California’s Democratic-led legislature has passed the Election Rigging Response Act legislative package, which is aimed at redrawing the state’s congressional districts after Texas’ Republican-led House advanced its controversial new electoral map on Wednesday.
More than 50 Texas Democrats fled their state earlier this month to block voting, but the Texas GOP’s new gerrymandered map — designed to give Republicans five more seats in the U.S. House, ahead of next year’s midterm elections — could reach Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk as soon as Friday. Democrats and civil rights advocates say the map disenfranchises minorities and other voters.
Shortly after the Texas House advanced the map, California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on X: “Texas, it’s on.” After the legislation passed Thursday, he posted: “Let’s GO.”
But unlike in Texas, California cannot create a new congressional map without initial voter approval. Newsom called for a special election on Nov. 4 in which Californians must decide whether to temporarily strip their independent redistricting commission of power in favor of a constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to employ new maps for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 election cycles.
Redistricting typically happens at the beginning of each decade after a new census, but Texas Republicans pushed ahead with redrawing the map much earlier at the urging of President Donald Trump, as the GOP hopes to gain an advantage in the 2026 midterms.
Newsom has vowed to “fight fire with fire” in light of Texas’ unusually timed redistricting effort, a strategy that has won the praise of the national Democratic Party and former President Barack Obama.
California Republicans oppose Newsom’s redistricting effort and filed a petition to block the vote, but the state Supreme Court rejected it Wednesday.
In a statement earlier this week, Newsom said: “California and Californians have been uniquely targeted by the Trump Administration, and we are not going to sit idle while they command Texas and other states to rig the next election to keep power — pursuing more extreme and unpopular policies. This proposal would give Californians a choice to fight back — and bring much needed accountability and oversight to the Trump Administration.”
This is a developing story. Check for updates.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
