McCarthy’s Bid to Stop Newsom Remap May Backfire on GOP

Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislators in California are preparing to put a constitutional amendment before voters that will allow them to retaliate against Donald Trump’s Texas power grab by temporarily abolishing the state’s nonpartisan redistricting system. The Californians’ strategic game plan is extremely clear. They have to make this a purely partisan choice for their strongly Democratic state. If you hate Trump, you have the chance to reduce his power right now! Sure, we have to suspend our fine redistricting commission for a bit, but that’s a small price to pay. This makes partisan gerrymandering, a complex and snooze-inducing topic, simple and even emotional.

So if you’re a California Republican who wants to fight this maneuver and perhaps save three to five U.S. House seats, or you’re an independent good-government type who hates the idea of letting politicians manipulate maps to make elections less competitive, you want to make this November special election about anything and everything other than partisanship. Indeed, the past champion of California’s “citizens commission” redistricting system, former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, has exactly the right idea about how to fight Newsom’s gambit:

I’m getting ready for the gerrymandering battle. pic.twitter.com/Lbgr1bnGw8

— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) August 15, 2025

Yes, Schwarzenegger is, at least formally, a Republican, but he’s never been a Trump crony — and, in fact, he endorsed Kamala Harris’s presidential candidacy last year, so he’s got some serious nonpartisan street cred.

You know who doesn’t have any nonpartisan street cred at all? Kevin McCarthy, who is trying to appoint himself captain of the team that will fight to generate “no” votes on Newsom’s gerrymander, according to Politico:

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been working behind the scenes to rally his Republican troops against California Democrats’ gerrymandering ballot measure, according to three people familiar with the campaign’s planning.

McCarthy recently told his former home-state congressional delegation that he’s aiming to raise $100 million for the opposition campaign, according to two of the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal planning. Close McCarthy ally Jessica Millan Patterson, former California Republican Party chair, is slated to become chair of the Republican-focused campaign committee, longtime political operative Tom Ross said.

It’s understandable that McCarthy is looking for a path back into political relevance. His last attempt to do so, an effort to purge Congresswoman Nancy Mace in a 2024 primary for her involvement in his ouster as Speaker in 2023, did not turn out very well: Mace is still in Congress and McCarthy isn’t. But California Republicans need to tell him in no uncertain terms that his “behind the scenes” efforts — and those of Patterson, for that matter — against the ballot measure need to stay far behind the scenes until the fight is over. A parallel campaign that Politico also discusses is a much better approach:

[Political operative Tom] Ross, who helped campaign for California’s independent redistricting commission, is helming the nascent pitch against the measure targeting center-left voters — with funding from independent redistricting commission champion Charles Munger Jr.

Munger is said to be considering putting upward of $30 million toward the cause, bringing the total warchest from conservative forces against Gov. Gavin Newsom and leading Democrats to something approaching $130 million.

It’s fine if McCarthy and other highly conspicuous California Republicans want to rattle some cups in secret, in the dark of night, allowing Schwarzenegger and Munger to become the faces of the “no” campaign. But another Politico article or two fingering the failed Speaker as the real tip of the spear in the bid to help Trump’s party keep control of Congress will do more than all the money in the world to help Newsom succeed. Indeed, the governor will probably try to provoke McCarthy into debating him on the subject, and in his longing for a return to the limelight, he might even take the bait.