California has its own plan to combat the Trump administration’s national redistricting efforts.
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the Election Rigging Response Act Thursday, a Democratic gerrymandering plan intended to offset efforts to strip liberal areas around the country of their electoral votes.
“We’ve got to meet fire with fire,” Newsom said. “We cannot stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district.”
California will invite residents to vote on whether or not to pursue redistricting in their own state, in reaction to Donald Trump’s heavy hand in Texas politics. The vote will take place on November 4.
Last month, the president demanded that Texas Republicans create five more House seats by redrawing its congressional map, eliminating a handful of blue districts. The move elicited shock and contempt from two of the country’s most populous regions—California and New York—both of which threatened to draw their own new maps should Texas comply. If they do, the two states will give a significant edge to Democrats.
Trump issued similar demands of five other states, claiming that there were nationwide opportunities for redistricting efforts to help the GOP ahead of next year’s midterm elections. Those states include Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Florida.
“This is a serious moment, America. Wake up to what is going on,” Newsom said. “These are sober times.”
Newsom pointed to an aggressive rise in ICE raids, censorship at the Smithsonian, federal kowtowing to Russia, voter intimidation, and infringements on civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, and more as evidence that Trump was “putting America in reverse.”
“It’s about power,” Newsom said. “And we are about to give power back to the people.”
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