Gov. Gavin Newsom stood alongside six Democrats in the Texas Legislature on Friday, accusing President Trump and Republicans of trying to “rig” to hold the Capitol next year.
“They play with a different set of rules, and we can sit down and act as if we have moral authority and see this 249-year-old experiment washed away,” Newsom said of the country’s history. “We don’t allow that to happen.”
After meeting personally at the governor’s mansion in Sacramento’s governor’s mansion, Texas state lawmakers and spoke with reporters after discussing the nation’s political battle over election maps that could change the outcome of the balance of medium-term elections and power.
At President Trump’s request, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called on his state legislature for a special session this week. This called for rezoning the lonely Sekishu to help Republicans pick up seats in Congress.
The move is part of a gerrymander effort pushed by Trump to prevent the GOP from losing control of the House next year. If Democrats seize the House, they have managed to derail the president’s agenda so far, which included filling in other policy priorities, including undocumented crackdowns on immigrants, tariffs on imports, efforts to combat climate change, and national protection of the LGTBQ+ community.
Newsom said he is in talks with California Legislature leaders, threatening to reflect Trump’s tactics.
Texas Democrats said they traveled to California to meet with the governor and explain the state of play in Texas, but they promised to do everything in their power to oppose Trump’s plans.
“We will be using all the tools of Texas to confront this highly illegal rezoning process taking place behind the historic African-American and Latino districts.”
Another group of Texas legislators is expected to meet with Chicago’s Illinois Gov. J.B. Pretzker.
Changing the map to benefit Democrats is a massive starting point from California’s work over the past decade, and removing political partisanship from the constituency change process.
In 2010, California voters gave the independent civic district committee the authority to determine the boundaries of the U.S. House of Representatives voting districts, instead of leaving its power.
To rezone before the medium term, the most legally sound option is for state legislators to send constitutional amendments to voters seeking to allow changes to voters maps outside the boundaries of California’s independent constituency change process. Voting must take place in a special election prior to the June primary.
Newsom says it is exploring potential legal loopholes that will allow the California Legislature to redraw the map of the Legislature with two-thirds of votes.
The Governor’s Office said the state law will charge the Rezoning Committee by creating new maps after census conducted around every ten years. But they say the law is silent about everything that happens during that period.
Newsom’s lawyers believe that it is possible for Congress to edit their own seats without having to vote.
The governor’s call to fight Trump using his own gerrymandering tactics elicited a mixed response.
Newsom argues that if Democrats continue to be the only party to play by rules, Democrats will continue to lose. However, when political parties in all states rely on naked political conventions to gain control, others are concerned about the integrity of national election outcomes.
Texas Republicans have long been accused of creating political maps to dilute the power of black and Latino voters that led to continued lawsuits starting in 2021.
California rezoning experts say redrawing the Golden State map could create the possibility that Democrats could overturn at least five seats held by GOP incumbents.
Democrats may benefit more from gerrymanders, particularly in places like California, where they have attempted to practice nonpartisan constituency, compared to states such as Texas, where maps have already been drawn in Republican-favorable.
“It’s not surprising to anyone covering Texas that from 1970, Texas has been discriminating against people of color in the rezoning process,” Anchia said.
“If we try to do this, it will not only cause great harm to the people we represent, but also to the voters in Texas, but also to all Americans,” he said of Trump’s plan.
It is common for parties that control the White House to lose their seats nationwide in their first election after a presidential contest. Republicans hold majority in the Senate and House, and losing Democrats’ power could be harmful to Trump’s presidency.
Trump’s job approval rate fell to a second-year low of 37% in a Gallup poll conducted earlier this month. Dip is just above his lowest approval rate of 34% at the end of his first semester.
Trump has publicly said he believes it is possible for Republicans to redeem and pick up five seats in Texas.
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