California governor Gavin Newsom appeared alongside Texas Democrat legislators this week at the governors’ mansion in Sacramento, which is actually a state park and museum, not the governor’s actual residence.

The purpose of the meeting was to announce the efforts of Newsom and state Democrat party leaders to adjust congressional district boundaries in California, in response to the stated objectives of Texas Governor Greg Abbott and state GOP leaders to redraw their own congressional districts to potentially add five Republican house seats in advance of the 2026 mid-term elections.

“California stands ready to flex its muscle to ensure the integrity of our democracy nationwide,” said Newsom.

“This is a blatant power grab, and we will not stand for it,” stated Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who represents the San Jose area and is chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation.

Finally, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas echoed, “We will do whatever it takes to defend our democracy. We will do whatever it takes to protect the voices, the votes, and the rights of every American.”

First of all, let’s talk about power grabs.

Currently, the state of California is apportioned 53 congressional seats, 44 of which are occupied by Democrats and nine seats are held by Republicans -- a whopping 85% to 15% advantage to Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Let’s compare this distribution with the distribution of registered voters in California. As of October 21, 2024 -- just a few weeks before the November general election, 45.83% of the state’s voters were registered Democrats, 25% Republicans, 22% were No Party Preference and 7% were registered to miscellaneous political parties.

Now that’s really punching above your weight… 45% of registered voters gives the Democrats 85% of California’s congressional delegation.

Newsom, Lofgren, Rivas, and the Democrat leadership say they want to add another five seats to their party as part of a mid-decade redistricting plan to be presented to California voters in November.

If Newsom’s ballot measure is approved, as outlined in the governors’ mansion press event, the Democrats could hold 49 congressional seats, or 94%, and the Republicans only three seats, or 6%.

The problem with their plan is, it happens to violate California’s Constitution.

California voters approved amendments to the state Constitution in 2007 and 2010, creating the Citizens Redistricting Commission.

Section 1 states: In the year following the year in which the national census is taken under the direction of Congress at the beginning of each decade, the Citizens Redistricting Commission described in Section 2 shall adjust the boundary lines of the congressional, State Senatorial, Assembly, and Board of Equalization districts.

In addition to requiring the adjusted districts comply with the United States Constitution, and the federal Voting Rights Act, the state Constitution directs districts to achieve population equality as nearly as is practicable, be geographically contiguous, ensure city, county, local neighborhood, or local communities of interest shall be respected in a manner that minimizes their division, and shall be drawn to encourage geographical compactness.

All these requirements make sense and, when applied, truly aid in ensuring adequate and effective political representation to individuals, communities, and local jurisdictions…. precisely the point of the redistricting process -- accommodating population changes while conforming with the law and accommodating communities of interest.

Unfortunately for Governor Newsom and Democrat leaders, the California Constitution, as currently written, expressly prohibits redistricting for partisan political purposes.

Communities of interest shall not include relationships with political parties, incumbents, or political candidates.

So, to accomplish their objective, the Democrat super majority in the legislature must approve ballot language to specifically rewrite the state’s constitution that currently prohibits redistricting for partisan purposes.

All in the name of “protecting Democracy.”

As a native Californian, whose granddaughters are fifth generation Californians, this unconstitutional power grab is offensive in the extreme.

I pray my fellow Californians see though this and vote against the Democrats’ “unconstitutional amendment” in November.

Should the voters approve Newsom’s power play, the current state constitution does provide individual voters with recourse.

Any registered voter in this state may file a petition for a writ of mandate or writ of prohibition, within 45 days after the commission has certified a final map to the Secretary of State, to bar the Secretary of State from implementing the plan on the grounds that the filed plan violates this Constitution, the United States Constitution, or any federal or state statute.

That is, unless they rewrite this part of the constitution as well.

Dave Butler lives in northern California and has been active in public policy at the local, regional, state and federal levels for 30 years.

Image: AT