California Democrats unveiled legislation Monday to move forward with their plan to counter a Republican redistricting proposal in Texas with new congressional maps in the Golden State.
“We decided as a delegation that we could not just stand there and allow [President] Trump to distort the next election, and continue to harm the people who we represent. And so we have worked to try and identify a map that is consistent with the goals that we believe in,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said at a press conference.
Lofgren confirmed that Democrats have identified five GOP-held seats that could, if the maps are adopted, flip into the Democrats’ column. A draft of the map dropped Friday.
“Unlike the Republicans in Texas, we’re not just doing this in secret. We are revealing the proposed maps. The Legislature will talk about their process. … We are going to put it to [the voters] to decide,” Lofgren said.
The legislation introduced Monday is part of an effort, spearheaded by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), to put redistricting before voters in a special election this fall, allowing the Legislature to bypass California’s independent redistricting commission and redraw lines mid-decade.
The legislation includes a state constitutional amendment and a call for a special election on Nov. 4.
“Donald Trump lit this fire when he pressured Texas to change the rules in the game. California is answering that attack not by breaking democracy but by protecting it,” California Assembly Elections Chair Gail Pellerin said at the press conference, stressing that “the bills we are introducing today only take effect if another state rigs the rules.”
Proponents have underscored that the new maps would only be triggered by moves in red states and that they would only hold for the ’26, ’28 and ’30 elections, before the authority to redraw reverts to the independent commission.
Newsom has explained that the Legislature is introducing a constitutional amendment “that includes new maps that will be done in a transparent way, to request of the voters on a special election on November 4th to move forward with mid-decade redistricting, which in essence will neutralize, or neuter, whatever happens in Texas.”
“We won’t move forward – it’s a trigger – unless Texas or other Republican states move forward. It will be temporary. It will be done on an emergency basis. It will also be done in a way that reinforces our commitment to nationwide independent redistricting,” Newsom said in a video shared Monday to social platform X.
A bill and a constitutional amendment introduced in the state Assembly deal with the proposed maps and the system changes, and a bill in the state Senate handles funding for the special election, according to the Assembly’s redistricting webpage.
The state Legislature, where Democrats boast supermajority control, reconvened Monday afternoon after a summer break and is expected to move quickly to set up a special election in November.
Meanwhile, Texas state House Democrats who fled the state to stall a GOP redistricting plan returned to the state Legislature Monday, all but ensuring the Lone Star State maps advance — which would trigger the California changes, assuming Golden State voters approve the plan.
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