California’s move to launch a redistricting effort ahead of next year’s midterms has piled new pressure on other blue states to follow suit.
Capitol Hill Democrats are hailing Thursday’s announcement by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to redraw the House map in the Golden State, saying the changes are essential to counteract a similar gambit by Texas Republicans, which is expected to net the GOP as many as five seats in the next Congress.
But the Democrats don’t want to stop there, pressing party leaders in Illinois, New York and even Maryland to take a page from Newsom’s playbook to help the party flip control of the House — and establish a check on President Trump — in next year’s elections.
Newsom has taken the lead, publicly exhorting the leaders of Illinois and New York to “forget the talking” and start making moves. But behind the scenes, a similar pressure campaign is playing out.
Eric Holder, the attorney general under former President Obama and now head of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, told House Democrats on a conference call this week he’s been in talks with leaders in a number of states, including California, New York and Maryland, according to a Democrat on the call. Holder is urging the lawmakers to support an all-hands-on-deck effort to pressure Democratic governors to redraw their maps as the last best chance to nullify the expected changes in Texas.
“He says, ‘In the past we’ve played it under different rules, [but] this time, even though we’ve always taken a position against mid-decade redistricting … we just can’t do it. We cannot do it because there is so much at stake,’” the Democratic lawmaker said. “Imagine if the Democrats don’t win the House back and there’s no check on the president, imagine what he’s going to do in the last two years.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said earlier this month she’s “exploring with our leaders every option to redraw our state congressional lines as soon as possible.”
“We’re already working on a legislative process, reviewing our legal strategies, and we’ll do everything in our power to stop this brazen assault,” she told reporters.
And in Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker (D) has teased the idea of redrawing the map in response to Texas, saying recently that “we’ve got to consider all the options when they’re trying to take democracy away.” As he weighs those options, other Illinois Democrats are encouraging him to be bold.
“Trump’s power grab demands action. We will not stand by while he dismantles democracy,” Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.) said Thursday in an email. “Every option to confront and stop him is on the table.”
Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), who’s running for Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) seat next year and whose district includes a mix of urban, suburban and rural, also left the door open to having Illinois redraw its maps if it needed to.
“We’re all in it together, so we have to do what we have to do. But I think do first what makes most sense or might be easier,” Kelly told The Hill, referring to states that might be easier to redistrict.
“There’s a lot of blocks or pieces of the puzzle, and it depends how the pieces of the puzzle fall. If, you know, we look at it and it’s very important that we do it, then I would not be opposed to us doing it,” she said.
The Democrats’ endorsement of mid-decade redistricting marks a sharp shift in the party’s strategy. For years, Democratic leaders have opposed state moves to redraw their maps mid-decade, pushing instead for independent commissions to assume the task — and discourage partisan gerrymandering — following each decennial census count.
But with Texas Republicans poised to redraw their map in the coming weeks — a rare, mid-decade reworking designed, at the request of Trump, to pick up GOP seats — Democrats say the moment demands fighting fire with fire.
“Under the circumstances, you get in a fight, you’ve got to make sure you’ve got the same type of weapons, or better weapons, than the other side does,” said the lawmaker on the Holder call. “So you can’t just unilaterally give up.”
The push to redraw House maps is not clear-cut, though, since each state determines how they draw their congressional lines. In New York, a redistricting commission starts the process of drawing the House lines, subject to the Legislature’s approval. If the Legislature approves the lines crafted by the commission, they head to the governor’s office for signature.
New York won’t be able to pass a new House map in time for 2026 given that allowing the state to pursue mid-decade redistricting will require an amendment to the state Constitution. The Legislature needs to pass that amendment in two consecutive sessions before it goes to the voters for a vote. That timeline means the earliest New York could draw maps would be for the 2028 cycle.
The process is easier in Illinois and Maryland, where each legislature takes up the task of drawing lines. Once they’re passed by state lawmakers, they require the governor’s signature for approval. But unlike New York, Democrats have fewer opportunities to pick up seats in Illinois and Maryland, which already have predominantly Democratic congressional delegations.
Stretching out gains in Democratic states also runs the risk of making Democrats’ seats more competitive, too.
House Republicans, meanwhile, have slammed Newsom’s effort, arguing he’s doing so because of his rumored 2028 aspirations.
“Gavin Newsom’s latest stunt has nothing to do with Californians and everything to do with consolidating radical Democrat power, silencing California voters, and propping up his pathetic 2028 presidential pipe dream,” Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the House Republicans’ campaign arm, said in a statement.
“Newsom’s made it clear: He’ll shred California’s Constitution and trample over democracy — running a cynical, self-serving playbook where Californians are an afterthought and power is the only priority.”
Democrats have dismissed such criticisms, saying the real power grab occurred when Trump asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to redraw the maps to find five additional GOP seats. The midterm cycle is historically tough on the party of the sitting president, and Trump is hoping to prevent Democrats from taking control of the House, which would empower them to launch countless investigations into the actions of his administration.
In the past, Democrats have expressed concerns that adopting mid-decade redistricting would set a terrible precedent and make the Congress even more polarized than it already is. But those reservations have been eclipsed by what the party sees as an existential threat to the country if Trump is allowed to move through the remainder of his term unchecked. Party leaders appear to be on board.
“People are very upset, and pretty much anybody is on the same [page],” the Democratic lawmaker said. “They’re saying, ‘In the past we’ve taken a different position, but we can’t come in empty handed while they’re coming in with guns to the fight.
“Democrats, and certainly our leaders, are saying that, ‘We’ve taken a different position on redistricting [in the past], but this time we cannot do it.'”
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