By Joseph Ax and Steve Gorman
(Reuters) -California's governor said on Friday he will ask voters to approve a ballot measure in November redrawing the state's congressional map in a way likely to create five more Democratic seats, escalating a redistricting war with the Republican-led state of Texas and President Donald Trump.
Texas Republicans have drawn a new congressional map aimed at flipping five Democratic seats in the November 2026 midterm election, with the battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives expected to be closely fought.
Governor Gavin Newsom and other California Democrats on Friday characterized their latest effort as an "emergency," a temporary strategy to neutralize Republican moves they see aimed at gaming the system.
"We are trying to defend democracy, as opposed to seeing it destroyed district by district," Newsom said during a news conference in Sacramento. He was flanked by Democratic leaders of the California legislature and members of the state's congressional district, including former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The Democrats said they expected to have a newly agreed-upon map, based on previous plans reviewed by the state's independent redistricting commission, ready for public scrutiny next week, three months before it would go to voters.
The Democratic-majority legislature would first have to vote in favor of a special election, to be set for the first week of November 2025.
Newsom was joined by half a dozen of the more than 50 Democratic Texas lawmakers who collectively left their home state to prevent the legislative quorum required for Republicans there to win adoption of a Texas redistricting plan championed by Trump.
Newsom and California's Democrats insisted they remain committed to the independent redistricting process enacted by state voters more than 15 years ago.
Republican leaders sought on Friday to ramp up pressure seeking to force the wayward Texas Democrats, holed up in such Democratic-led states as California, Illinois and New York, to return to the legislature and punish those who refuse.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit with the Texas Supreme Court seeking a declaration that the seats of 13 absent Democratic lawmakers are vacant.
In another tactic, Texas House of Representatives Speaker Dustin Burrows put the absent Democratic lawmakers on notice that they can only collect their paychecks by appearing in person at the capitol in Austin.
Republicans now hold a narrow 219-212 majority U.S. House of Representatives.
Texas Republicans' new redistricting map was the first salvo in trying to secure their party's majority on Capitol Hill. Trump has that with the redrawing of congressional district lines Republicans can expect to pick up as many as five additional U.S. House seats.
Friday's response by Newsom and his fellow California Democrats may not be the last move in the redistricting game.
Other Democratic governors have threatened to follow suit, while Republican leaders in other states have said they may do likewise.
Texas state Representative Ann Johnson, one of the Democrats appearing in California on Friday, said she and other legislators staging the walkout were employing rare but legitimate tactics to keep Republicans from "rigging" the next election.
"We are running from nothing," she said. "We see the danger that is coming and we are running straight for it."
Speaking on the Texas House floor on Friday, Burrows also said the legislature would withhold 30% of absent members' paychecks to ensure that daily fines will eventually be covered. He said missing lawmakers would not be allowed to send newsletters to their constituents or seek travel reimbursement.
"Each one of you knows that eventually, you will come back, and we will pass the priorities of the special session," he told Democrats.
Burrows previously signed civil warrants for the Democrats and said the Texas Department of Public Safety was "working to track down absent members." Those warrants are not enforceable beyond Texas' borders.
Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to seek to remove the missing Democrats from office, though legal experts have expressed skepticism about such a maneuver.
Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas said on Thursday that the FBI had agreed to his request to assist in tracking down absent Democrats, but it was unclear precisely how, or whether, federal agents would become involved.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Leslie Adler)
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