California Democrats are taking up their proposed constitutional amendment to temporarily redraw their congressional maps, hours after Republicans in the Texas House passed new maps of their own.
After weeks of opposition and days of heated committee meetings and floor debates, lawmakers in both states are on track to pass their redistricting efforts Thursday.
In California, the state Assembly and Senate will consider a trio of bills that will allow for a special election to pass a constitutional amendment to replace the state’s existing congressional maps through 2030. From there, Democrats in the state must convince Californians to overturn the congressional maps drafted by the independent redistricting commission voters first empowered to draw the lines in 2010.
California Democrats have described their redistricting push as reaction to the Texas plan and President Donald Trump’s effort to create a more favorable 2026 midterm election map. The legislation includes a trigger clause that says the state will only move forward if other states – such as Texas – seek to implement their own mid-decade redistricting.
In Texas, meanwhile, the state House on Wednesday evening approved new congressional maps — an 88-52 vote on party lines that came two days after the Democrats who had fled the state, denying the House a quorum for 15 days, returned to Austin. The Republican-dominated state Senate is reconvening Thursday night, and the redistricting plan’s passage there is all but certain.
Democrats are seeking to gain five seats in California, while Republicans are eyeing five additional seats in Texas.
The legislature will consider the proposed referendum, as well as two related bills, starting Thursday. All three need a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers to pass. If passed, voters would be able to weigh in on whether they want to allow the legislature to override the congressional lines drawn by the state’s independent redistricting commission to put in place new lines through 2030.
The new map proposed by Democrats would likely net the party five seats, as well as shore up some incumbents in more competitive districts.
The package was advanced by the Assembly and Senate’s appropriations committees Wednesday.
Republicans on the panels objected to the cost of the proposed special election, which a bill analysis estimated as “likely in the low hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Democrats countered that the cost was worthwhile to counter Texas’ plan to redraw its congressional maps at the behest of President Trump. They also compared the November vote to the cost of Republicans’ failed attempt to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom from power in 2021.
“The costs are going to be just as much as the failed recall that your party placed on Governor Newsom,” Democratic state Sen. Sabrina Cervantes said. “The cost this election is going to cost, is as much as the new ballroom that President Trump is going to build at the White House. Is that fiscally responsible?”
The Senate and Assembly are adjourned until 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET Thursday.
The Texas state Senate is reconvening Thursday evening, and it is expected to approve the redistricting plan that cleared the House on Wednesday night. That would send the measure to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk to be signed into law.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows said in a statement the new maps’ passage has “ushered in a new chapter of Republican unity.”
House Democrats gave up their only legislative mechanism to slow the redistricting plan Monday, when members who had fled to Illinois, New York, Massachusetts and other blue states returned to the state Capitol, allowing the House to establish the two-thirds quorum required under its rules.
However, those Democrats vowed Wednesday night, minutes after the chamber’s vote, to wage a legal battle against the new congressional maps.
“This fight is far from over,” said state Rep. Gene Wu, the House Democratic leader. “Our best shot is in the courts.”
As the special session continues, lawmakers will also consider legislation “to impose penalties or punishments for legislators who willfully absent themselves during a session,” according to a statement from Abbott, who added the item to the agenda Wednesday.
Former President Barack Obama endorsed Newsom’s redistricting push during a speech Tuesday night, saying that while he opposes gerrymandering, he believes the California Democrat has been “responsible” in his approach.
“I’ve had to wrestle with my preference, which would be that we don’t have political gerrymandering,” Obama said, according to excerpts of his remarks at a National Democratic Redistricting Committee event shared with CNN. “But what I also know is that if we don’t respond effectively, then this White House and Republican-controlled state governments all across the country, they will not stop.”
Democrats held a press call Wednesday in which speakers connected the redistricting push in California to the party’s broader efforts to push back against the Trump administration.
“Gov. Newsom didn’t care whether folks would clutch their pearls when he decided to fight fire with fire and level the playing field against this craven, power-hungry White House,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said. “His fight is a game changer, a national moment for Democrats to show up for all voters.”
