Texas Democrats went to the Windy City this week to avoid voting on legislation that would propose a new congressional map in the state. Their departure created a delay due to not having enough members to function in the legislature. 

Support rolled in from current Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, and from my governor here in California, Gavin Newsom, who has stirred up controversy with his reaction to the move by Republican lawmakers in Texas. 

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Newsom wants to do exactly what he is claiming Texas Republicans are doing: circumvent the law to pad Congress with his party players instead of listening to the will of the people. 

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2008 Voters First Act mandated that a bipartisan body be able to change districts every 10 years. The committee to determine districts would consist of five Democrats, five Republicans, and four others chosen from fields in education and business.

In response to the Texas hubbub, Newsom is now trying to give that power to his left-leaning buddies and create even more winnable seats for Democrats in Congress.

Schwarzenegger, who is not a Make America Great Again guy and not very right-leaning, has vowed to fight Newsom’s plan. Schwarzenegger rightly stated that Newsom’s move is unconstitutional and goes against the need for fairness and bipartisanship. He is the one who fought for the bipartisan committee and said he wants to stop redistricting, whether it’s at the hands of the Left or the Right.

Steve Hilton, formerly of Fox News and a leading candidate for governor, has used lawyers to communicate his intent to fight back. A statement issued by those lawyers asserts that “redistricting in any year other than the year following the national census, is unconstitutional, under the California Constitution.” Hilton said he plans to sue if Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta move forward with their redistricting plans. 

A fight that seems localized is, in fact, a very national issue, one with ramifications for the entire country, whether you are on the Left or the Right. 

Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA), a former California assemblyman who has long been a thorn in Newsom’s side, is one of the Republicans whose district would be shifted in his proposed redistricting. Seems convenient, doesn’t it?

Kiley has introduced legislation that mirrors much of Hilton’s attorneys’ language, stating the obvious fact that a mid-decade redistricting game is invalid given the gap between the census and the changes made that affect those constituents.

Insiders have said that this is just Newsom playing the game. He loves the opportunity to stack Congress for his team and use this as a platform to gain the DNC presidential nomination in 2028.

One even speculated that it is curious that the governor was fine with previous maps until Latino men and young people started voting on the right side of the aisle. 

For Newsom to claim that he wants to defend the Constitution while reneging on the will of the people who voted for this in our state constitution is rich.

The governor’s response is that he cares about the voters and will be “transparent” in the changes. He has and is making moves to get rid of seats he knows are most likely to move to the right. 

The irony, according to Elizabeth Barcohana, Central GOP Committee member in Los Angeles, is “that the population boom in Texas that catalyzed all of this was in part thanks to Newsom’s failed leadership in California.”

Since the 2020 census, Texas’s population has increased by over 2 million. The statistics released regarding migration away from California are inconsistent, but we do know that a wave of people fled during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially from San Francisco and Los Angeles. 

Unlike Texas, which is considering changing its congressional districts due to its population increase, Newsom and Bonta are making the changes to stop President Donald Trump and help out their buddies.

Jared Sichel, partner at Winning Tuesday, a Republican digital firm headquartered in Southern California, said, “Democrats make up 83% of our congressional delegation. Traditionally conservative Orange County, which has an equal number of registered Dems and Reps, has only one Republican in Congress to four Democrats. How much more gerrymandered do the Democrats want to make us? How little representation do they want to give Republican voters? The question answers itself.”

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California has more registered Republicans than any other state. We have a plethora of conservative and Libertarian donors. Los Angeles and San Francisco, the bluest of the blue cities in the state, elected staunch law-and-order candidates to serve as district attorneys in the last election. The statewide proposition to enact affirmative action, Prop 16, in 2020 was shot down by our voters. And, we keep shifting to the right not only in local elections but federally too. 

Newsom sees the writing on the wall. A shift in California to the right is possible, and he wants to stop it. 

Elisha Krauss is a political commentator, podcast host, and conservative activist.