WASHINGTON — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would drop threats to redraw California’s congressional map if red states dropped efforts to alter the political landscape before next year’s midterm elections.
In a letter to President Donald Trump on Monday, Newsom warned against following through with plans to redraw congressional boundaries in red states in order to protect Republicans’ slim majority in Congress, threatening to “neutralize” any GOP gains with a new map in California. The letter comes as Texas state lawmakers plan to vote on a newly proposed map in the coming weeks that would secure up to five new Republican seats in the U.S. House next November.
“You are playing with fire, risking the destabilization of our democracy,” Newsom wrote. “The attempt to rig congressional maps to hold onto power before a single vote is cast in the 2026 election is an affront to American democracy. This is not what the Founders envisioned, and California cannot stand idly by as this power grab unfolds.”
Newsom warned Trump that if he did not “stand down,” the California governor would be “forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps” in the Golden State in retaliation. But, he added, if red states agreed to stand down, “we will happily do the same.”
It’s unlikely that Trump would agree to reverse his calls for Texas to pass its newly unveiled map that would create new districts in areas that he carried by more than 10 percentage points in the 2024 election. Most of the new districts are in heavily Hispanic areas, a crucial demographic shift that helped secure Trump’s victory in November.
The Texas Legislature was originally scheduled to vote on the map last week, but those efforts have so far been delayed after Democratic lawmakers fled to blue states such as New York, Illinois and Massachusetts to block any legislative action.
Newsom was the first Democratic governor to threaten retaliation, suggesting last month he would look at altering California’s districts. The Texas versus California battle has since expanded into a national political war as red and blue states alike have publicly suggested they would look at major changes.
However, Newsom could face challenges to changing California’s maps as the state has strict laws on redistricting that could make it difficult to adjust boundaries before next November. State law restricts mid-decade redistricting, meaning the state would likely need to pass a constitutional amendment to allow for any changes.
Even then, state law requires California to utilize an independent redistricting commission to draw maps, which requires a lengthy vetting process and is designed to ensure little political leverage.
Meanwhile, some lawmakers in Congress have openly called for an end to the redistricting efforts — including one Republican who introduced a bill to ban any changes before next November.
Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., filed the bill last week to block any new maps from being used in the 2026 midterm elections and nullify any changes that are adopted this year. Kiley introduced the ban in response to possible changes in California, which would likely put him at risk as one of just nine House Republicans from the Golden State.
Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, said he opposes the push by Texas Republicans to redraw the state’s congressional boundaries, making him the highest-ranking GOP lawmaker so far to contradict Trump’s demands.
“If Texas does it, California is going to do it, Illinois is going to do it — and Illinois is going to do it worse, in favor of the Democrats, and all of a sudden it’s just a free-for-all,” Moore told the Deseret News in an interview last week. “Every two years, we’re going to have redistricting going on constantly instead of the current norm of at least once every 10 years. It’s not a perfect system. There’s bias constantly involved in this. So yeah, I don’t agree with mid-decade redistricting.”
The Deseret News has contacted the White House for comment, but has yet to receive it.
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