Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Friday that the state will move forward with a ballot measure in November to redraw its congressional map in response to a Republican-backed redistricting plan in Texas.
Speaking alongside state Democratic leaders, Newsom said they would call for a special election in the first week of November to vote on redrawing the congressional map, a move that could potentially add five more U.S. House seats to the Democratic tally.
“We are talking about emergency measures to respond to what’s happening in Texas, and we will nullify what happens in Texas,” the Democratic governor told reporters.
“We will pick up five seats with the consent of the people, and that’s the difference between the approach we’re taking and the approach they’re taking. We’re doing it [on a] temporary basis,” he added.
Newsom also reaffirmed that the state will remain committed to its independent redistricting process. The Democrats said they expected to have a newly agreed-upon map, based on previous plans reviewed by the state’s independent redistricting commission, ready for public scrutiny next week, three months before it would go to voters.
Former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who attended the conference, backed Newsom’s decision and praised Texas Democratic lawmakers for their efforts to block the GOP’s redistricting plan.
“It’s not wrong in what we’re doing. This is self-defense for our democracy,” Pelosi said. “I thank again our Texans for their leadership, for their courage, and most of all, for their patriotism.”
The move came as Texas Republicans drew a new congressional map aimed at flipping five Democratic seats in the November 2026 midterm election, prompting more than 50 Texas Democratic lawmakers to leave the state and break quorum in a bid to block the map from moving forward.
Abbott added redrawing the congressional map onto the special session agenda after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sent the Texas governor a letter on July 7 raising concerns that four congressional districts in the Houston and Dallas areas were unconstitutional because of “racial gerrymandering.”
Current boundaries run afoul of the Voting Rights Act by relying on racial demographics to group minority voters into “coalition districts,” where no single racial group forms a majority, according to the DOJ.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) stated on X that Democratic lawmakers still refused to appear for the Aug. 8 quorum deadline. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit with the Texas Supreme Court later that day seeking a declaration that the seats of 13 absent Democratic lawmakers were unlawfully vacant.
Paxton said Texas law gives him the authority to represent the state in “quo warranto actions” and to appear before the Texas Supreme Court in matters of direct state interest.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the Texas Department of Public Safety, along with the FBI, is tracking down Democratic lawmakers who left the state, and they will be brought to the Texas Capitol.
“Those who received benefits for skipping a vote face removal from office and potential bribery charges. In Texas, there are consequences for your actions,” he stated on X.
Abbott also filed a lawsuit on Aug. 5 seeking the removal of state Rep. Gene Wu, who chairs the Texas House Democratic Caucus, accusing him of leading the lawmakers to break quorum and abandoning office. Wu has said that he intends to fight for his constituents.
In response to Newsom’s earlier comments saying he intends to temporarily bypass California’s independent redistricting commission and hold a special election in November, U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) on Aug. 5 proposed to ban mid-decade redistricting at the federal level, accusing the governor of “tricking voters to abolish the Redistricting Commission.”
“Gerrymandering is a problem regardless of which party does it, and it certainly shouldn’t be done in the middle of the decade,” Kiley posted on X Aug. 6. “But what Gavin Newsom is attempting in California goes beyond that.”
Kiley’s legislation, if passed, would also put the brakes on Texas Republicans’ plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts.
In response to the bill, Newsom said that he supports the state’s independent redistricting commission and that any redistricting actions in California would be contingent on Texas’s decisions.
“I’m appreciative that this member of Congress is waking up to the realities, what has occurred in Texas,” Newsom said during a press conference Aug. 5. “I haven’t heard much from him as it relates to the condemnation of their efforts, but I’m grateful that he recognizes the importance of a national framework.”
Darlene McCormick Sanchez, Jill McLaughlin, and Reuters contributed to this report.