With Democrats lining up for a bare-knuckle match on redistricting, Gov. Gavin Newsom has offered President Trump a cease-fire proposal: No redrawing congressional maps in red states and California will stand down, he wrote in a letter sent to Trump on Monday morning.
“If you will not stand down, I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states,” he said. “But if the other states call off their redistricting efforts, we will happily do the same. And American democracy will be better for it.”
Newsom’s latest play comes as the drama around redistricting heightened over the weekend. Democratic leaders in other blue states argued on Sunday morning political shows that they were ready to battle head-to-head over the congressional district maps, which are normally tied to the census taken once a decade.
“Donald Trump is a cheater. He cheats on his wives, he cheats at golf, and now he’s trying to cheat the American people out of their votes,” said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on “Meet the Press” Sunday.
Newsom has been at center stage in this national political fight that could determine the outcome of the midterm elections and, by default, the strength of the president’s power. The Republican-led Congress handed Trump “the big beautiful bill” that will supercharge immigration enforcement — his signature issue. And it has been deferential to his whims, but the Republican Party losing control of the House and Senate would be a major blow to his agenda.
The national political fight is gearing up with much at stake for both parties. Last week, Newsom hosted Texas Democrats who — under threat of arrest and daily $500 fines — had left the state in a bid to prevent their Legislature from altering the congressional maps. And he vowed to “nullify” what happens in Texas.
“You are playing with fire, risking the destabilization of our democracy, while knowing that California can neutralize any gains you hope to make,” he told Trump in the letter. “This 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.”
Trump has been pushing the Texas GOP to redraw congressional district maps, saying they are “entitled” to five seats. And he argued on CNBC last week that California was “gerrymandered,” pointing out the congressional delegation didn’t match the presidential vote results.
But, unlike some states, California has an independent redistricting committee.
On Friday, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung called Newsom “a loser of the highest order” who would “never be president no matter how hard he prostitutes himself to the press.”
The California’s redistricting plan may be a risky gambit.
The plan calls for the state Legislature to approve a constitutional amendment establishing new congressional voting districts crafted to make GOP members vulnerable. The bill would create a Nov. 4 special election in which voters would decide whether to temporarily pause congressional boundaries created by an independent redistricting commission in 2021 and adopt new maps for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections.
If approved by voters, the measure would include a “trigger” specifying that it would take effect only if Texas or other Republican-led states followed through with redrawing their maps to boost GOP seats before the midterm election. California would revert to its existing redistricting law after the next census and before the 2032 election.
Times staff writers Taryn Luna and Seema Mehta contributed to this report.
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