California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed off Thursday evening on a redistricting plan aimed at countering Texas Republicans’ planned implementation of new congressional maps for the Lone Star State.
Newsom enacted the so-called “Election Rigging Response Act,” setting a Nov. 4 special election asking whether Golden State voters approve of new House districts designed by legislators.
The Democrat-controlled state Senate passed the special election measure in a 30-8 vote, shortly after the Dem-held state Assembly approved it in a 57-20 vote.
If the new map is approved by voters — and if it survives near-certain legal challenges — Democrats could win up to five additional House seats in next year’s midterm elections, canceling out the five seats Republicans in Texas are expected to gain as a result of their redistricting push.
“The president and the Texas Republicans are rigging the election … it is our duty to fight fire with fire,” state Sen. Jerry McNerney (D-East Bay) said during debate on the measure.
McNerney argued that “California voters should have the right to decide if the state should respond to the president’s effort to rig the election.”
Since the measure seeks to override the Golden State’s voter-approved, nonpartisan redistricting commission, a special election is necessary to redraw the existing congressional map.
State Democrats maintain that the mid-decade redistricting measure is a one-off, needed to directly respond to Texas Republicans, but some in the legislature expressed fear that California would never return to its original system.
“With the reported involvement of the [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] in this action – that has been developed behind the scenes – one has to be awfully suspicious of significant changes to this process,” argued Republican state Sen. Roger Niello (R-Sacramento County).
“Indeed, the intent or the power to continue on our previous track after 2030 is of great concern to me and I think should be of great concern to everybody who votes in favor of this,” he added.
Former President Barack Obama weighed in on California’s redistricting earlier this week at a DCCC fundraiser, arguing that Newsom’s plan “was a smart, measured approach” to counter Texas’ move.
