California Dems have "promised not to do away with the state’s independent redistricting commission entirely," and are instead planning to ask voters "to approve a constitutional amendment that would put new maps approved by the Legislature in effect for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 election cycles." (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
And he argued that Trump was "playing with fire" with his push for rare—but not unheard of—mid-decade redistricting.
Newsom says Trump missed a deadline to stand down on his push to redistrict in Texas.
"DONALD ‘TACO’ TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, ‘MISSED’ THE DEADLINE!!! CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE ‘BEAUTIFUL MAPS,’ THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!)," Newsom wrote earlier this week in a social media post posted by his press office, which was meant to mock how Trump writes his own social media posts.
"BIG PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH POWERFUL DEMS AND GAVIN NEWSOM — YOUR FAVORITE GOVERNOR — THAT WILL BE DEVASTATING FOR ‘MAGA.’ THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! — GN," he added.
The Republican push in Texas, which comes at Trump's urging, is part of a broader effort by the GOP across the country to pad their razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.
NEWSOM DEMANDS TRUMP GIVE UP TEXAS REDISTRICTING PUSH
Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats stormed back to grab the House majority in the 2018 midterms.
But while the Republican push in Texas to upend the current congressional maps doesn't face constitutional constraints, Newsom's path in California is much more complicated.
In Texas, Republicans plan to enact the new maps they drew up once enough state Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to prevent the legislature from passing the measure return to Texas.
Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the last Republican elected governor in California, opposes the push by Democrats to scrap the state's non-partisan redistricting commission. (Tristar Media/WireImage)
Schwarzenegger, during his tenure as governor, had a starring role in the passage of constitutional amendments in California in 2008 and 2010 that took the power to draw state legislative and congressional districts away from politicians and place it in the hands of an independent commission.
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"Most people don't really think about an independent commission much, one way or another. And that's both an opportunity and a challenge for Newsom," Jack Pitney, an American politics professor at California's Claremont McKenna College, told Fox News.
But he added that "it's going to take a lot of effort and money to energize Democrats and motivate them to show up at the polls" and that Newsom's effort "is all about motivating people who don't like Trump."
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/newsom-unveiling-california-redistricting-effort-counter-trump-backed-push-texas