California Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs Bill Launching Redistricting Effort
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Thursday officially setting a special election for Nov. 4, where voters will decide on who controls the state’s electoral maps for the next five years.
According to AP News, California lawmakers approved the legislation across party lines on Thursday. Gov. Newsom introduced the Election Rigging Response Act last week in response to redistricting efforts in Texas. Newsom said he would be willing to drop California’s redistricting effort if Texas dropped theirs. After the Texas House of Representatives voted to pass a new electoral map that adds five seats in districts Trump won in the 2024 election, California legislators held the vote on their redistricting effort.
“This is not something six weeks ago that I ever imagined that I’d be doing,” Newsom said at a news conference after signing the legislation. “This is a reaction to an assault on our democracy in Texas.”
Texas Republicans have been incredibly frank that their redistricting effort has been strictly for political gain. “The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward: improve Republican political performance,” Texas state Rep. Todd Hunter, who wrote the bill revising Texas’ maps, said on Wednesday.
“What do we do, just sit back and do nothing? Or do we fight back?” California Democratic state Sen. Lena Gonzalez said on Thursday about the Texas redistricting effort. “This is how we fight back and protect our democracy.”
California redistricting is currently controlled by an independent redistricting committee. Should voters approve the California redistricting change, control would shift to the state legislature for the next five years. In 2030, control of California’s maps would revert to the independent commission ahead of the new Census. If control is given to the California state legislature, Gov. Newsom intends to implement a new electoral map that would neutralize the GOP’s gains in Texas.
Gov. Newsom has been one of the loudest advocates for Democratic redistricting efforts. Earlier this week, Former President Barack Obama voiced his approval for Newsom’s efforts during a fundraiser for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, an organization founded by former Attorney General Eric Holder to combat partisan gerrymandering.
“On this California issue, I want to see as a long-term goal that we do not have political gerrymandering in America. That would be my preference,” Obama said at the event. “But I want to be very clear. Given that Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House that is effectively saying: gerrymander for partisan purposes so we can maintain the House despite our unpopular policies, redistrict right in the middle of a decade between censuses – which is not how the system was designed; I have tremendous respect for how Gov. Newsom has approached this.”
Democratic leaders nationwide have begun looking into how they can combat growing redistricting efforts in Red states. The New York State legislature introduced a bill that would allow it to trigger a mid-decade redistricting if another state did it first, though the earliest that could go into effect is 2028. Former Attorney General Eric Holder met with House Democrats last week to discuss strategy on combating redistricting efforts in Red states.
State Republicans have tried to stall the California redistricting process with little success. The California Supreme Court rejected a petition filed by state Republicans on Wednesday. “Petitioners have failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief at this time under California Constitution article IV, section 8,” a court order read.
Sen. Tony Strickland, Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares, Assemblymember Tri Ta, and Assemblymember Kate Sanchez, the state Republicans who filed the lawsuit, issued a joint statement saying the ruling was “not the end of this fight.”
“We will continue to challenge this unconstitutional power grab in the courts and at the ballot box. Californians deserve fair, transparent elections, not secret backroom deals to protect politicians,” it continued.
I’m sorry, but if they were serious about combating “unconstitutional power grabs,” they would call out their party and their president for starting this unnecessary fight to begin with.
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