California Democrats advance plans for congressional redistricting

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — California Democratic leaders said Friday they anticipate voters will see proposed congressional maps next week, the latest salvo against Texas’ move to redraw its own districts to favor Republicans.

Governor Gavin Newsom has said he wants to fight fire with fire by having the Golden State rework its own congressional districts to offset Republican gains through Texas’ redistricting efforts. He slammed President Donald Trump for pushing the effort in the Lone Star State, saying Republicans know they can’t maintain their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives after the midterms and must game the system to keep power.

“They will lose in the midterms. They know it,” Newsom said. “We have got to step up.”

Newsom stood alongside California Democratic lawmakers, as well as some Democratic Texas legislators who fled their state to deny their Legislature a quorum. Without a quorum, the Texas Legislature can’t move forward on the Republican plan to redraw its congressional districts.

Texas lawmakers say they face threats of arrest, financial ruin and being removed from office.

“We are running from nothing,” said Texas Representative Ann Johnson, a Houston Democrat. “We are running to the front lines.”

For California, those lines literally are being redrawn.

California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said the maps depicting new, proposed congressional districts should become available next week. That will give California voters almost three months to weigh whether they want to approve them in a special November election.

Lawmakers must call for the special election by Aug. 22 for it to reach voters this November. If it does appear on the ballot — which Newsom has said is contingent on Texas redrawing its districts — and it passes, it would forego the state’s independent redistricting commission for three election cycles. The new maps would be in effect through the 2030 elections for congressional districts only.

Currently on its summer recess, the Legislature reconvenes Aug. 18.

“I think the voters understand what’s at stake,” Newsom said.

He and others repeatedly hammered Trump, casting him as an authoritarian who seeks to destroy democracy. In contrast, Democrats saw themselves as defenders of democracy who must take extraordinary action in desperate times.

“The president has paved over the Rose Garden,” said U.S. Representative and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “He’s paved over freedom of speech.

“We will not let him pave over free and fair elections,” she added. “This is self-defense for our democracy.”

California state Senate President pro Tempore Mike McGuire called Pelosi “the defender of democracy.” Democracy hangs by a thread, he added. Trump has discarded cancer research and health care in favor of golden ballrooms. Texas representatives have claimed they’re being tracked by the FBI.

“Letting people vote is the right way to go about it,” McGuire said.

Rivas argued that Trump has sought to change America from a democracy into an authoritarian state since he took office in January. He pointed to reports of masked agents forcing people into unmarked vehicles and “disappearing” them with no accountability.

History teaches that authoritarian governments won’t stop in their push for more power, Rivas said.

“The more power they get, the more they will take,” he said, adding later: “As Californians, we are here to say ‘absolutely not.’"

California Republicans fired back at the Democrats’ attempts to redraw the state’s congressional lines mid-decade.

State Senator Tony Strickland, a Huntington Beach Republican, said in a statement that California’s citizen redistricting commission is the gold standard that should be a national model. He argued Democrats should back Republican U.S. Representative Kevin Kiley’s bill that would ban mid-decade redistricting nationwide.

“I am deeply concerned that the governor and his Democratic allies may push through redistricting plans lacking the transparency and public input our democratic process demands,” Strickland said.

When asked, Strickland said he doesn’t think any state should redraw its congressional districts mid-decade. But he noted Strickland noted that in Texas the Legislature and governor draw congressional lines.

“Texas is not California,” Strickland said in a phone interview.

California uses a citizens commission, which he praised. Now Newsom wants to set aside that commission, which Strickland fears would lead to a chain reaction of red and blue states following suit and redrawn districts every two years.

“We’ll end up having, really, chaos,” the senator said.

Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo, a Tulare Republican, said in a statement that Newsom’s redistricting plan would set a dangerous precedent.

“In a democracy, the power is with the people, not politicians,” she added. “Otherwise, the public rightfully loses faith in our institutions, elected officials and system of governance.”