California’s Democratic legislative leaders are not ready to talk publicly about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to have lawmakers redraw the state’s congressional maps to try to send more Democrats to the U.S. House of Representatives, but behind closed doors they appear ready to follow his lead. Newsom is eyeing a special election in November of this year to ask voters to temporarily restore the power to draw those maps back to the California legislature for the first time in two decades. The governor has said the effort is to counter Texas, where Republicans who lead that state’s Legislature have redrawn and proposed new congressional maps ahead of the 2026 election that could boot five Democrats from office and replace them with Republicans, at the request of President Donald Trump. California voters in 2008 took that power away from state lawmakers and established an independent redistricting commission instead. The governor wants to temporarily give the power to state lawmakers to redraw maps for the elections in 2026, 2028 and 2030. California lawmakers are in the middle of a month-long summer recess and are scheduled to return to Sacramento on Aug. 18. To meet the governor’s special election request in early November, lawmakers would have a matter of days to draw maps, hold public hearings and finalize the language they present to voters on the ballot. Despite repeated requests for interviews, neither Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas nor State Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire have been willing to discuss the issue on camera. Neither elections committee chair in the State Senate, Sabrina Cervantes nor in the Assembly, Gail Pellerin, would do an interview to talk about what the governor is asking them to do. But they are talking about it behind closed doors. Democrats in the State Senate and Assembly were briefed late Sunday night on the governor’s redistricting effort along with Democratic California Reps. Pete Aguilar and Zoe Lofgren. Multiple sources who were in the meetings said Democrats seemed ready to follow the governor’s direction despite the tight timeline, cost, and legal questions behind the effort. In the virtual meeting, state lawmakers were shown polling around the possible ballot measure that could be presented to voters in the November special election which had 52% of those polled voting yes, 41% no, and 7% undecided.In screen shots of the polling obtained by KCRA 3, the proposed ballot initiative would say: “Retains California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission and declares state policy supporting use of fair, non-partisan redistricting commission nationwide. Adopts new California congressional districts passed by the Legislature for use in congressional elections through 2030. Retains California’s original congressional district maps if Texas or other states also retain their original district maps.” Lawmakers were also briefed on the tight timeline and steps needed to act quickly, sources said. They would need to pass two pieces of legislation, one that approves the special election with a majority vote. The other would include the ballot initiative, which requires a two-thirds vote in support to get it before voters. This would need to be done by the end of August. Sources said lawmakers were not shown maps and specific districts and how they might be redrawn were not discussed. Assembly Speaker Rivas spoke strongly in favor of the plan, sources said. In the State Senate, Democrats felt as though they did not have a choice and this is something they have to do. “A lot of rah rah, save Democracy!” a source in the Assembly said. “It’s a go,” a source in the Senate said. Rivas released a statement after this story was published vowing to “fight fire with fire.”“Last night, our caucus met to discuss the urgent threat of a continued, blatant Trumpian power grab — a coordinated effort to undermine our democracy and silence Californians,” he said. “The Assembly won’t stand by while our state is targeted. We will fight fire with fire. Our voters must be empowered to push back. California has never backed down — and we won’t start now. We will always protect our power and defend our democracy.”| MORE | California GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley to introduce legislation that would invalidate mid-decade redistrictingSee more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
California’s Democratic legislative leaders are not ready to talk publicly about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to have lawmakers redraw the state’s congressional maps to try to send more Democrats to the U.S. House of Representatives, but behind closed doors they appear ready to follow his lead.
Newsom is eyeing a special election in November of this year to ask voters to temporarily restore the power to draw those maps back to the California legislature for the first time in two decades. The governor has said the effort is to counter Texas, where Republicans who lead that state’s Legislature have redrawn and proposed new congressional maps ahead of the 2026 election that could boot five Democrats from office and replace them with Republicans, at the request of President Donald Trump.
California voters in 2008 took that power away from state lawmakers and established an independent redistricting commission instead. The governor wants to temporarily give the power to state lawmakers to redraw maps for the elections in 2026, 2028 and 2030.
California lawmakers are in the middle of a month-long summer recess and are scheduled to return to Sacramento on Aug. 18. To meet the governor’s special election request in early November, lawmakers would have a matter of days to draw maps, hold public hearings and finalize the language they present to voters on the ballot.
Despite repeated requests for interviews, neither Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas nor State Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire have been willing to discuss the issue on camera. Neither elections committee chair in the State Senate, Sabrina Cervantes nor in the Assembly, Gail Pellerin, would do an interview to talk about what the governor is asking them to do.
But they are talking about it behind closed doors.
Democrats in the State Senate and Assembly were briefed late Sunday night on the governor’s redistricting effort along with Democratic California Reps. Pete Aguilar and Zoe Lofgren. Multiple sources who were in the meetings said Democrats seemed ready to follow the governor’s direction despite the tight timeline, cost, and legal questions behind the effort.
In the virtual meeting, state lawmakers were shown polling around the possible ballot measure that could be presented to voters in the November special election which had 52% of those polled voting yes, 41% no, and 7% undecided.
In screen shots of the polling obtained by KCRA 3, the proposed ballot initiative would say: “Retains California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission and declares state policy supporting use of fair, non-partisan redistricting commission nationwide. Adopts new California congressional districts passed by the Legislature for use in congressional elections through 2030. Retains California’s original congressional district maps if Texas or other states also retain their original district maps.”
Lawmakers were also briefed on the tight timeline and steps needed to act quickly, sources said. They would need to pass two pieces of legislation, one that approves the special election with a majority vote. The other would include the ballot initiative, which requires a two-thirds vote in support to get it before voters. This would need to be done by the end of August.
Sources said lawmakers were not shown maps and specific districts and how they might be redrawn were not discussed.
Assembly Speaker Rivas spoke strongly in favor of the plan, sources said. In the State Senate, Democrats felt as though they did not have a choice and this is something they have to do.
“A lot of rah rah, save Democracy!” a source in the Assembly said.
“It’s a go,” a source in the Senate said.
Rivas released a statement after this story was published vowing to “fight fire with fire.”
“Last night, our caucus met to discuss the urgent threat of a continued, blatant Trumpian power grab — a coordinated effort to undermine our democracy and silence Californians,” he said. “The Assembly won’t stand by while our state is targeted. We will fight fire with fire. Our voters must be empowered to push back. California has never backed down — and we won’t start now. We will always protect our power and defend our democracy.”
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
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