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By Alexei Koseff, CalMatters
The fight over redistricting is about to hit overdrive in California.
As the Legislature returns to Sacramento today for the final month of session, Democrats are racing to finish a plan that could tilt the state’s congressional map in their favor — and thrust California into another confrontation with President Donald Trump.
Republicans, who stand to lose more than half their seats in the state, decry the scheme as a self-serving power grab. But supporters, led by Gov. Gav Newsom, contend they are saving democracy by stopping Trump from rigging the outcome of the 2026 midterms.
Ultimately, California voters will likely decide in a special election this November.
Here’s what you need to know:
Wait, what is Newsom trying to do?
The governor is leading the charge for the Democratic response in a burgeoning partisan showdown that could effectively determine control of the U.S. House of Representatives before a single vote is cast next November.
This kicked off thousands of miles away from Sacramento — in Texas. Earlier this year, Trump began pressuring Republican leaders there to redraw its congressional lines to shore up the GOP’s narrow majority in the House. As his approval rating sinks, the president is worried Democrats could win back Congress in the 2026 election and disrupt the final two years of his term.
Even as dozens of Democratic members have fled the state in protest, the Texas Legislature is advancing a new map that could flip five Democratic House seats to Republican control. Other conservative states, including Ohio, Missouri, Indiana and Florida, are considering similar actions.
So, channeling the anger of Democratic voters, Newsom has launched California into a retaliatory redistricting that would offset the Texas map with five new Democratic-leaning seats.
“Donald Trump, you have poked the bear and we will punch back,” Newsom said during a rally last week formally kicking off the campaign. “Don’t mess with the great Golden State.”
How would it work?
It’s complicated!
Unlike Texas, where the Legislature determines congressional lines, California voters in 2010 gave that power to a bipartisan citizen commission. The commission draws a new map once each decade, after the U.S. Census, to ensure each congressional district has roughly an equal number of people. It last did so in 2021.
Newsom is proposing to temporarily override the commission and create districts more favorable to Democrats until after the 2030 Census. That requires going to the voters for their approval.
Democratic officials already drew a new map in secret, which they finally shared publicly on Friday. The Legislature, where three-quarters of members are Democrats, plans to vote before the end of this week to put that map on the ballot in a statewide special election on Nov. 4.
“Voters will see the maps and have the final say,” Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, a Salinas Democrat, said in a statement.
Why the rush?
California’s primary election is in June, so work backwards from there. The deadline for candidates to declare is in early March. Those who want to collect signatures to qualify, instead of paying a filing fee, can start in December.
That means new congressional lines need to be in place by the end of the year, so candidates actually know which voters they need to reach.
Newsom is eyeing Nov. 4 for the special election to consolidate it with municipal elections across the state that day. State law requires elections officials to mail a ballot to every voter starting 29 days before the election, and to military and overseas voters 45 days before, which means ballots must be ready by late September.
The secretary of state’s office has said the Legislature must act by Friday to leave enough time for local elections officials to meet those deadlines for a Nov. 4 election. Even then, the next month will be extremely busy for them.
How much will this cost?
The state has promised to cover the expenses counties incur running this unexpected election, which won’t be cheap. The last state special election, an unsuccessful recall of Newsom in September 2021, cost about $200 million.
Newsom has said consolidating the election with already scheduled local elections on Nov. 4 could save money. But early estimates from counties — up to $4 million in Fresno and up to $16 million in Riverside — are higher than they were for the recall.
“No price tag for democracy,” Newsom told reporters last week following the kickoff rally.
Will this plan succeed?
Democrats feel good about their chances, but it’s a heavy lift.
A Politico poll found that nearly two-thirds of California voters prefer retaining the state’s independent redistricting commission over returning authority to the Legislature to draw congressional lines.
That is not exactly what Newsom’s plan would do, however. His messaging has emphasized that the commission would only be sidelined temporarily, because of what he calls a Trump-induced political emergency. It’s reflected in the name of the measure: the Election Rigging Response Act. Internal polling shared with lawmakers put support, when framed along those lines, at 52%.
While that’s enough to win in November, it may not be enough to withstand an intense campaign this fall that is expected to draw hundreds of millions of dollars in spending. Charles Munger, Jr., the longtime Republican donor who poured more than $12 million into the campaign to pass independent redistricting, has said he will open up his wallet again to defend it.
“Citizens, not politicians or partisan party insiders, should not only hold the power at the ballot box but also the power to draw the lines,” Amy Thoma Tan, a spokesperson for Munger’s campaign committee, said in a statement.
The National Republican Congressional Committee said in a statement that it was prepared to “fight Gavin Newsom’s illegal power grab in the courts and at the ballot box.”
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Hair Jell’s feigned outrage is hilarious. Democrats think they are the only ones allowed to play political games.
Look up the facts. GOP has been rigging maps and the system for years. Dems are finally fighting back and now you want to cry about it? Hilarious. What a snowflake.
Zips here, like all the other MAGAorons, don’t believe in facts. All their “news” comes from the mouth of the sexual abusing, child rapist defending, world-renown fraud and pathological liar, convicted criminal they voted for.
Almost can’t blame their level of detachments from any factual reality.
I’ve never seen one actually present objective, verified facts to back any of their claims. NOT. ONCE.
Release the Epstein files.
zippy – Newsom is a Dixie Peach pomade boy. Like the pachucos back in the day.
Ya! I for one like my presidents Peach colored! He puts too much gel in his hair unlike Trump daddy who is so handsome and has the best hair and never cheats on the golf course. Many people are saying it! Sure glad that one trans kid got kicked off the la crosse team in Idaho, and that we finally have military tanks and soldiers protecting our citizens in DC, and snatching killers and rapists from our Home Depot’s! Now we just need to whitewash all our museums and colleges because they’re too woke teaching our children that slavery was bad. Slavery wasn’t so bad eh? We should only teach good shiny things about how “Hot” America is. Stop being so negative! Only positive things like our friends in N Korea and Russia!
Damn that’s a crazy. A Trump supporter making fun of Newsom’s hair. Hey, where are the Epstein Files?
It’s always projection and hypocrisy with you p h’s. Your comment says right out loud that you think it’s only Republicans who are allowed.
Everything Newsom seems to do anymore becomes a disaster. Why? He has a long political list of failing California’s constituents time and time again throughout his tenure. I am now confident due to his consistent failed track record alone that this would become another failure.
I have to step back and ask why have there been so many failed policies? Why does the state of CA have so many issues? More important “Why does a state with so many issues have a governor who is pursuing opposing issues in other states when he’s not tending to the issues in his own state?”
Then it becomes apparent he has lost his way. He’s now positioning himself to run for president. However it’s a bad look when he ignores his own duties and affairs while he pushes on like he is doing today. He has eroded the trust and burned the people of Ca. It is time for his political career both in the now and the future to be over.
SEANISB – care to share that “long political list?”
SeaninSB: You (“we”) cannot blame Newsom for what you consider to be bad policies. Only a minority of folks (35%) believe that the policies are bad, which means the VAST majority believes them to be good. Whether you like it or not, that’s the way it works. Even when there is something so obviously failing, the voters are okay with it (think high-speed rail, health-care costs, homeless, etc.). Almost three generations ago, then Governor Ronald Reagan, shut down the state mental-health facilities. Here we are some 60 years later without reversing his horrible decision. Just look at the result…and now we have tourists mercilessly mocking homeless on our own streets. On a national level, Newsom is not looked upon favorably as a politician. It’s possible he could be selected to serve in the cabinet or in some capacity when there is a (D) at 1600 P. A. Bottom line though is that the TX redistricting has nothing to do with the CA redistricting other than to provide a distraction.
sean – Re CA you ask “why have there been so many failed policies?” Correct and undisputed answer: It is run by liberals
Ya! All the scourges of society in all American cities are all the Dems fault and those blue liberal policies. Of course! If only we voted for more Republican policies we’d be golden!
Here’s a fun fact: Only two states voted unanimously in 2024. Let’s compare
Oklahoma- All Red
44th in education
49th in healthcare
44th in quality of life
50th in test scores
Top ten worst poverty.
Massachusetts- All Blue
1st in education
2nd in healthcare
1st in quality of life
1st in test scores
Top ten least poverty
Quite the contrast.
It’s also undisputed that the economy has, by and large, performed better/grown faster under Democratic leadership/presidents. Have a nice day!
Why not list California?
30th education
7th in healthcare
46th in quality of life
38th math/33 reading in test scores
highest poverty of all states
highest tax per capita
Not great for what we spend while Massachusetts ranks 46 for per capita for spending. Makes you wonder what MA is doing right. BTW – Oklahoma is 41 for tax rate.
Another zippylike p h spouting nonsense.
• California currently has 52 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Democrats hold 43 seats, while Republicans have 9.
Republicans have 17% of the representation in the US house from California despite being 35% of the population.
Newscum and company want to cheat even more. Gotta love it.
Ok now describe what Texas is doing. And then read the facts about Newsom’s plan. And then… come back to us.
DAVID – why are you ok with Texas doing the exact same thing but WITHOUT voter input? They’re FORCING it on the state.
Further, CA is a blue state. Get used to it. You still won your stupid election. Stop the crying.
Davidscum forgot to talk about Texas.
I understand this may not get on the ballot at all. Heard there is litigation pending to object to the law because it was given 30 days notice before probable enactment as required. Dems say they did because they gutted an existing bill and put the gerrymandering language in it. Is that consistent with the purpose of the 30 day rule? Will the courts think so?
Trump and MAGA have made it so the public has lost faith in judges and the courts. We are in dangerous times.
Speak for yourself. Lots of folks aren’t panicking at all, much less losing “faith in judges and the courts”. Clearly you are though, because you didn’t get your way in the last election. Ride it out.
BASIC – ” Lots of folks aren’t panicking at all, much less losing “faith in judges and the courts”
Not many. You really should start paying attention to what’s going on. You constantly dismiss any opposition to the objectively fascist-like policies being implemented (forced redistricting, funding ICE more than teachers, declaring fake “emergencies” to justify sending US troops into US cities to arrest US citizens, putting out the red carpet for war criminals while degrading our allies, firing DOJ employees simply because they worked on cases against the president (ie, doing their jobs), etc etc etc there’s many more) as us liberals just being “mad about the election.”
True Americans are concerned about these unprecedented attacks on our freedoms and the foundations of our democracy. Just because you are incapable of understanding this, doesn’t mean us liberals are just “sore losers” or whatever. It means you either support these actions or you really don’t understand how our country works and what is happening to it right now.
Your extensive and all encompassing ignorance must truly be bliss.
Expand your view Sac, beyond Edhat, State St. and the blue states. Or not. I don’t really care.
BASIC – the MAJORITY of this country disagrees with what he’s doing. Expand my view where? YOU ARE THE MINORITY, thank God.
A vast majority of Americans oppose what is happening. This is a fact.
Your world of denial and fantasy is closing in on you. I suggest you start educating yourself.
A vast majority? Sure, in SB. You can rally next time around. You must be counting the days!
You really don’t understand reality, do you?
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-approval-holds-40-lowest-level-his-term-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2025-08-18/
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-approval-rating-polls-issues-2115530
https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/watch/-the-bottom-has-fallen-out-trump-s-approval-rating-falls-on-issues-that-got-him-elected-245300805645
Your insistence on lying about well-established facts is really something to behold. I’ve never seen anyone so adverse to reality. Heck, even Trump himself knows he’s flailing, which is why he’s now doing everything and anything to deflect.
Just the other day he started complaining that the Smithsonian museum was too woke because an exhibit described how slavery was a bad thing.
This is the company you keep, Doc. Disgusting really.
60 vs 40 = a “vast majority” in fantasy land. I’m not defending him or lying at all, just refuting your claims. Deal with it.
60% is a pretty big majority when it comes to presidential approval.
Quibble and whine all you want, but you’re in the large minority of Americans who support what is happening.
Weren’t you one of the math-deficient ones saying Trump won by “a majority?” Oh yeah, sure you were.
Sorry, but you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t believe you know a cat from a fish, “Doc.”
Your guy Joe Biden’s approval rating never got above 44%, according to CNN. I’d let this go if I were you. lol!
Hey BASIC. I really hate to tell you this, as I know you’re so completely infatuated with him, but JOE. BIDEN. IS. NOT. THE. PRESIDENT.
It’s hilarious that you think his approval rating has anything to do with this.
Just when I thought you couldn’t say something even dumber…… whooo eee! That was a dinger.
I mean, sheeaaat BASIC. Wanking about Joe Biden is pretty much the boss level of whatabouts!
🤣🤣🤣
DOOLIS – “zippy – Newsom is a Dixie Peach pomade boy. Like the pachucos back in the day.”
Cool. Trump probably raped children. Newsom wins again.