California’s leftward push comes as Texas moves toward adding five Republican seats.
By Maeve Reston, Patrick Marley and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Washington Post
California Democrats are set to unveil a congressional map Friday that would allow them to capture five more House seats, likely wiping out the gains Republicans hope to make in Texas and intensifying a brutal national redistricting fight.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said he was pushing the plan to combat President Donald Trump’s attempts to carve up districts in several red states in hopes of preserving Republicans’ narrow control of the House after next year’s midterm elections. When the California legislature returns Monday, Democrats will introduce measures to hold a special election in November to amend the state constitution to adopt the new map. Under the proposal, the state would alter its map only in response to other states and would resume using nonpartisan lines after the 2030 Census.
Newsom’s push comes as Texas Republicans prepare to approve a map that would create as many as five new GOP districts in their state after a weeks-long fight. Democrats in the state House there fled Texas two weeks ago to stall that plan and draw attention to what Republicans are doing. The Texas Democrats are expected to return next week, clearing the way for Republicans there to adopt their new map.
“We anticipate these maps will completely neuter and neutralize what is happening in Texas,” Newsom said, emphasizing that the new maps will go into effect only if Republican statesmove ahead with their new GOP-leaning maps. “There’s still an exit ramp.”
As the nation’s most populous state, California has the largest congressional delegation. Under the current lines, Democrats hold 43 of the state’s 52 seats and Republicans hold nine. The new map could tilt the Democrats’ advantage in the state to 48-4.
The proposal that will be introduced Monday when the California legislature returns would rejigger the districts held by Republican Reps. Ken Calvert, Darrell Issa, Kevin Kiley and Doug LaMalfa, transforming them from safe Republican districts to Democratic ones, according to sources familiar with the new map who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that are not yet public. The map would also add more Democrats to the perpetually close swing district held by Rep. David G. Valadao (R), though it could remain competitive in part because low turnout in that part of the state often makes the outcome unpredictable.
In addition, the newly drafted Democratic map wouldstrengthen their party’s grip on at least four toss-up seats that are currently held by Democrats. And it would help Democrats enhance their numbers in the Republican-leaning district held by Rep. Adam Gray (D).
Putting the map in place for next year will be difficult because California’s constitution requires a nonpartisan commission to draw political lines under amendments adopted by voters in 2008 and 2010 with the support of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R). Newsom and state lawmakers will be asking voters to amend the state constitution to suspend that requirement for the next three congressional elections, if Texas or another state establishes new maps.
Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, is offering the Democrats’ most robust response so far to Trump’s call for new maps in Republican-led states. The clashing proposals from Texas and California signal that politicians from both parties are increasingly willing to go out of their way to rig maps in their party’s favor.
Republicans are also considering drawing new maps in Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Missouri. Democrats are considering shifting districts to the left in Illinois, Maryland, Oregon and Washington. Republicans have more opportunities to improve their fortunes, redistricting experts have said.
California Democrats said they believe in nonpartisan redistricting but want every state to follow the same rules. They said they must match Republicans if they draw new maps.
“If they’re down in the mud, then we need to go down there and mud wrestle,” California state Rep. Isaac Bryan (D) said in an interview.
The risks for both sides are high. Voters could reject the California plan. Republicans are not guaranteed to win all of the new seats in Texas. Lawsuits could result in courts blocking some new maps but not others. Incumbents in both parties could press their leaders to end the standoff as they learn they could be placed into more competitive districts.
California’s special election this fall could get costly, and both Republicans and Democrats are expected to spend heavily. Newsom said on Thursday that he expects the battle to cost tens of millions of dollars and that he would help raise a significant portion of what is needed to propel the ballot measure to victory. Democrats plan to portray the new map as a check on Trump, and Republicans are eager to call out what they view as Democrats’ hypocrisy and deliver a setback to Newsom.
States are required to draw new political lines every 10 years after each census to ensure districts have equal populations. Politicians from both sides often use that process to give their political party an edge, but redrawing lines in the middle of a decade is unusual.
Frustrations over how the lines are drawn led California and seven other states in recent decades to adopt systems to minimize the role of politics in the process.
The latest redistricting dispute started in Texas and continues to simmer there. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) called a special legislative session last month to draw new maps, but dozens of Democrats in the Texas state House stymied Republicans by heading to Illinois and other states led by Democrats. Under Texas’s constitution, at least 100 of the state House’s 150 members must be present to conduct business.
Texas Republicans ended their 30-day special session Friday and plan to start a new one later in the day. Abbott has said he will continue to call sessions, putting pressure on Democrats to come back or remain away from their families and private-sector jobs for months. Democrats announced this week that they would return once Texas ends its initial special session and California Democrats formally introduce their plan, which would clear the way for them to go back as soon as Monday.
Republicans have issued civil arrest warrants for the absent Democrats, asked the state Supreme Court to remove them from office and warned they will fine each of them $500 for every day they are gone.
“In the real world, if you don’t show up to do your job, you lose your job,” Abbott said on CBS News Texas. “[The] same thing should happen with regard to Texas House members if they don’t show up to do their job.”
Abbott said he would consider altering Texas’s map to add up to 10 GOP districts instead of five, as Republicans originally proposed. Republicans currently hold 25 of the state’s 38 congressional seats.
Texas state Sen. Carol Alvarado (D) praised California Democrats for their willingness to redraw their map, saying she hoped it would prompt Republicans to reconsider their plans.
“This is not even gerrymandering,” she said. “It’s Trump-mandering, and all the Republicans are pandering to the Trump-mandering.”
Kadia Goba and Marianna Sotomayor contributed to this report from Washington.
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