Any eventual Commanders stadium deal will need approval from D.C. Council
First, as mentioned earlier, owner Josh Harris's NFL business partners must approve of the arrangement. Second, the D.C. Council must sign off on it, too.
The second component could be a challenge. As the Washington Post explains it, the potential deal is being driven by mayor Muriel Bowser. Council chair Phil Mendelson said this week that he has 'not been consulted or kept informed' about any negotiations with the team. Added Mendelson, 'I find it disturbing that the mayor believes a unilateral approach is the best course, especially when ultimately the council has to give approval.'
Complicating matters is the loss of $1 billion in Congressional funding for the D.C. budget. That has created a $410 million deficit.
The potential deal, as initially reported by NBC Washington, would have the team and/or the league paying up to $2.5 billion for the $3 billion stadium. That leaves $500 million for D.C. to muster.
Here's the reality. An agreement between the team and Bowser would be the beginning. Before shovels get crammed into the dirt, both the league and the D.C. Council would have to give their blessing.
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CBS News
35 minutes ago
- CBS News
Newsom signs California redistricting plan that could tilt 5 House seats toward Democrats
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed into law a contentious congressional redistricting plan, as state Democrats seek to counter a Trump-backed effort to add to the GOP's House majority by redrawing Texas' congressional maps. The new map — which still needs to be approved by voters — would shift five of California's Republican U.S. House seats to be more favorable to Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections. The legislation easily passed the Democratic-led Assembly and Senate on Thursday. After Newsom's signature, it will be added to the ballot on Nov. 4 for the voters' final say. That election is likely to be expensive and unpredictable given how quickly the effort has come together and how little time there is between the legislature's actions and voters starting to have their say. California Democrats insisted they had no choice but to undertake the new maps after President Trump intervened in Texas and asked Republican lawmakers to redraw the districts to preserve the GOP's razor-thin majority in the U.S. House. Following Newsom's declaration that he would redraw California's maps, several other states said they would undertake similar efforts. "They fired the first shot, Texas. We wouldn't be here had Texas not done what they just did," Newsom said at a signing ceremony Thursday. "We're neutralizing what occurred [in Texas] and we're giving the American people a fair chance." Although California Republicans have denounced the redistricting plan as a "tit-for-tat strategy," the state's Democrats on Thursday touted that the effort is different from Texas since it will be ultimately approved by the state's voters. "In California, we will do whatever it takes to ensure that voters, not Donald Trump, will decide the direction of this country," said Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. "This is a proud moment in the history of this assembly. Californians, we believe in freedom. We will not let our political system be hijacked by authoritarianism, and today, we give every Californian the power to say no. To say no to Donald Trump's power grab and yes to our people, to our state and to our democracy." The Republican-led Texas House on Wednesday approved the new congressional maps after a two-week delay when Democrats left the state to deny a quorum to bring the measure to the floor. The measure now goes to the Texas Senate, where it is likely to pass. Shortly after the Texas House passed the maps, Newsom posted to social media: "It's on." When Texas first launched its redistricting effort, Newsom had vowed to redraw the Golden State's congressional districts to counter the Lone Star State's plan and neutralize any potential GOP gains. Newsom — who is widely seen as a possible 2028 presidential contender — sarcastically congratulated Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott on X, saying, "you will now go down in history as one of Donald Trump's most loyal lapdogs. Shredding our nation's founding principles. What a legacy." President Trump late Wednesday congratulated Texas Republicans for advancing the new maps, writing on social media that "Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself." He also encouraged GOP-led Indiana and Florida to take on redistricting. The relatively rare mid-decade redistricting gambit comes as both parties prepare to face off in 2026 and has major implications nationwide. Republicans have a narrow majority at the moment, and Democrats winning back three seats in the 2026 midterms could be enough to flip control of the chamber if the lines used in the 2024 election were still in place. Redistricting in red states could change that dynamic significantly however, and with it the impact of the final two years on Mr. Trump's second term in office. Texas and California are the two biggest redistricting battlegrounds, but Mr. Trump has pushed similar efforts in GOP-led Indiana and Florida, and New York Democrats have floated redrawing their House map. The Republican-led state of Missouri could also try and redraw a Democratic district in the coming weeks, and new maps are also expected in Ohio, where a redraw brought about by state law could impact some of the red state's Democratic members of Congress. Earlier this week, former President Barack Obama acknowledged that he was not a fan of partisan gerrymandering but he backed Newsom's redistricting plan anyway at a fundraiser in Martha's Vineyard and on social media, calling it a "smart, measured approach." Less than 24 hours before California's scheduled vote, Newsom joined a press call with Democratic party leaders, urging support for his state's redistricting effort. "This is about taking back our country," Newsom told reporters. "This is about the Democratic Party now punching back forcefully and very intentionally." A draft congressional map unveiled by California Democrats late last week would heavily impact five of the state's nine Republican U.S. House members. It would redraw Reps. Doug LaMalfa and Kevin Kiley's Northern California districts, tweak Rep. David Valadao's district in the Central Valley and rearrange parts of densely populated Southern California, impacting Reps. Ken Calvert and Darrell Issa. And some more competitive Democrat-held districts could be tilted further from the GOP. There's no guarantee that Democrats will win in all five newly recast districts. Democrats hold large majorities in both chambers of California's state legislature. But some legal hurdles still lie ahead, and Republicans in the state have pushed back against the redistricting plans. Unlike Texas, California has an independent redistricting commission that was created by voters earlier this century. To overhaul the current congressional map, a constitutional amendment would need to be passed by a two-thirds vote in California's Assembly and Senate and be approved by voters in the fast-moving fall election. On Wednesday, the California Supreme Court denied a GOP attempt to stop the mid-cycle redistricting. California Republicans had legally challenged Democrats' efforts, claiming the state's constitution gives Californians the right to review new legislation for 30 days. But Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero said they "failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief at this time." The GOP legislators who filed the legal challenge told CBS News the ruling is "not the end of this fight," vowing to keep fighting the redistricting plan in the courts. In a phone interview with CBS News on Wednesday, California Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, a Republican, condemned Newsom's redistricting efforts. "This whole process is illegal from the beginning and violates the current California Constitution," Jones said. "The voters spoke with a loud voice in 2008 and 2010 that they were taking this process out of the politicians' hands and putting the responsibility into an independent commission." Democrats faced a flurry of questions from Republican lawmakers during hearings this week on the alleged lack of transparency in the drafting of these maps and the financial implications of the Nov. 4 special election. "If we're talking about the cost of a special election versus the cost of our democracy or the cost that Californians are already paying to subsidize this corrupt administration, those costs seem well worth paying at this moment," said Democratic state Assemblyman Isaac G. Bryan. Democratic lawmakers and Newsom have repeatedly emphasized that these redistricting efforts would not get rid of the independent commission and that the new maps he's hoping to put in place will be the lines used through the 2030 election. The commission would go back to drawing the state's congressional maps after the 2030 census, according to Newsom, who says this is only being done as a response to Mr. Trump and Texas' redistricting. That notion was rejected by Jones, who said: "Growing up, I was taught two wrongs don't make a right, so no, it is not justified." Anne Bryson contributed to this report.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
California Legislature moves forward with gerrymander to counter Texas
SACRAMENTO, California — The California Legislature voted on Thursday to ask the state's voters to gerrymander their congressional districts, aiming to flip five GOP-held House seats and offset Texas Republicans' redistricting drive. Gov. Gavin Newsom planned to sign the suite of legislation hours later, placing a measure on the Nov. 4 ballot that would redraw the state's maps in Democrats' favor until after the 2030 U.S. Census. Lawmakers during hours of debate previewed the arguments expected to power a wildly expensive, Newsom-led campaign in favor of the measure. They cast their move as a rebuke of President Donald Trump, who is deeply unpopular in California and has urged Texan officials to hand the GOP five more House seats. 'This bill gives voters a choice — a choice to keep the current districts or adopt maps to counter the actions of MAGA extremists in Texas who are obediently working to tip the scales for President Trump,' California Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez said. Texas' House approved a Republican-favoring gerrymander Wednesday, and its state Senate is expected to send the new map to Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday evening for his promised signature. Unlike in California, Texas legislators can redraw maps mid-decade without voter approval. California Democrats previously planned to pass a map that would take effect only if Texas acts. But on Thursday morning, they removed that contingency, arguing it was nearly inevitable that Texas would move forward and that voters could be confused by the trigger. The new maps for both states are the first blows in what could amount to a nationwide redistricting war between the two parties, whose leaders are pushing to reshuffle the national congressional map to boost their odds of winning control of the House in 2026. Republicans are hoping Indiana, Missouri and Florida draw new Republican-majority seats, while Ohio's legally mandated redraw will likely create new GOP-leaning congressional districts. Democrats have few opportunities to match Republican efforts beyond Newsom's ballot measure. California Republicans have promised state and federal lawsuits aimed at preventing the measure from going before voters in November. But their first attempt to blunt Democrats' efforts was tossed out by the California Supreme Court on Wednesday. Famous figures from the state party's past including former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are gearing up for an intense campaign this fall. 'We're going to do everything we can to stop this Gavinmander from moving forward,' California Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher told reporters. Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Longtime Texas House Dem says he won't seek reelection if redistricting effort holds
A longtime Democratic House lawmaker from Texas said Thursday he won't run for another term if a Republican redistricting plan pushed by President Trump stands as law in the state. The announcement from 78-year-old Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who has served in Congress since 1995, means Texas Democrats appear to have avoided a potentially messy congressional primary between Doggett and 36-year-old Rep. Greg Casar. The new congressional lines that Republicans are attempting to pass in Texas created a situation where Doggett, who represents Texas' 37th congressional district, and Casar, who represents the 35th congressional district, would likely have had to run against each other on the Democratic side in the 37th district due to new boundaries reshaping Casar's current seat into one favorable to Republicans. Both Casar and Doggett currently represent parts of Austin, Texas. Casar's current seat would be massively redrawn in the proposed changes. Doggett said in a campaign statement Thursday that "if the courts give Trump a victory in his scheme to maintain control of a compliant House, I will not seek reelection in the reconfigured CD37, even though it contains over 2/3rd of my current constituents." Casar, who is in his second term, is chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Doggett was the first Democrat in Congress to call on then-President Joe Biden to leave the 2024 presidential race after his disastrous presidential debate. Before Doggett's announcement Thursday, he had publicly attempted to encourage Casar to run in the redrawn 35th district rather than challenge him in a primary for the 37th district. "My only war is against Trump!" Doggett wrote on social media earlier this month. "2seats better than 1. Abandoning winnable majority Hispanic #TX35 to challenge me in #TX37 helps Trump, divides progressives." Doggett pointed to the political tensions in his statement Thursday, saying, "I had hoped that my commitment to reelection under any circumstances would encourage Congressman Casar to not surrender his winnable district to Trump. While his apparent decision is most unfortunate, I prefer to devote the coming months to fighting Trump tyranny and serving Austin rather than waging a struggle with fellow Democrats. If Trump extreme gerrymandering prevails, I wish Congressman Casar the best." "Lloyd Doggett is an Austin institution," Casar said in a social media post following Doggett's announcement. "I've learned so much from him. I'm grateful to him. The fight for democracy continues." The controversy surrounding the GOP-led Texas redistricting effort has dragged on for weeks after some Democratic Texas state legislators fled the state during a special session in order to prevent Republicans from having a quorum that would allow them to vote on overhauling the state's congressional maps. Eventually they returned, assured that California Democrats are working to counter the congressional gains Texas Republicans are looking to make. On Wednesday, the Texas House passed the bill that will shift the state's congressional maps to potentially give Republicans five more U.S. House seats. The bill is expected to soon easily pass the Senate and then be signed into law by the Republican governor of Texas. A challenge in court to the new map appears likely.
