vehicles under any circumstances,' Penske said in a statement on X. 'The company was not made aware that its trucks would be used in today's operation and did not authorize this. Penske will reach out to DHS and reinforce its policy to avoid improper use of its vehicles in the future.' The Border Patrol has raided the store parking lot before, and Wednesday's operation came as the agency continued to carry out operations across the Los Angeles area. 'Different day, different illegal aliens, same objective,' the Border Patrol's Gregory Bovino, commander of the multi-agency Operation At Large, wrote on X, sharing video of agents arresting men outside a car wash. 'We're on a mission here in Los Angeles. And we're not leaving until we accomplish our goals.' Los Angeles, which has one of the largest immigrant populations in the country, has been at the center of the Trump administration's unprecedented immigration crackdown. Federal officials sent National Guard troops and Marines to the city over the objection of local and state officials in the face of mass protests against federal raids. The Border Patrol has made use of rules allowing it to operate within 100 miles of any U.S. border to carry out large-scale raids across Los Angeles, Sacramento, and farm areas in the state's Central Valley.
Reuters
16 minutes ago
- Reuters
Oil prices slide to 8-week low as US-Russia talks stir sanction uncertainty
NEW YORK, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Oil prices slid about 1% to an eight-week low on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks about progress in talks with Moscow created uncertainty on whether the U.S. would impose new sanctions on Russia. Brent crude futures fell 75 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $66.89 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 81 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $64.35. Those moves marked a fifth consecutive day of losses for both crude benchmarks, with Brent closing at its lowest since June 10 and WTI closing at its lowest since June 5. Trump said on Wednesday that his special envoy Steve Witkoff made "great progress" in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Washington continued its preparations to impose secondary sanctions on Friday. Trump has threatened additional sanctions on Moscow if no moves are made to end the war in Ukraine. "Everyone agrees this war must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come," Trump said, without providing further details. Russia is the world's second-biggest producer of crude after the U.S., so any potential deal that would reduce sanctions would make it easier for Russia to export more oil. Earlier in the day, oil prices rose after Trump issued an executive order imposing an additional 25% tariff on goods from India, saying it directly or indirectly imported Russian oil. The new import tax will go into effect 21 days after August 7. India, along with China, is a major buyer of Russian oil. "For the time being, the 21-day start to the new Indian tariffs, while Russia tries to put together some kind of cease fire agreement ahead of President Trump's August 8 deadline, still leaves too much uncertainty around the situation," Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho, said in a note. In addition to the tariff and sanction uncertainty, analysts said a planned OPEC+ supply increase has weighed on the market in recent days. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meanwhile, will visit China for the first time in over seven years, a government source said on Wednesday, in a further sign of a diplomatic thaw with Beijing as tensions with the U.S. rise. In other news, Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, on Wednesday hiked its September crude oil prices for Asian buyers, the second monthly rise in a row, on tight supply and robust demand. Oil markets found support earlier in the day from a bigger-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories last week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said energy firms pulled 3 million barrels of crude from inventories during the week ended August 1. , That was much bigger than the 0.6-million-barrel draw analysts forecast in a Reuters poll, but was smaller than the decline of 4.2 million barrels that market sources said the American Petroleum Institute trade group cited in its figures on Tuesday.
Telegraph
16 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Indiana's answer to Alligator Alcatraz? The Speedway Slammer
The Trump administration will send up to 1,000 migrants to an expanded prison in Indiana dubbed the Speedway Slammer. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the prison, which appears to have been named after the state's motorsport industry, said the facility will 'house some of the worst criminal aliens arrested by ICE'. The detention facility is the latest creatively-named project from the Trump administration set to open as part of Donald Trump's efforts to carry out the largest mass deportation in US history. Last month, Florida unveiled Alligator Alcatraz, a newly built 3,000 capacity prison constructed on the swampy site of an abandoned airstrip deep in Florida's Everglades. Announcing the expansion of Miami Correctional Facility in Indiana, Kristi Noem, the US Department of Homeland Security Secretary, said: COMING SOON to Indiana: The Speedway Slammer. Today, we're announcing a new partnership with the state of Indiana to expand detention bed space by 1,000 beds. Thanks to @GovBraun for his partnership to help remove the worst of the worst out of our country. If you are in… — Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) August 6, 2025 The Miami Correctional Facility is a maximum-security prison located at the former Grissom Air Force Base about 70 miles north of Indianapolis. It has a capacity of up to 3,100 people. Annie Goeller, chief communications officer for the Indiana Department of Correction, previously said part of the facility had not been filled because of a staffing shortages. 'We are proud to work with president Trump and secretary Noem as they remove the worst of the worst with this innovative partnership,' said Indiana Governor Mike Braun. 'Indiana is taking a comprehensive and collaborative approach to combating illegal immigration and will continue to lead the way among states.' In a press release, the DHS said the agreement was an outcome of Mr Trump's 'one big beautiful bill', which set out funding for 80,000 new beds for ICE. The department's X account also shared an AI generated image of an open-wheel race car with 'ICE' emblazoned on its side and rear wing. The Hoosier State has already supported the Trump administration's efforts to expand ICE capacity. Last month Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, announced Camp Atterbury, a military base around 40 miles from Indianapolis, would be used to temporarily hold migrants for DHS, according to previous reports. Since the Alligator Alcatraz opened last month, hundreds of people have been rounded up and sent to the makeshift encampment. Deportation flights have taken off directly from the facility.
