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Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political ambitions have reached new lows. In an effort that appears to be a “fighter” ahead of the potential run of the 2028 presidency, he ignores democratic rules pursuing political objectives and puts aside the state’s independent rezoning system to counter the proposed partisan gerrymanders of the Republican Republicans. Newsom and his allies want to maximize the number of California Democrats elected to Congress in next year’s midterm elections.
In 2008 and 2010, California voters passed a voting initiative that empowered the California Civic District Commission, a 14-person independent agency consisting of five Democrats, five Republicans and four Democrats not registered in any of the four major parties, to unleash the state’s legislative districts and legislative district lines. Potential commissioners have undergone extensive review and selection processes (involving state legislatures), and are banned from many forms of political activity, including giving to candidates, inauguration, and working for elected officials.
Since the latest 2021 constituency was triggered as usual by the constitutionally mandated 10th grade census, maps created by the committee have survived legal and political agendas, with current districts set through the next round of rezoning in 2031.
Now Newsmom wants to early redraw the line and create his own partisan gerrymander for the November 2026 midterm elections. Last week, Newsom confirmed that he would call a special election to get voters’ approval for this final run on the committee, but even dressed in the vote, this is ironic politics rather than democracy in the workplace.
Newsom’s excuse is a sudden partisan constituency that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and President Trump support to increase the number of Republicans elected to Congress, thus strengthening the party’s chances of maintaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
California Senator Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) calls Texas action “grabs Trump’s power,” and has agreed to it as “a system rigging by the US president.” (A recent poll conducted by Newsom pollers revealed that if the fight has Trump as the centre-centered villain rather than Texas, it is likely to support the operation of California’s constituency.)
But the two mistakes are incorrect.
The key difference between proposed line redrawings in Texas and California’s plans is that the former is legal and precedent, while the latter is in particular in violation of California law and the state’s voters’ expressing will. In Texas, lawmakers were commissioned to draw district lines, and boosting Republican representatives in the US House of Representatives again, a mid-term partisan gerrymander executed in 2003, was upheld by the US Supreme Court (except for one district that violated its right to vote).
However, California voters have clearly placed district boundaries on the hands of the Independent Citizens’ Committee to drive politicians out of the process. The commissioner draws lines of districts based on many factors, including law, judicial decisions, and population changes. They are bound by basic rules. District lines cannot be drawn to purposefully benefit a particular party or candidate. And all committee deliberations must occur in public. The maps they devised have been criticized by both Democrats and Republicans. And that’s one of the many reasons California voters have entrusted this important power to the committee.
If Newsom goes his way, the California district in mid-2026 will ensure elections of as few Republicans as possible. Recent reports suggest that his gerrymandering means Republicans have won only four of the 52 house seats (9%). Republicans make up about 25% of California’s registered voters, and Republican candidates across the state have won around 40% of their votes in the past few election cycles.
The fact that Newsom’s plan returns the power to redeem it again after the medium term is no less than the democratically expressed subversion of California voters’ will. The cost of a special election to ratify the scheme to add shaming to the injury is estimated at around $60 million in Los Angeles County alone, with statewide costs likely to exceed $200 million.
By bending election rules that serve their own political interests, Newsom and the California Democrats are no better than Abbott and Texas Republicans. And Newsom’s hypocrisy strains the credibility of his argument that Trump and his allies are diminishing democracy.
If Newsom goes ahead with his ironic plan, the Californians have the power to reject it at least in November at the ballot box. Voters need to reinforce their commitment to minimizing the role of partisanship and politics in district changes and minimizing it to an independent California Civic Constituency Commission.
Langhee J. Chen, a writer who contributed to the opinion, is an American public policy fellow at the Hoover Agency. He was the Republican candidate for California’s controller in 2022.
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Ideas expressed in the work
The authors characterize Governor Newsom’s rezoning plan as a cynical political manipulation driven by the president’s ambitions rather than democratic principles, and argue that the governor is willing to ignore the democratic rules established to appear as a potential 2028 presidential “fighter plane.”
California voters intentionally established the Independent Citizens’ Constituency Commission through the 2008 and 2010 voting initiatives, creating a 14-person organisation with balanced partisan delegations that must remove politicians from the rezoning process and draw district boundaries based on legal requirements rather than political interests.[2][4].
The proposed plan represents a fundamental subversion of the democratically expressed will of California voters. This is because it contradicts the intent of the system that temporarily takes control from the Independence Commission and leaves it in the hands of state legislatures democratically administered, directly contradicting the intentions of the system that voters approved.
While the rezoning efforts of the Texas Republicans may be politically brave, they remain legal and precedent in Texas law, with California’s plans in particular breaching the state law and the expressed will of voters who explicitly removed rezoning from politicians.[1][3].
The financial costs for implementing the plan are substantial, with estimates estimated that around $60 million in Los Angeles County alone and statewide costs likely exceed $200 million in the special elections needed to ratify the scheme.
The plan creates an extreme partisan gerrymander that reduces Republican leadership from nine seats to just four of the four of the 52 seats, despite winning around 4 of the Republican candidates, which account for around 25% of California’s registered voters and around 25% of Republican candidates.
Various views on topics
Newsom and Democrats have framed the district’s plan as a necessary defensive response to President Trump’s broader national push for Republican constituency efforts, with the California governor saying Trump “has made similar calls across the country” and comparing it to Trump’s efforts to “find” the vote in Georgia after the 2020 election[3].
The plan includes a “trigger” mechanism designed to ensure that California will only proceed with the rezoning if Texas Republicans advance their own map changes.[3].
Democrats and members of the California Legislative Delegation have suggested support for the retaliatory district efforts with minority leader Hicombe Jeffries to discuss possible democratic responses to Texas’s constituency change plans.[1].
Supporters argue that the independent constituency commission is constitutionally required to elicit new policies once every 10 years, leaving a process of rezoning the semecards that are legally open and available for legislative or voter-approved changes.[1].
Assembly speaker Robert Ribus characterizes Texas’ rezoning work as “Trump’s gain of power,” but Newsom describes it as “the US president’s rigging of the system,” positioning California’s response to protecting democratic expressions against Republican manipulation.[3].
Democrats see it as the last bulwark against Republican rule in the House of Representatives after the 2026 medium-term elections.[3].
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