California Gov. Gavin Newsom stood with other prominent Democratic leaders Thursday to announce that the state will move forward with a partisan plan to redraw congressional maps in an effort to help his party win five more U.S. House seats in 2026.
The move is a direct response to a Republican-led effort in Texas, pushed by President Donald Trump as his party seeks to maintain its slim House majority after the midterm elections. Texas lawmakers are considering a new map that would help them send five more Republicans to Washington, but Democrats have so far halted a vote by leaving the state to prevent their GOP colleagues from meeting Trump’s demands.
“We can’t stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country," Newsom said Thursday as he called for a Nov. 4 special election to put the new maps before voters.
State lawmakers must officially declare the special election, which they plan to do next week.
The Democrats' proposed maps still haven't been released. That's expected Friday. Then lawmakers plan to quickly approve them next week. Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers.
Democrats signaled Thursday that they plan to make the campaign about more than maps, tying it explicitly to the fate of American democracy and as an opportunity for voters to reject Trump's policies.
“Donald Trump, you have poked the bear and we will punch back,” Newsom, who is seen as a possible 2028 presidential contender, said at a news conference with other Democrats.
The California map would only take effect if Texas and other states move forward with their own redistricting efforts, and they would remain through the 2030 elections. After that, Democrats say they would return mapmaking power to an independent redistricting commission approved by voters more than a decade ago.
There are 435 seats in the U.S. House and Republicans currently hold an 219-212 majority, with four vacancies. New maps are typically drawn once a decade after the census is conducted. Many states give legislators the power to draw maps but some, like California, rely on an independent commission that is supposed to be nonpartisan.
The Thursday announcement marks the first time any state beyond Texas is officially wading into the mid-decade redistricting fight, kicking off a national standoff that could continue spilling into other states. Newsom encouraged other Democratic-led states to get involved.
“We need to stand up — not just California. Other blue states need to stand up,” Newsom said.
California Democrats face more complex legal and logistical hurdles than Republicans do in Texas. It’s not clear how voters would respond to the mid-decade effort after they voted to give the power of drawing congressional maps to an independent commission in 2010. In Texas, that power lies with the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Californians authorized the creation of the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission in 2008.
“Its going to be a really interesting test to see whether they can convince enough voters first of all to turn out and also to vote what they previously had voted in favor of, and that is having citizens redraw the boundaries,” said Phil Saenz, a political science professor at Southwestern College.
The back and forth between Texas and California redistricting efforts could have larger implications, he said.
“While the governor and other state legislators may think that this will solve the problem, this will not stop other red states, Republican states, from doing what Texas is doing,” Saenz said.
Some already said they would sue to block the effort, and influential voices including former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may campaign against it.
“Gavin Newsom’s latest stunt has nothing to do with Californians and everything to do with consolidating radical Democrat power, silencing California voters, and propping up his pathetic 2028 presidential pipe dream,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Christian Martinez said in a statement. “Newsom’s made it clear: he’ll shred California’s Constitution and trample over democracy - running a cynical, self-serving playbook where Californians are an afterthought and power is the only priority.”
California State Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-Alpine, said he disapproves of redistricting efforts in both California and Texas.
“What Gavin Newsom has announced is illegal, it's unconstitutional. There are three violations of the state constitution involved in what he's trying to do and we fully expect to square off with him in court,” DeMaio said.
The Assembly Republican Caucus estimates the special election would cost taxpayers more than $235 million.
The November ballot measure would need a simple majority approval.
California Democrats already hold 43 of the state’s 52 House seats, and the state has some of the most competitive House seats.
Elsewhere, leaders from red Florida to blue New York are threatening to write their own new maps, bucking the standard once-a-decade redistricting process that happens after the census. But none have moved as far as Texas and, soon, California, in advancing new maps.
Missouri lawmakers are waiting for Gov. Mike Kehoe to call a special session to draw more favorable Republican maps, and a document obtained by The Associated Press shows the state Senate has received a $46,000 invoice to activate six redistricting software licenses and provide training for up to 10 staff members.
