California voters will decide to re-dividend in November, fighting with Trump and Texas escalates

Sacramento – The California Legislature on Thursday approved a special election in November, requiring voters to re-approve the state’s election line in support of Democrats and thwart President Trump’s far-right policy agenda, which has heightened pressure on Congress to control Congress.

The voting measures promoted by Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state and national Democratic leaders are the latest volley in the election map of the national political fight, which could change the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections and the balance of power in the U.S. House.

If voters approve the redraw of the line on Nov. 4, Democrats in Golden State will see more odds so they can benefit, while the House of Representatives’ California Republicans could halve.

Newsom initially said California’s new electoral district will only take effect if another state re-extends its route by 2031.,,,,, Democrats stripped the so-called “trigger” language from the amendment—which means that if voters approve the measure, the new lines will take effect anyway.

“They fired the first shot, Texas,” Newsom said before signing the bill Thursday. “If Texas hadn’t done what they just did, if Donald Trump hadn’t done what he just did, we wouldn’t have been here.”

The language of the ballot measure requires California voters to cover the power of the independent redivision committee, which is approved by most Democrats in the House and Senate, where they hold super taxes.

Legislators have the right to place constitutional amendments on statewide ballots without the governor’s approval. Newsom later signed two bills to fund special elections and sets out the boundaries of the new congressional district.

Democrats are eager to vote, which is suddenly far from California’s 15-year commitment to independent rezoning, which is usually the country’s gold standard. The state’s voters deprived lawmakers of the power to draw lines during the Great Recession and handed over partisan power to a panel of 14 citizens selected over the course of exhaustive processes – long-term detailed questionnaires, multiple papers, face-to-face interviews – supervised by non-partisan state auditors.

Democrats say the change is forced by extraordinary changes in the environment: After decades in the United States, Trump and his political team tend to republican-led states, relying on Republican-led states ahead of the 2026 midterm elections to help Republicans retain control of the House.

“His script is simple: bullying, threatening, fighting, and then drilling the rules of power,” said Parliament President Robert Rivas. “We are here today because California will not be a bystander of this power robbery. We are not intimidated, and we are defending our country and defending our democracy with purposeful legal, legal action and determination.”

Republicans in the state Legislature and state Senate criticized the news agency’s argument that Democrats must “fight with fire,” saying revenge is a slippery slope that will erode California voters have chosen two separate redistribution processes in the ballot box.

“You fight against the fire, what happened? You burn it all,” said Congressional Minority Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City). He said it was “wrong” for Trump to push Gov. Greg Abbott to the Texas line to benefit Republicans, and so was California’s push to the same strategy.

State Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) co-wrote the bill, which maps the proposed congressional district, said Democrats have no choice but to stand up given the damage the Trump administration has posed to health care, education, tariffs and other policies that affect Californians.

“What should we do? Just sit down and do nothing?” Gonzalez said. “Or do we fight back and provide our Californians with some opportunity to see ourselves in this democracy?”

Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R-Santee) said the effort was “a corrupt election to re-divid California” and violated “letters and spirit of the California Constitution.”

“Democrats are rushing under the guise of urgency,” Jones said. “There is no emergency that can prove this abuse process.”

Two parliamentary Democrats present on Thursday did not vote for the constitutional amendment. In the San Joaquin Valley campaign for Congress against Jasmeet Bains (D-Delano), who voted for No, Progressive Caucus Chairman Alex Lee (D-San Jose). Group Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) is on bereavement leave.

Matt Lesenyie, assistant professor of political science at Cal State Long Beach, said Democrats will face unusual messaging challenges in November’s voting measures.

He said opponents of the mid-term rezoning stressed that the measure would be “adverse” and that it was “verbally,” “Democrats have prepared two administrations for Democrats, and the Democrats are being killed by a thousand cuts.”

“It’s a weird, a little up and down moment,” Lesenyie said.

How did we get here?

Trump’s political team began putting pressure on Abbott and Texas Republicans in early June to remake the state’s 38 congressional districts in the mid-decade (which is very rare) to allow Republicans to keep the House better in 2026.

“We have the right to get five more seats,” Trump later told CNBC.

Some Texas Republicans fear that the mid-term of the re-division would endanger their chances of re-election. But within a month of the White House’s proposal of the idea, Abbott added new congressional boundaries, which would stack up to five Texas Democrats in Congress and at a special session in the Legislature in July.

By mid-July Newsom had been talking about California’s back. “These guys, they’re not around. They’re doing it through completely different rules,” Newsom said in an interview with progressive news site TN Holler.

Democrats in Texas have fled the state for nearly two weeks, including California, to deny the quorum needed by Republicans to pass the new route. Abbott signed a citizen arrest warrant and fined 52 absent Democrats while they held press conferences in California and Illinois to draw attention to the fight.

As the Texas drama unfolds, advisers to the Democratic campaign department of California quietly map out the map, which would further cut down the number of Golden State Republicans in Congress. The proposed changes will eliminate Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) and dilute the number of Republican voters in four districts represented by Doug Lamalfa, Kevin Kiley, David Valadao and Darrell Issa.

Democrats agreed to return to Texas last week, noting California’s tit effort was a measure of success, saying Golden states could neutralize any Republican gains in Texas.

Since then, other Republican-led states have also begun to consider redistricting, including Indiana, Florida and Missouri. Trump’s political allies openly threaten to target the main challenges faced by any Indiana Republican who opposes redistricting.

In California, the opposition is shaped as quickly as the voting measures.

California voters received the first campaign email against the voting measure, and the legislature voted to approve it. A four-page glossy flyer by conservative donor and little champion Charlie Munger Jr.

Republicans also tried to stop the measure in court and alleged in an emergency petition with the state Supreme Court that Democrats violated the state’s constitution without following proper legislative procedures. The High Court rejected the petition Wednesday.

Any state in California, and in any country that reconfigures the congressional district in an expanding party fight, is expected to face a series of legal challenges.

Convention raiser Carl Demio (R-SAN Diego) said Thursday morning that the lawsuit filed will be filed in state court on Friday night. Republicans also plan to file lawsuits against the titles of the voting measures and any accompanying voter guidance materials, he said.

And, he said, if voters approve the new line, “I believe we will have enough chances to put the map on the federal court.”