California Gov. Gavin Newsom is moving to counteract Texas Republicans’ efforts to redraw congressional district lines before the upcoming midterm elections by calling a special election in his state.
Newsom announced Thursday his Election Rigging Response Act, which he says aims to counteract President Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott‘s “gerrymandering scheme” in Texas by offering Californians the chance to vote on newly drawn congressional district boundaries in their home state.
Speaking at a rally at his offices on Thursday, Newsom urged Americans to “wake up” to what is happening in their country.
“We have got to recognize the cards that have been dealt and we’ve got to fight fire with fire,” he said, adding that other states need to be firm in their resolve and “stand up.”
California, like Texas, will move to redraw district lines, but, unlike its state counterpart, will put its updated redistricting maps on the ballot and allow citizens of California to vote on them on November 4 in a special election that will provide a “temporary pathway” to redistricting before next year’s midterms, Newsom explained.
In a video shared on X, he said there was “a five-alarm fire for Democracy” in the U.S., and accused the president of attempting to rig elections and Texas Governor Greg Abbott of rolling over to Trump’s attempt to redefine congressional district lines in a manner that was undemocratic and would benefit Republicans.
“We will nullify what happens in Texas with the consent of the people,” Newsom said in the video.
Trump has not responded to Newsom’s announcement.
On Tuesday, in an X post mimicking Trump’s tone and distinctive use of capital letters, Newsom announced that his office would be unveiling its plans for redrawing congressional maps in California.
“DONALD ‘TACO’ TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, ‘MISSED’ THE DEADLINE!!! CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE ‘BEAUTIFUL MAPS,’ THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!). BIG PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH POWERFUL DEMS AND GAVIN NEWSOM — YOUR FAVORITE GOVERNOR — THAT WILL BE DEVASTATING FOR ‘MAGA.’ THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! — GN,” he wrote.
The move comes as tensions soar among state leadership, with Democrats accusing Texas Republicans of attempting to sway elections in their favour and Republicans accusing Texas Democrats of abandoning their duties.
Last week, Abbott called for the arrest of more than 50 Texas Democrats, and the removal of top Democrat Gene Wu from office, after they fled the state to prevent the House from passing legislation they say would reduce the voting power of minority groups and increase the Republican Party’s chances of taking control of the U.S. House.
On Tuesday, after repeated threats to do so, Abbott announced that both chambers of the Texas House would adjourn on Friday without a date to reconvene if a quorum is not reached for the current session, adding that he would immediately call a new one.
“I will call the Texas Legislature back immediately for Special Session #2,” Abbott said in a statement. “The Special Session #2 agenda will have the exact same agenda, with the potential to add more items critical to Texans.
“There will be no reprieve for the derelict Democrats who fled the state and abandoned their duty to the people who elected them. I will continue to call special sessions after special sessions until we get this Texas first agenda passed.”
Trump and Abbott intend to redraw the Texas congressional map in the hopes of adding five more Republican seats in Texas.
If they succeed, it would increase the party’s chance of maintaining its slim U.S. House majority, which currently sits at 219-212. Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas’s 38 seats in the House of Representatives.
Congressional lines are typically redrawn every 10 years to reflect population changes based on data from the national census; however, Texas’s break from tradition has forced a response from Democrat-run states, with Newsom and California now leading the charge.
In a letter to Trump this week, Newsom wrote, “If you will not stand down, I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states.”
According to CBS News, Newsom’s team had been in talks with California’s Democratic congressional delegation and the California legislature, where drafts of new maps were discussed.
U.S. Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California told the outlet that the conversations were initially to determine if it was even possible to retaliate by gaining five Democratic seats to counter Texas’s.
“I’m confident that if we need to move forward, we will do that successfully. There’s tremendous unity on the Democratic side,” she said.
Currently, if Democrats were to win back as few as three seats from their opponents, they could flip the Republican-held House in next year’s midterm elections.
On Thursday morning, Newsom wrote on X, “Donald Trump and Greg Abbott are going to have a very bad day today.”