SACRAMENTO, California — The California Legislature voted on Thursday to ask the state’s voters to gerrymander their congressional districts, aiming to flip five GOP-held House seats and offset Texas Republicans’ redistricting drive.
Gov. Gavin Newsom planned to sign the suite of legislation hours later, placing a measure on the Nov. 4 ballot that would redraw the state’s maps in Democrats’ favor until after the 2030 U.S. Census.
Lawmakers during hours of debate previewed the arguments expected to power a wildly expensive, Newsom-led campaign in favor of the measure. They cast their move as a rebuke of President Donald Trump, who is deeply unpopular in California and has urged Texan officials to hand the GOP five more House seats.
“This bill gives voters a choice — a choice to keep the current districts or adopt maps to counter the actions of MAGA extremists in Texas who are obediently working to tip the scales for President Trump,” California Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez said.
Texas’ House approved a Republican-favoring gerrymander Wednesday, and its state Senate is expected to send the new map to Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday evening for his promised signature. Unlike in California, Texas legislators can redraw maps mid-decade without voter approval.
California Democrats previously planned to pass a map that would take effect only if Texas acts. But on Thursday morning, they removed that contingency, arguing it was nearly inevitable that Texas would move forward and that voters could be confused by the trigger.
The new maps for both states are the first blows in what could amount to a nationwide redistricting war between the two parties, whose leaders are pushing to reshuffle the national congressional map to boost their odds of winning control of the House in 2026. Republicans are hoping Indiana, Missouri and Florida draw new Republican-majority seats, while Ohio’s legally mandated redraw will likely create new GOP-leaning congressional districts. Democrats have few opportunities to match Republican efforts beyond Newsom’s ballot measure.
California Republicans have promised state and federal lawsuits aimed at preventing the measure from going before voters in November. But their first attempt to blunt Democrats’ efforts was tossed out by the California Supreme Court on Wednesday. Famous figures from the state party’s past including former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are gearing up for an intense campaign this fall.
“We're going to do everything we can to stop this Gavinmander from moving forward,” California Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher told reporters.
Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.
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