California Gov. Gavin Newsom told Donald Trump on Tuesday that the president had missed the deadline to pull back from creating “illegal crooked maps” in red states to manipulate coming elections.
As a result, Newsom, mimicking the president’s all caps messaging style, indicated the nation’s most populous state would “redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states.” He further promised that the results would be “historic as they will end the Trump Presidency” and result in the Democrats “taking back the House.”
Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential contender, has become the leading Democratic voice countering Texas Republicans efforts to redraw maps so more district favor the GOP in advance of the 2026 midterms. Trump has pressured the state to do so, as he faces the prospect of losing control of the House of Representatives next year. Redistricting has traditionally been done once every ten years, after the completion of a census, and not in the middle of the decade.
In turn, Newsom has vowed to launch an effort to redistrict California to make up for any GOP gains in the Lone Star State. California, though, has an independent commission that draws the district maps. Newsom has devised a plan to get a measure on the November ballot with maps that include more Democratic-heavy districts.
On Monday, Newsom went public with a letter to Trump that laid out his demands.
“I am writing to ask you to call on the governor of Texas and other red states, who are acting on your request to draw new congressional maps through an unprecedented, mid-decade hyper-partisan gerrymander to rig the upcoming midterm elections, to stop those efforts.”
The governor then issued a series of all-caps warnings to Trump on social media over the next 24 hours, all of which ended with the president’s own signature line, “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Newsom several times promised a “very important press conference this week with a major announcement,” again mimicking one of Trump’s favorite flourishes.
— Ted Johnson contributed to this report.
