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WASHINGTON — The last effort by California Democrats to redraw the state’s Capitol map for the 2026 election in response to similar pushes by Texas Republicans is now against the clock.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that Democrats are moving forward with plans to develop a rare medieval constituency change plan before voters on November 4th. But he said state legislators will create a “trigger.”
“It’s a cause and effect, and it’s triggered based on what happens or doesn’t happen in Texas,” says Newsom. “I hope they do the right thing, if that’s the case, there’s no reason why we have to move forward.”
On Monday, Texas Democrats left the state and took Republicans out of the quorum they needed to hand over new maps. Republican lawmakers voted between 85 and 6 to arrest state police officers and voted to bring them back to Capitol. It is primarily a symbolic move, as lawmakers do not face crime or civil charges.
The outcome of the duel efforts between Texas and California allowed them to determine which parties control the House after the 2026 midterm elections. Trump hopes to urge Republicans to add a GOP sheet to Texas, stopping the midterm defeat.
Democrats own 43 of California’s 52 seats in Congress. Early debates between California politicians and strategists suggest that redrawn lines can bolster vulnerable incumbent Democrats by making purple districts bluer, but force five or six of the state’s nine Republicans into a tougher reelection fight.
But until state lawmakers return to Sacramento from their break on August 18th, the official can’t do anything.
Democrats who hold the supermajority in Congress will take less than a month to draw new maps, hold hearings and negotiate the language of the bill calling for a special November election.
Democrats and operatives said Monday that the timeline is viable, but they will have to act quickly.
The Democratic Congressional delegation in California expressed consensus at a video conference Monday to advance voting measures that allow for medium-term rezoning only if another state moves forward, according to those familiar with virtual meetings. They expressed their support for the Independent Committee.
California Senator Robert Rivas said the Democratic Caucus met on Sunday night to discuss the urgent threat of a continuous and blatant grab of Trump’s power.
Democrats in the California Senate and Congress held separate meetings to discuss the rezoning. Poller David Binder, who works with Newsom, presented an internal vote showing slippery and early support among voters to temporarily change state law to allow Congress to draw new maps for elections in 2026, 2028 and 2030.
“Our voters must be given the authority to push back,” Rivas said. “California has never retreated, and we will never start now.”
Texas Democrats resist
The Democrat’s departure from Austin on Monday denied Republicans the quorum needed to vote on a redrawn state map that allows Republicans to net the five Capitols.
Democrats balked the threat from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. The Democrat Caucus in the Texas House issued a statement about the slogan that became famous during the Texas Revolution: “Come and take it.” Some members of the Caucus pointed out that being away is not a crime and that Texas warrants cannot be issued in Illinois or New York, where many lawmakers committed.
“There are no felony in the Texas Criminal Code for what he says,” said Democrat Jolanda Jones. “He’s trying to get a soundbite and there’s no legal mechanism.”
Texas Republican Chairman Dustin Burrows said the Democrats who are leaving “stop this house doing its job, it’s just delaying it.”
But Abbott’s legal option to pass the district change bill by ousting Democrats or sueing for return is narrow and appears likely to force the governor’s office to place a challenge in a Democrat-based court. Abbott will need to secure a new map to use in the state’s March 3rd primary until the end of the year.
At a press conference in Sacramento last week, Newsom compared Trump’s pressure on Abbott to add five Republican Congress seats similar to his efforts to “find” 12,000 votes to beat Georgia after the 2020 election.
“We’re not here to remove the committee,” he said. “We’re here to provide a route to ’26, 28, 2030 for Congressional Maps based on the response to system rigging by the US President in 2026, 28, 2030. That’s not going to happen in Texas. I think he’s making similar calls in this country. I don’t think that’s a big deal.”
Deadline Escalation
For decades, redrawing California’s election maps was a political war. In 1971, it was GOV at the time. Ronald Reagan rejected the constituency plan he called “good government ock ha ha.” The California Supreme Court eventually drew boundaries and did so again in 1991 at the then GOV. Pete Wilson rejected the map drawn by Democrats.
California state legislators finally drew their own district lines in 2001 after members of the parties registered in a plan created to protect their incumbents.
In 2008, California voters stripped state legislators of their authority to draw their districts by passing Proposition 11, which created an independent district change committee. Two years later, voters handed over the authority to redraw a map of the Congressional District into the same panel by passing Proposition 20. The group drew the line before the 2012 election and once again after the 2020 census.
California has set the date for its last statewide special elections – attempting to recall Newsom in 2021 – 75 days ago. County election officials need at least a lot of time to find a place to vote and prepare votes for overseas and military voters, and they need to vote for overseas and military voters.
“We’re a sought-after job at Los Angeles County,” said Dean Logan, Los Angeles County’s top election official.
Similarly, the county “needs to have the funds that the state provides upfront to carry out this election and the funds to make the associated district changes as the county is not financially prepared,” he said.
In the 2021 recall election, California taxpayers were around $200 million. A preliminary estimate for Los Angeles County to hold a district election is around $60 million.
The national battle for state boundaries
John Fleischman, a former executive director of the California Republican Party, said Republicans need to try and make National Democrats efforts nationwide.
“Our statewide Republican fundraiser has been atrophy as it has transcended generations because California had viable statewide candidates,” he said. “The kind of money needed to fight this — it must be a national funding effort.”
Texas urged California Democrats to take action, but said that the issue is problematic here and ultimately it doesn’t matter what Texas does.
“If Gavin Newsom puts this on the ballot, it means he already has his vote and knows it’s going to pass because he cares more of a run for the rezoning president in California,” Fleischman said. “And he knows he can’t afford to lose by making this play.”
Former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who defended the voting measure that created an independent district change committee, has placed no emphasis on medium-term rezoning efforts in Texas and California. However, a spokesman for the former governor revealed that he was vehemently opposed to both.
Since his retirement, Schwarzenegger has fought for independent map drawing across the country. The rezoning is one of the political reforms that is the focus of USC’s Schwarzenegger Institute.
“His view of everything is everyone who learned in kindergarten or kindergarten that two mistakes are not right. I think gerrymandering is evil,” said Daniel Kechel, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger. “It takes power from people and gives it to politicians. He thinks it’s bad, regardless of where they do it.”
Wilner reported Meta in Los Angeles and Luna in Sacramento from Washington, Nelson and Meha.
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