California's Democratic-controlled Legislature passed bills Thursday setting up a high-profile special election this fall, when voters will decide whether to approve the party's plan to gerrymander California's congressional map.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who signed the relevant legislation shortly after it passed, has championed the plan as a political counterweight to Texas' recent move to create more Republican seats there as both parties get ready for a 2026 election in which control of Congress will be up for grabs.
Both the state Assembly and the state Senate passed the redistricting legislation Thursday, each with the two-thirds vote needed to enact "urgent" measures in the state. Now it's up to the voters to decide whether to temporarily sidestep the state's independent redistricting commission, which voters put in place to handle the issue once every decade.
The new Democratic-drawn maps, proposed in the Legislature less than one week ago, serve a transparent political purpose: countering Texas Republicans' new map, which could net the party five more congressional seats amid the fierce battle for control of the House in next year's midterm elections.
California Democrats have criticized Republicans, particularly President Donald Trump, who told CNBC amid Texas' push to redraw its maps that his party was "entitled to five more seats" from Texas.
If voters approve their plan, California's new map could serve as a counterweight to Texas' changes, as analysis from the University of Virginia Center for Politics shows "the proposed California map could allow Democrats to win up to five more seats in 2026," potentially endangering GOP Reps. Doug LaMalfa, Darrell Issa, Ken Calvert and David Valadao.
Newsom and Democratic allies have been trumpeting a need to redraw the lines to cancel out the move by Texas, arguing Republicans there are trying to insulate Trump from the political repercussions of his policies. Also Thursday, a political committee to support the Newsom-backed ballot measure disclosed $2 million in donations from the governor's political committee, as well as $3 million from national Democrats' super PAC focused on House races.
"The crisis started in a Republican state. Texas lit a match, and California is simply leveling the playing field instead of waiting until [Texas Gov. Greg] Abbott and Trump burn our own house down," Sade Elhawary, a Democratic Assembly member from Los Angeles, said during Thursday's debate before she criticized her Republican colleagues for supporting "Trump-mandering and Trump-pandering."
But Republicans have been strident in their pushback, too.
James Gallagher, the Republican leader in the Assembly, said Thursday during the debate that while Democrats may have the power to move forward with their plan, they'll be pouring fuel on the nation's political fires if they do.
"You move forward fighting fire with fire, what happens? You burn it all down," he said.
"The people's right to representation is exactly what will be sacrificed when we continue down this road when, after you do it, Missouri does it or Indiana does it. Colorado is talking about doing it. At the end of that, the parties will determine who represents, and the people will be powerless to elect their own representatives," Gallagher continued.
Evoking the Bible, he went on to call on Republicans and Democrats to "turn the other cheek" and disarm in California and called on Texas Republicans to follow suit.
"Our democracy will persist as long as we fight back. And if there's one weakness that we have right now in our republic, it's that legislators are not standing up to executives of their own party," he said.
