Aug 14, 2025 minute read

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday that the state would be undertaking its own redistricting effort in response to Texas’ own redistricting, which he said would be on the November 4 ballot.

He said the ballot would be asking Californians to “provide a temporary pathway for congressional maps.”

“We will affirm our commitment to the state independent redistricting after the 2030 census, but we’re asking the voters for their consent to do midterm redistricting in 2026, 2028, and 2030 for the congressional maps to respond to what’s happening in Texas, to respond what Trump is trying to excite.”

Newsom said, “We’re here because Donald Trump, on January 6, tried to light democracy on fire, tried to wreck this country, tried to steal an election,” and added, “here we are, in open and plain sight before one vote is cast in the 2026 midterm election, and here he is, once again, trying to rig the system.”

“He doesn’t play by a different set of rules. He doesn’t believe in the rules. And as a consequence, we need to disabuse ourselves of the way things have been done. It’s not good enough to just hold hands, have a candlelight vigil and talk about the way the world should be. We have got to recognize the cards that have been dealt, and we have got to meet fire with fire, and we’ve got to be held to a higher level of accountability. So that’s what this is about. It’s not complicated.”

“Trump, you have poked the bear and we will punch back,” Newsom said, later adding, “I know they say Don’t Mess With Texas, well, don’t mess with the great Golden State.”

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