One of California’s most influential labor organizations has supported redrawing the state’s congressional map to counter Trump’s efforts to promote Republican states, particularly Texas, to increase the number of parties in Congress in next year’s midterm elections.
The California Union Federation voted unanimously on Tuesday, supporting action to take action on the November vote. The proposal, backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and many of the state’s Democratic leaders, will ask voters to temporarily change the boundaries of the Congressional district, drawn up by the independent Congressional Change Commission four years ago.
Republicans could potentially lose up to half a dozen seats in California’s 52-person delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives. After returning to summer vacation on August 18th, the California Legislature will vote to take action on statewide voting in special elections.
“President Trump said Republicans are entitled to five more Congressional votes in Texas. Well, they have no right to steal the 2026 election. California unions refused to support them as democracy is being tested,” Federation Lorena Gonzalez said in a statement. “The California Labour Party is unified in its determination to fight President Trump’s anti-worker agenda.”
Rezoning – An esoteric redrawing of the country’s 435 congressional districts – usually occurs once every ten years since the US census tallies the population across the country. Population changes could lead to changes in state congressional seat allocations, such as when California lost its seats after the 2020 census for the first time in state history.
The political constituency change process has long been created by elected officials, giving political parties an edge or protecting incumbents. Californians voted in 2010 to establish an independent committee to extract congressional maps to ensure the representation of communities of interest, logical geography, and minority communities.
Voting laws promoted by Newsom and others can help state legislators determine district boundaries for the next three election cycles if Texas approves a pending measure to reconfigure districts to increase the number of Republican-held seats in that state. Linedrowing will return to the Independent Commission after the 2030 Census.
The California Labor Federation has pledged to support multi-million-dollar mid-term constituency voting measures, in addition to what they already plan to spend next year’s competitive Congressional race, according to people familiar with plans that asked for anonymity to speak openly about the strategy.
A spokesman for several organizations dedicated to combating efforts to change the state’s rezoning process said Charles Munger Jr., the son of a billionaire and who funded voting measures to create an independent committee, is committed to ensuring it doesn’t undermine.
“Charles Munger has been out of politics since 2016, but he says he will be fiercely defending the reforms he has passed, including nonpartisan constituency changes,” said Amy Thoma, the first coalition spokesman of voters. “His previous success in passing a voting measure in California means he knows exactly what he needs to succeed. We have the resources we need to hear the coalition.”
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