Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has raised $6.2 million in online contributions since he began his campaign a week ago for a ballot measure to redraw his state’s congressional maps this fall, a significant early haul ahead of what is expected to be a bruising and expensive fight.
The online donations — 200,000 so far — show the degree to which the Democratic base is energized by a redistricting fight that started in Texas but has spread nationwide. Mr. Newsom’s campaign team provided the fund-raising figures.
The ballot fight also gives Mr. Newsom a growing list of contributors whom he could solicit in a potential presidential run in 2028, at a time when he has emerged in many ways as the face of opposition to President Trump.
Mr. Newsom has spent significantly in the last week on ads on Facebook and Instagram to expand his online donor base, paying nearly $450,000 for ads between Aug. 12 and Aug. 18, company records show.
One of the ads for his ballot-measure committee shows Mr. Newsom and Mr. Trump speaking on an airport tarmac and the governor pointing a finger into the president’s chest.
Mr. Newsom has branded the remapping as an answer to Texas’ effort to redraw its map, calling it the “Election Rigging Response Act.”
“Nothing about this is normal, and so we’re not going to act as if anything is normal any longer,” Mr. Newsom said in a call on Wednesday with the Democratic National Committee. Referring to Mr. Trump, he added, “We are going to fight back, and we’re going to punch this bully in the mouth, and we’re going to win.”
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican, is expected to soon sign a new congressional map that aims to increase Republican representation in the state by as many as five congressional seats.
Mr. Newsom has pushed for California to create five new Democratic seats while also shoring up the districts of vulnerable incumbents in a map advancing through the State Legislature.
But the path forward in California is far more complex than in Texas. State legislators must put the new California map up for a vote this fall in order to override the state’s Constitution, which empowers an independent commission to draw maps in the state.
The $6.2 million online haul for Mr. Newsom is expected to be table stakes for that fight. California ballot-measure campaigns can raise unlimited sums from multimillionaires and billionaires, and with as many as nine districts changing their political complexion the outlays could be huge.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California is organizing efforts to oppose the measure, though he downplayed reports he would raise $100 million in an interview on CNN on Thursday.
And national Democrats see the ballot fight as the first battle of the 2026 midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress. Former President Barack Obama has supported Mr. Newsom’s push, calling it a “responsible approach.”
If the $6.2 million sum does not rival the volume of contributions that politicians can raise in the heat of a presidential race, it does put Mr. Newsom in elite company among Democrats in 2025.
Only a handful of politicians raised $6 million in the first six months of the year on the Democratic Party’s primary fund-raising platform, ActBlue, federal records show. It is a short list with names like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senators Bernie Sanders, Jon Ossoff, Chris Murphy and Cory Booker.
And the party’s top two recruits for Senate in 2026, former Senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio and former Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina, reported that their main campaign committees raised $3 million and $2.6 million in the 24 hours after they announced their candidacies.
Nick Corasaniti contributed reporting.