Texas Republicans are triumphant Thursday morning after a success in their efforts to redraw the state’s congressional maps – but California Democrats are set to make their move, in a redistricting battle that has become a proxy war between President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
After a long day of debate on Wednesday, the Texas House of Representatives passed a bill with new congressional maps that could flip five congressional districts red by making them more favorable for Republicans.
Democrats, who had fled the state to deny a quorum in the legislature for weeks, now say they are ready to take on the maps in court.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images – PHOTO: Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows gavels to restore order during debating for the newly introduced redistricting bill, House bill 4 during a House meeting in the State Capitol, August 20, 2025 in Austin, Texas.
“Big WIN for the Great State of Texas!!! Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself. Texas never lets us down,” Trump, who pushed Texas to redraw maps, wrote on his social media platform late Wednesday.
MORE: Texas House passes new GOP-friendly congressional maps
The Texas state Senate’s committee on redistricting voted on Thursday morning to advance the congressional maps bill out of committee, a move that sets up the bill to be considered by the full Senate. The bill is likely on a glide path to the desk of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP – PHOTO: People await a news conference with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Aug. 14, 2025, in Los Angeles.
“While Democrats shirked their duty, in futility, and ran away to other states, Republicans stayed the course, stayed at work and stayed true to Texas. I will sign this bill once it passes the Senate and gets to my desk,” Abbott wrote on Wednesday.
In California, both bodies of the state legislature meet on Thursday and are set to take on and potentially pass legislation that would put new maps on the ballot in a November special election.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been pushing the initiative and says new maps in California would only take effect if other states redraw lines, wrote on X late Wednesday, “Congratulations to @GregAbbott_TX — you will now go down in history as one of Donald Trump’s most loyal lapdogs. Shredding our nation’s founding principles. What a legacy.”
Brandon Bell/Getty Images – PHOTO: Republican State Rep. Todd Hunter debates the newly introduced redistricting bill, House bill 4 during a House meeting in the State Capitol, August 20, 2025 in Austin, Texas.
And in another post, he simply wrote, “It’s on, Texas.”
Former President Barack Obama weighed in on the situation Tuesday evening, backing Newsom.
“Given that Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House that is effectively saying: gerrymander for partisan purposes so we can maintain the House despite our unpopular policies, redistrict right in the middle of a decade between censuses – which is not how the system was designed; I have tremendous respect for how Governor Newsom has approached this,” Obama said at a fundraiser in Martha’s Vinyard.
MORE: How gerrymandering has reshaped the political map for red and blue states
“Because what he has said is, I would prefer not to do it. If we were to redraw our maps, we could obviously gain more Democratic seats. That is not my preference, but we cannot unilaterally allow one of the two major parties to rig the game. And California is one of the states that has the capacity to offset a large state like Texas,” he added.
Getty Images – PHOTO: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, August 15, 2025 in Austin, Texas and California Governor Gavin Newsom, August 14, 2025 in Los Angeles.
Trump, on his own platform, criticized Newsom early Thursday, claiming the governor was “way down in the polls.”
“He is viewed as the man who is destroying the once Great State of California,” the president posted.
Republican legislators in California have said the endeavor to get new maps on the ballot is overly costly and subverts the will of the voters in California, who they say support independent redistricting.
