Top California Democrats endorse redistricting plan

By Alexei Koseff, CalMatters

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As pressure mounts for their return, half a dozen Democratic lawmakers who fled Texas to stop a Republican-led redistricting scheme traveled to Sacramento on Friday to urge on California’s retaliatory response.

The Texas delegation appeared at the historic governor’s mansion alongside Gov. Gavin Newsom, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top legislative leaders, who publicly endorsed for the first time Newsom’s plan to redraw California congressional lines in the state to favor Democrats. They expect to make the proposed map available next week.

“We are here because we do know that courage is contagious,” Texas state Rep. Ann Johnson said, “and we are here to give hope to others to stand up and be courageous in this moment.”

Nearly the entire Democratic caucus of the Texas Legislature left the state earlier this week to deny Republicans a quorum and prevent them from taking up their redistricting proposal. At the request of President Donald Trump, who is seeking to protect a narrow GOP majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, Texas Republicans are advancing a plan that could flip five seats currently held by Democrats.

It’s unclear how long the Democrats will be able to hold out as GOP leaders demand their return. The House has issued civil arrest warrants for the missing lawmakers, who also face $500 fines for each day they are absent, while the FBI is getting involved in tracking them down. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday sued to expel 13 of them from office. 

“We take this fight one day at a time. We fight to win today and tomorrow we assess,” said Texas state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, one of the legislators Paxton is seeking to have removed.

This is the second time in two weeks that Newsom has hosted Democratic legislators from Texas at the governor’s mansion as he seeks to drum up public enthusiasm for his redistricting plan. He wants to call a special election on Nov. 4 and ask California voters to replace congressional district lines drawn by the state’s independent commission with a new map crafted to benefit Democrats.

Initial internal polling, shared with state lawmakers in private meetings on Sunday, showed a feeble majority of 52% of California voters in support — enough to win in November, but perhaps not enough to withstand a combative fall campaign that will almost certainly draw national attention and resources.

“I think the voters will approve it. I think the voters understand what’s at stake,” Newsom said Friday. “We live in the most un-Trump state in America.”

Legislature will quickly take up redistricting

With time running short to meet an Aug. 22 statutory deadline for the November special election, California can no longer wait to see if Texas acts. Democratic leaders in California are still finalizing the language and district lines for their proposal, which the Legislature is expected to take up as soon as it returns from summer recess on Aug. 18.

Newsom has said the California redistricting measure will also include trigger language, with the new map only taking effect if Texas or other states redraw district lines before the 2026 midterms.

Sources who were not authorized to speak publicly have told CalMatters the redrawn map broadly aims to shore up Democrats in several swing seats while flipping five Republican-leaning districts to solidly Democratic, offsetting the potential gains in Texas.

It could spell the end for Reps. Doug LaMalfa of Chico, who represents California’s northeastern corner; Kevin Kiley of Rocklin, whose sprawling district runs down the eastern border of the state; Darrell Issa of Escondido, who straddles southern Riverside and eastern San Diego counties; and David Valadao of Hanford and Ken Calvert of Corona, perpetual Democratic targets in the Central Valley and Riverside County, respectively.

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas on Friday dismissed criticism from Republicans that the new map has been drawn in secret without input from voters.

“Once these maps are released, voters will have the opportunity to digest these maps, review them for weeks and months leading to this election,” Rivas said. “If there is another state with a more transparent process, where voters will get the ultimate say in these new maps, please let me know what it is.”

As California and Texas accelerate their efforts, other states are still weighing whether to join a national arms race for control of the House. After a visit this week by Vice President J.D. Vance, Indiana’s Republican Gov. Mike Braun was noncommittal about redistricting the state, where Democrats hold two of nine congressional seats.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren of San Jose, who chairs California’s 43-member Democratic House delegation, said Friday that every single one of them supports the redistricting plan.

That includes Pelosi, who accused Trump and congressional Republicans of trying to rig the next election because they cannot defend their agenda and have no winning ideas to present to the American people. She said California was right to fight back to protect democracy.

“We have a responsibility to prove through the night of this Trump administration, the darkness of it all, that our flag is still there, with liberty and justice for all,” she said.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.