SACRAMENTO, California — Gavin Newsom challenged blue state leaders to follow California in redrawing their election maps minutes after voters here overwhelmingly approved Democrats’ redistricting plan.
“We need the state of Virginia. We need the state of Maryland,” Newsom said in remarks broadcast from California’s Democratic Party headquarters. “We need our friends in New York and Illinois and Colorado. We need to see the other states, the remarkable leaders that have been doing remarkable things, meet this moment head-on as well, to recognize what we’re up against in 2026.”
Seemingly emboldened not just by his own Proposition 50 but by blowouts across the map, from Virginia to New Jersey to Zohran Mamdani’s seismic victory in New York City, Newsom seized on the opportunity to fight back against a battered and low-polling president and to put the onus on his own party. He described a party “in its ascendancy” — and then urged resurgent Democrats to do more.
The Democratic governor’s remarks underscored the stakes of a widening national gerrymander war in which California scored a decisive victory. Newsom launched a campaign to replace California’s maps this summer after Texas moved, at Donald Trump’s behest, to craft new districts that could net Republicans another five seats.
Control of Congress hangs in the balance as both parties move to maximize their advantage in the states they control ahead of the 2026 midterms. Newsom, leaning into his role as a combative party leader — the kind of profile that could boost his prospects in a likely 2028 presidential run — has urged Democrats to set aside their reservations about such nakedly partisan combat, arguing Trump’s overreach and authoritarian tendencies demand it.
Democratic-controlled states have lagged behind their Republican counterparts who have pursued aggressive gerrymanders in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio. But the picture is shifting rapidly: Democrats in Virginia, Illinois, and Maryland are exploring their options while an attempt in GOP-controlled Kansas faltered and Indiana remains an open question.
But Newsom argued Democrats cannot back down, predicting Republicans would “inevitably” push ahead in Florida. While Republicans control Florida’s levers of power, Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said in an interview earlier Tuesday that the outcome in California would help dictate “how radically (Florida Republicans) redraw seats to help Trump’s agenda.”
“It’s going to have a huge impact on what happens here,” Fried said.
Newsom’s call to action came in a somber address where he painted Trump as a threat to democracy and election integrity. The Democratic governor invoked everything from recent National Guard deployment in blue cities to Trump’s baseless accusations of election fraud as evidence Democrats faced an “extraordinary moment” requiring “powerful” resistance.
“Tonight I’m proud, but I’m very mindful and sober of the moment we are living in,” Newsom said.
His speech was the highlight of what was otherwise an intimate gathering of top California Democratic Party officials watching election night returns at the party’s headquarters in downtown Sacramento.
The low-key event — which lacked crowds and only lit up with audible excitement when California’s redistricting ballot measure was projected to pass — contrasted with Democrats’ dramatic mobilization campaign, which began as a political bluff before transforming into a resounding victory in mere months.
