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  • Redistricting Map May Not Be the Success Story Republicans Think It Is

    Texas Republicans celebrated a victory last week as the House and Senate approved new congressional districts amid criticism that the lines are racially gerrymandered. But the success of the redistricting effort hinges heavily on whether previous GOP voters will stay true to their party in 2026.

    House Bill 4, introduced by Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, was approved August 20 in an 88-52 vote. During an eight-hour discussion in Austin, Hunter stood firm in his position that although mid-decade redistricting is unusual, it’s not illegal, nor is drawing new boundaries in an effort to gain more GOP congressional seats, which was his intent when he introduced the legislation.

    The Senate adopted the new map along party lines in an 18-11 vote early Saturday morning. Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, was planning a filibuster but Republicans blocked it in a rare procedural motion that ended the debate.

    “The One Big Beautiful Map has passed the Senate and is on its way to my desk, where it will be swiftly signed into law,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement. “I promised we would get this done, and delivered on that promise.”

    University of Houston law professor David Froomkin agreed that a state is entitled under existing federal law to engage in “extreme partisan gerrymandering for partisan advantage,” but it doesn’t appear that’s what’s happening, he said.

    “If the state were in fact doing that, the map would be perfectly legal, but I think there’s strong reason to think that’s not in fact what the state has done,” he said. “They’re invoking that logic, but likely disingenuously. The premise underlying this redistricting plan was that there was a racial problem with the prior map that needed to be corrected.”

    “That’s the position that the Department of Justice took in demanding that the state of Texas engage in this redistricting effort,” he added. “It’s a rationale that the governor accepted as the original justification for a mid-decade redistricting. Republicans backed off of that logic once it became clear that it would pose a legal obstacle to the new map. A court will have to determine whether the new rhetoric that the map is motivated by politics not race is the true motive.”

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 2017 Cooper v. Harris case that the North Carolina General Assembly “used race too heavily” in redrawing two Congressional districts following the 2010 Census.

    In modern-day Texas, Republicans originally theorized that the state’s prior congressional maps, approved after the 2020 Census, were racially gerrymandered and in order to resolve that problem, it was necessary to engage in race-conscious redistricting, Froomkin said.

    Democrats were quick to point out that at the time the maps were approved in 2021, Republicans testified under oath that they were “race blind.”

    The 2021 map is being challenged in federal court, with civil rights groups alleging they violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The U.S. Department of Justice was originally among the plaintiffs in that case and withdrew when Donald Trump became president.

    “In fact, the state and the Department of Justice were incorrect to think that the prior map was a racial gerrymander,” Froomkin said, adding that he believes the map approved last week is a racial gerrymander. “To be clear, I also think they’ve violated section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which is a separate issue but one that no doubt will be litigated.”

    “It’s not just a power grab, it’s an attack on free society,” he added. “What Texas and other states are doing with these gerrymanders is trying to insulate an authoritarian government from democratic accountability.”

    Texas Democrats — bolstered by constituents who oppose the map and party officials including former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — avoided voting on the map for about two weeks, fleeing the state to break quorum. A few Democratic legislators, including Rep. Jolanda Jones, D-Houston, didn’t come back. Those who did voted against the map and vowed to challenge it in court.

    The new Texas map is poised to add five GOP seats in 2026 primaries, an effort to retain President Trump’s narrow majority in Congress. California Gov. Gavin Newsom promptly launched a redistricting effort in his state to add more blue seats and counter the effort in Texas. Under California law, this still has to be approved by voters in November.

    The districts planned for a flip from blue to red are District 9 (held by Rep. Al Green of Houston), District 28 (held by Rep. Henry Cuellar of Laredo), District 32 (held by Rep. Julie Johnson of Farmers Branch), District 34 (held by Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen), and District 35 (held by Rep. Greg Cesar of Austin). At least six other districts were redrawn to improve GOP performance. Almost all of Texas’ 38 districts were altered.

    “Four of the five new districts are majority-minority Hispanic,” Hunter said before last week’s vote in the House. “Each of these newly-drawn districts now trend Republican in political performance. While there’s no guarantee in electorate success, Republicans will now have an opportunity to potentially win these districts.”

    click to enlarge

    The Texas House of Representatives approved new congressional districts on August 20, with Democrats vowing to challenge the map in court.

    Texas Legislative Council

    But the new map doesn’t guarantee Republican victories in the 2026 midterms, Froomkin said.

    “The new map is premised on a guess about the voting behavior of Latino Texans, and that guess might turn out to be wrong,” he said. “The maps will go into effect. The question is, will the people put up with it? We can already see a backlash taking place. The Trump administration is horrifically unpopular. Guesses about how people are going to vote in 2026 based on the 2024 numbers may be misleading.”

    Members of the Texas Majority PAC, which advertises that it is dedicated to electing a Democrat to statewide office, gathered for a Zoom call last week to analyze redistricting data. Katherine Fischer, director of the PAC, said Republicans will almost certainly flip Districts 9 and 32.

    “We think it is possible, though challenging, to hold CD 35,” she said. “We think it is very possible to hold CD 28 and CD 34. Those are the Valley and South Texas ones. We believe that CD 15, which is currently a Republican district, will be the most competitive it’s been since 2020 redistricting and is a potential flip for Democrats.”

    The strategy behind the new map is based on the assumption that Trump’s 2024 numbers are an accurate metric to determine how competitive the districts are, Fischer said, adding that she thinks the Republicans overplayed their hand.

    “[Governor] Abbott was tasked with finding five new seats for Trump, but there are too many Democrats in Texas to gerrymander them away completely,” she said. “The data tells us that Texas Democrats can compete to hold most of these seats, and may have new flip opportunities. We intend to fight for every single seat.”

    Former Texas Sen. Wendy Davis joined the call and said the maps reveal the likelihood that the GOP’s “voter suppression efforts” will backfire. “Communities that Republicans hoped to suppress are energized, and Democrats are ready to turn that energy into real, competitive elections,” she said.

    Froomkin said once Governor Abbott signs the bill into law, the maps will be used for the 2026 midterm elections. No member of Congress loses their seat immediately but some, if not all, of the five Democrats in the seats slated for flips will not seek re-election in their now heavily Republican districts.

    Rep. Al Green has said he could run in Congressional District 18, where a special election is planned in November to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Sylvester Turner’s death earlier this year. Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, Rep. Jolanda Jones, and former Houston City Councilwoman Amanda Edwards are among more than 20 candidates who have filed for the CD 18 seat. Former candidates Corisha Rogers and Rain Eatmon dropped out of the race last week, saying they would endorse Menefee.

    Referencing the fact that the 2021 map is still under review in federal court, Froomkin said such cases take a long time to adjudicate.

    “They involve the presentation of a lot of factual information that takes time to gather,” he said. “I expect that Voting Rights Act challenges to the new map, similarly, will take a lot of time to adjudicate.”

    While the plaintiffs won’t necessarily be just the Democratic lawmakers who fought fiercely against the legislation at the Capitol last week, many of those legislators are likely to be involved and are attorneys who appear prepared to gather technical information about the decomposition of districts and the voting behavior of those who live there.

    Once the new map is approved, the case against the 2021 version doesn’t necessarily become moot just because it’s no longer in effect, Frromkin explained.

    “It could be the case that a court would grant preliminary relief to plaintiffs challenging the new map and say that map can’t immediately go into effect, in which case the old maps, at least for the time being, would still be in effect,” he said.

    Republicans Double Down

    Prior to the passage of the bill, some GOP lawmakers appeared to be frustrated with their party leaders. Governor Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows threatened to remove quorum-breaking Democrats from their seats, assess hefty fines, and arrest them. Not much of that has happened, leading some GOP legislators and watchdogs to believe that the party was rolling over for the Dems.

    Letters were issued Friday afternoon notifying Texas House Democrats who fled the state that they’d have to pay about $9,000 each in fines for “impeding the action of the House.”

    Shortly after the Speaker’s opening remarks early last week, the quorum breakers were asked to sign permission slips so a DPS trooper could tail them until the Legislature reconvened a couple of days later. Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, refused and spent two nights in the House of Representatives. At least six other lawmakers joined her on the second night.

    When Collier went into a House bathroom for a Zoom call with Newsom and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, during the August 20 floor debate, authorities accused her of committing a felony.

    Froomkin, the law professor, said Abbott and other Republicans have made some threats, particularly that of criminal prosecution, that they weren’t authorized to make. And when the July 7 letter came from Trump’s Department of Justice strongly suggesting that Texas redraw its map, Abbott didn’t have to do it, Froomkin said.

    “The governor clearly made a number of threats that were beyond his legal power,” he said. “It seems like those threats were effective. The Democrats returned sooner than a lot of people expected they would, and I think that is likely attributable to the governor’s threats of criminal prosecution, which I found shocking. The suggestion that state officials would use their official powers to persecute members of the opposition simply for taking positions on legislative matters is extremely unusual and disturbing.”

    “It seems like we’re entering a new era in politics in which incumbents try to use every ounce of their power in order to try to maintain their power,” he added. “There’s no doubt that the goal of the new map is straightforwardly to dilute and diminish the political power of communities of color, and it is part of a broader plan to do that on the national stage.”

    But most Republican lawmakers have doubled down on the decision to redistrict, lauding the measure as a historic victory for the right and sharing their endorsements from Trump and Abbott.

    Reps. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, and Cody Vasut, R-Angleton, announced a celebratory dinner toasting the passage of the maps last week, and Cain promptly filed the day after the House vote to run for the newly drawn Congressional District 9.

    Burrows said when the House convened on August 18 that his responsibility now that a quorum was established was to maintain an atmosphere of decorum and respect until “the job is finished.”

    “No one here needs a reminder that the last few weeks have been contentious,” he said, referencing the walkout of at least 50 Democrats in early August. “From this point forward, the rules of engagement are clear. Debate is welcome but personal attacks and name-calling will not be tolerated.”

    Name-calling ensued almost immediately, primarily accusations from Democrats that the bill was racist and that some of its authors and supporters were too.

    Hunter emphasized that the law allows redistricting for political performance. He repeatedly explained that the map was developed by Butler Snow LLP law firm at his direction and became frustrated with several Democratic legislators who questioned him about the process, saying they were permitted to interrupt and talk over him.

    “I’m standing with Republican members,” he said. “What’s wrong with Republicans standing up and stepping up and being honest, which you don’t like? The Supreme Court says we can do political and partisan redistricting. We will not agree on this issue. We will push forward.”

    Rep. Katrina Pierson, R-Rockwall, also took issue with the accusations.

    “You call my voters racist, you call my party racist, but yet we’re expected to follow the rules,” she said. “Well, that double standard ends today. I have traveled all over this country for the better part of a decade and I can tell you that more and more minority voters are voting their values, not their skin color. And many of them are moving to Texas to escape the blue states because their values have been successfully gerrymandered into suppression.”

    click to enlarge

    Rep. Katrina Pierson, R-Rockwall, said the new redistricting map is not racist but reflects the will of the people and the majority party.

    Screenshot

    Pierson further pointed out that Trump won Hispanic voters in Texas. “I get it, you don’t like that,” she said. “In 2024, Democrats lost. President Trump won big. You’re losing at the ballot box but you will not silence the majority in the state of Texas. You can throw your tantrum. You can leave, you can run, and you can ignore the will of the rest of the voters, but it’s honestly time to pick a new narrative. The racist rhetoric is old. News flash: Democrats do not own minorities in Texas.”

    Many Democratic lawmakers allege the redistricting effort involves “packing and cracking,” or widening the GOP advantage by unconstitutionally compressing people of color into some districts while spreading them throughout others to reduce their ability to elect their preferred candidates.

    It’s hard to predict what will happen in a legal battle because the U.S. Supreme Court has “sent some signals that the future of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is uncertain,” Froomkin said.

    “There are two cases before the Supreme Court that put the future of the Voting Rights Act in question,” he said. “In one of them, the court is planning to rule in a few months on the constitutionality of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and a number of experts expect that this court will be hostile to section 2. That will of course dramatically shake up the redistricting process, particularly in southern states like Texas.”

    “In the absence of the Voting Rights Act, southern states would be able to completely gerrymander maps so as to deny minority communities any political representation, as they largely did before 1965,” he added.

    The actions of the federal government in micromanaging state legislatures is unprecedented, the law professor added. “That is another really surprising development,” he said. “The Republican Party used to, at least rhetorically, be a party that embraced federalism. Today, a Republican administration is trying to aggrandize federal power at the expense of states, including by coercing states to participate in the federal executive’s agenda.”

    What’s Next for Special Session No. 2

    Sixty-nine bills were read into the record on August 18 and referred to committees. More followed throughout the week, ranging from THC regulation to STAAR test elimination. Most were aimed at improving emergency preparedness and enhancing youth camp safety standards, a response to the deadly July 4 Hill Country floods. Several have already passed at least one chamber.
    Public hearings were held last week before the Select Committee on Flooding and Disaster Preparedness, at which several parents testified about the loss of their children at Camp Mystic during the Hill Country floods.

    Democratic lawmakers criticized Republicans for not putting flood victims ahead of redistricting. Republicans said they could have passed bills sooner if the Democrats hadn’t fled the state.

    Following the House passage of the redistricting bill, Abbott announced the addition of three more items to the special session agenda: Legislation imposing punishment for legislators who are willfully absent during a session; authorizing the purchase of Ivermectin over the counter; and proposing a groundwater study of East Texas aquifers by the Texas Water Development Board.

    Burrows has said he hopes to finish the second special session by addressing all 22 items on the governor’s agenda before Labor Day weekend.

    April Towery

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  • Most California voters disapprove of Trump’s immigration enforcement policies, poll shows

    Most California voters strongly disapprove of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies and believe that raids in the state have unfairly targeted Latinos, according to a new poll.

    The findings, released Sunday, reflected striking emotional reactions to immigration enforcement. When voters were asked to describe their feelings about news reports or videos of immigration raids, 64% chose rage or sadness “because what is happening is unfair.”

    Among Democrats, 91% felt enraged or sad. Conversely, 65% of Republicans felt hopeful, “like justice is finally being served.”

    Such divisions were consistent across 11 questions about the administration’s overall immigration strategy and specific aspects of the way enforcement is playing out in the state, with divisions along partisan lines. The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll was conducted for the Los Angeles Times.

    Democrats almost unanimously oppose President Trump’s tactics on immigration, the poll showed. Most Republicans support the president, though they are not as united as Democrats in their approval.

    “It was essential to show the strength of feelings because Democrats are strongly on the negative side of each of these policies,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Berkeley IGS Poll. “That struck me. I don’t usually see that kind of extreme fervor on a poll response.”

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    The poll found that 69% of respondents disapprove of the way immigration enforcement is being carried out in the state.

    Among Democrats, 95% disapprove, as well as 72% of voters with no party preference or others not affiliated with the two major parties, whereas 79% of Republicans approve.

    The poll was completed online in English and Spanish from Aug. 11-17 by 4,950 registered voters in California.

    A question that showed the least unified support among Republican voters asked respondents whether they agree or disagree that federal agents should be required to show clear identification when carrying out their work. The question comes as immigration agents have carried out raids using face coverings, unmarked cars and while wearing casual clothing.

    Some 50% of Republicans agreed that agents should have to identify themselves, while 92% of Democrats agreed.

    G. Cristina Mora, IGS co-director and a sociology professor at UC Berkeley who studies race and immigration, helped develop the poll questions. She said the poll shows that Republican voters are much more nuanced than Democrats. They also split on questions about due process, birthright citizenship and immigration enforcement in sensitive locations.

    “Republicans are much more fractured in their thinking about immigration across the state,” Mora said.

    Mora said she developed the question about agent identification in response to the recent bill led by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) that would require immigration officers to display their agency and name or badge number during public-facing enforcement actions, similar to police and other local law enforcement.

    Padilla also spearheaded a letter last month to Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons seeking information about the agency’s policies regarding the identification of agents while on duty. ICE has justified the tactics by stating that agents are at risk of doxxing and have faced increased assault on the job.

    “The public has a right to know which officials are exercising police power, and anonymous enforcement undermines both constitutional norms and democratic oversight,” Padilla and 13 other Democrats wrote in the letter.

    Another poll question that garnered mixed support of Republicans asked respondents to agree or disagree with the statement, “ICE agents should expand immigration enforcement into schools, hospitals, parks and other public locations.”

    Among Republicans, 53% agreed with that statement, though fewer than 1 in 3 agree strongly. Meanwhile, 94% of Democrats disagreed.

    Shortly after Trump took office, his administration rescinded a 2011 memo that restricted immigration agents from making arrests in sensitive locations, such as churches, schools and hospitals. Since then, agents have been filmed entering locations that were previously considered off limits, putting immigrant communities on edge.

    Schools in Los Angeles reopened this month with “safe zones” in heavily Latino neighborhoods and changed bus routes with less exposure to immigration agents. An 18-year-old high school senior, Benjamin Marcelo Guerrero-Cruz, was walking his family’s dog in Van Nuys when he was taken into federal immigration custody.

    Mora said the varied responses illustrate how California Republicans view the Trump administration’s immigration tactics with “degrees of acceptability.” They might feel strongly that immigrants with violent criminal histories should be deported, she said, but the takeover of MacArthur Park, when a convoy of immigration agents in armored vehicles descended there in a show of force, or the enforcement actions outside of public schools “might have been a step too far.”

    Mike Madrid, a GOP political consultant who wrote a book about how Latinos have transformed democracy, said the split among Republicans is consistent with national polling. The trend is problematic for Trump, he said, because it means he is losing big swaths of his base.

    “This is becoming viewed as overreach more than it is immigration control,” he said. “The idea sets a frame for it, but the actual implementation is widely unpopular.”

    Republicans were largely united in response to other questions. Asked about the Trump administration’s proposal to do away with birthright citizenship — which confers citizenship to all children born in the U.S. regardless of their parent’s legal status — 67% of GOP respondents approved, and most of them strongly approved. By contrast, 92% of Democrats disapproved, and as did seven in 10 respondents overall.

    Mora said she was surprised by the fact that Latinos didn’t stand out as substantially more opposed to Trump’s actions than voters of other racial and ethnic groups. For example, 69% of Latino voters said ICE raids have unfairly targeted Latinos, just five percentage points higher than the 64% of white non-Latino voters who agreed.

    “You would imagine Latinos would be through the roof here, but they’re not,” Mora said. She said this reminded her of research around the tendency for Latinos to individualize their experiences instead of seeing them as racially unjust.

    Broadly, 72% of Latinos disagree with the way the Trump administration is enforcing immigration laws in California, while 25% approve and 3% have no strong opinion.

    Among Latino voter subgroups, older men and third-generation (or beyond) women are the more likely to support the way immigration enforcement is being handled in California, with 38% of Latino men over age 40 in agreement compared to 11% of Latinas ages 18-39, although among both groups majorities disapprove.

    Madrid said that’s consistent with national polling showing a decrease in support for Republicans among Latinos after record gains in the last presidential election. The question, he said, is whether Trump’s approval ratings among Latinos could regress substantially enough to flip control of Congress in the midterms.

    “We’re not there yet,” he said.

    Andrea Castillo

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  • Millions of dollars flow into redistricting battle on the November ballot

    Millions of dollars began flowing into campaigns supporting and opposing an effort to redraw California’s congressional districts on the November ballot, notably $10 million from independent redistricting champion Charles Munger Jr.

    The checks, reported Friday in state campaign finance disclosures, were made on Thursday, the day the state Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom called a special election to replace the congressional districts drawn by an independent commission in 2021 with new districts that would boost the number of Democrats elected to Congress in next year’s midterm election.

    The move is an effort by California Democrats to counter Texas Republicans’ and President Trump’s efforts to boost the number of GOP members.

    Munger, a GOP donor and the son of a billionaire who was Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, bankrolled the 2010 ballot measure that created independent congressional redistricting in California. He donated $10 million to the “No on Prop. 50 – Protect Voters First” campaign,” which opposes the proposed redistricting.

    “Charles Munger Jr. is making good on his promise to defend the reforms he passed,” said Amy Thoma, a spokesperson for the Voters First Coalition, which opposes the ballot measure and includes Munger.

    A spokesperson for the campaign supporting the redrawing of congressional boundaries accused Munger of trying to boost the GOP under the guise of supporting independent redistricting.

    “It’s no surprise that a billionaire who has given extensively to help Republicans take the house and [former Republican House Speaker] Kevin McCarthy would be joining forces to help Donald Trump steal five House seats and rig the 2026 midterm before a single American has voted,” said Hannah Milgrom, spokesperson for “Yes on 50: the Election Rigging Response Act.” “Prop 50 is America’s best chance to fight back – vote yes on November. 4.”

    The campaign backing the ballot measure received $1 million on Thursday from a powerful labor group, SEIU’s state council; $300,000 from businessman Andrew Hauptman; and a flurry of other donations, according to the California secretary of state’s office. That is on top of the $5.8 million the campaign reported having in the bank as of July 30, including millions of dollars in contributions from House Majority PAC, which is focused on electing Democrats to Congress, and Newsom’s 2022 gubernatorial reelection campaign.

    Redistricting typically happens once a decade after the U.S. census. Trump asked Texas lawmakers to redraw their congressional districts earlier this year, arguing that the GOP was entitled to five more members from the state. In response, California Democrats have pitched new district boundaries that could result in five more Democrats being elected to Congress.

    Seema Mehta

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  • Letters: Let’s invest in the Bay Area’s greatest asset: nature

    Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.

    Invest in Bay Area’s
    greatest asset: Nature

    Re: “Bay Area needs unity to solve its problems” (Page A9, Aug. 17).

    I second Russell Hancock’s recent call for bold regional leadership in this period of “federal ruckus.” As climate impacts intensify, California must act now to build climate resilience for tomorrow — and for future generations.

    Letters To The Editor

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  • Democrat consultants tell politicians to stop using terms like ‘LGBTQIA’ and ‘cisgender’

    If you ask this consulting firm, Democrats aren’t unpopular because they compromise with Republicans to maintain their corporate interests — it’s because they talk about the rights of LGBTQ+ people and other minorities too much.

    Centrist think tank Third Way recently released a list of words it believes Democratic politicians should avoid, referring to them as “wildly out-of-touch social positions.” The list includes even neutral community descriptors such as “LGBTQIA” and “BIPOC.”

    “The effect of this language is to sound like the extreme, divisive, elitist, and obfuscatory, enforcers of wokeness,” the group wrote. “To please the few, we have alienated the many — especially on culture issues, where our language sounds superior, haughty and arrogant.”

    Words on the list include: privilege, triggering, othering, microaggression, holding space, body shaming, subverting norms, systems of oppression, cultural appropriation, existential threat, the unhoused, food insecurity, housing insecurity, person who immigrated, birthing person, cisgender, deadnaming, heteronormative, patriarchy, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, allyship, and incarcerated people.

    Third Way insisted that it is “not out to police language, ban phrases or create our own form of censorship” — though its list is eerily similar to Donald Trump‘s list of banned words. His administration issued the guidance after he signed executive orders removing all references to DEI in the federal government, as well as mandating that the federal government deny the existence of trans people by recognizing only two sexes despite the scientific and medical consensus that sex is a spectrum.

    Trump’s banned words include: advocate, assigned at birth, assigned female at birth, assigned male at birth, biologically female, biologically male, Black, breastfeed + people, breastfeed + person, chestfeed + people, chestfeed + person, female, females, feminism, gender, gender based, gender based violence, gender diversity, gender identity, gender ideology, gender-affirming care, genders, immigrant, LGBT, LGBTQ, men who have sex with men, MSM, Mx, non-binary, nonbinary, people + uterus, pronoun, pronouns, segregation, sex, sexual preferences, sexuality, they/them, trans, transgender, transsexual, and women.

    Both Third Way and Trump take issue with gender neutral parenting terms, with the former specifically criticizing “birthing person” and the latter banning terms like “breastfeed” or “uterus” if the word “person” is attached to them.

    There is no evidence to suggest that supporting legal rights for trans people have cost Democrats politically. Whereas Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign largely ignored trans issues, the GOP spent over $215 million on anti-trans attack ads — about $77 for every trans person in the U.S. — which a post election study showed had no impact on voters’ decisions. Only 18 percent of registered voters in a separate September Gallup poll said candidates’ positions on trans rights is “extremely important” to them.

    While some Democrats have attempted to distance themselves from the trans community by using the same GOP talking points about “men in women’s sports,” many have harshly condemned the strategy as not only cruel, but short-sighted and ineffective. Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker said during an April party dinner: “Those same do-nothing Democrats want to blame our losses on our defense of Black people, of trans kids, of immigrants — instead of their own lack of guts and gumption.”

    This article originally appeared on Advocate: Democrat consultants tell politicians to stop using terms like ‘LGBTQIA’ and ‘cisgender’

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  • Interactive: How California is reshaping its congressional districts

    The Democrats, led by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, are hitting back at the Texas Republican lawmakers with a proposed redistricting map of California. The Proposed Congressional Map aims to add five Democratic seats in the upcoming elections.Redistricting, which typically happens every decade as the census updates, has created a new battleground between the Democrats and Republican-led states. President Donald Trump first prompted Republican district representatives in the GOP stronghold of Texas to redraw congressional lines to give the party an advantage in the upcoming elections. What followed was a two-week standoff in which Democratic Texas House representatives fled the state to stall the vote.Texas’ new congressional maps were eventually passed in an 88-52 vote, creating five new Republican-leaning seats.California’s Democratic leaders Thursday moved forward with an effort to change the congressional district maps. California currently has 52 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives; 43 of these seats went to the Democrats, while nine went to the Republicans in the 2024 election.The five California Republicans targeted by the redistricting plan include Reps. Doug LaMalfa in District 1, Kevin Kiley in District 3, David Valadao in District 22, Ken Calvert in District 41 and Darrell Issa in District 48.Each of these five districts is shown in the maps below. See if you can guess how these districts will be redrawn by trying our puzzle game below.

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    The Democrats, led by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, are hitting back at the Texas Republican lawmakers with a proposed redistricting map of California. The Proposed Congressional Map aims to add five Democratic seats in the upcoming elections.

    Redistricting, which typically happens every decade as the census updates, has created a new battleground between the Democrats and Republican-led states.

    President Donald Trump first prompted Republican district representatives in the GOP stronghold of Texas to redraw congressional lines to give the party an advantage in the upcoming elections.

    What followed was a two-week standoff in which Democratic Texas House representatives fled the state to stall the vote.

    Texas’ new congressional maps were eventually passed in an 88-52 vote, creating five new Republican-leaning seats.

    California’s Democratic leaders Thursday moved forward with an effort to change the congressional district maps.

    California currently has 52 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives; 43 of these seats went to the Democrats, while nine went to the Republicans in the 2024 election.

    The five California Republicans targeted by the redistricting plan include Reps. Doug LaMalfa in District 1, Kevin Kiley in District 3, David Valadao in District 22, Ken Calvert in District 41 and Darrell Issa in District 48.

    Each of these five districts is shown in the maps below. See if you can guess how these districts will be redrawn by trying our puzzle game below.

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  • CA redistricting special election approved; Proposed congressional maps no longer hinge on Texas

    It’s official. California voters this fall will be asked to approve Democratic-drawn congressional maps, after the Legislature approved a bill Thursday calling for a special election in the fall. Earlier Thursday, California’s Democratic leaders moved forward with an effort to change the congressional district maps so that they heavily favor Democrats, regardless of what Texas or other Republican states do. (Video below: Gov. Newsom, Democratic lawmakers answer questions about the redistricting special election.)The effort that was promoted by California Democrats as a way to counteract efforts in Texas to send more Republicans to Congress will no longer rely on the action in the Lone Star state or others that allegedly spurred redistricting efforts, according to legislative documents KCRA 3 obtained Thursday. Democratic state lawmakers in the California Assembly made changes to the legislation known as ACA 8 on Thursday morning, minutes before they began debating and voting on the proposed ballot measure that would present the new maps to voters in a special statewide election this fall.(Video below: Gov. Newsom speaks with legislative leaders at a bill signing.)The changes clarifying that the maps do not rely on Texas or other states were put in a separate bill that lawmakers are prepared to approve on Monday. Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democratic leaders have repeatedly insisted that California would have no need to enact new Congressional maps if Texas and other GOP states cease redistricting efforts. It has been part of a bitter fight between states over which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives halfway through President Donald Trump’s term.But now the legislation, known as the Election Rigging Response Act in California, has all references to any red state’s redistricting efforts stricken out of the language. That special election would ask voters to allow the new, politically drawn maps heavily favoring Democrats to take effect 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections. It could be a legal gamble in the state, where voters in 2008 and 2010 took the power away from politicians to draw Congressional districts and gave it to an independent, citizens-led redistricting commission. (VIDEO BELOW: How did we get here?)The change comes a day after the Texas House approved new Congressional maps that attempt to remove five Democrats from its representation and replace them with Republicans. The maps are now halfway through that state’s process. The Republican-controlled state Senate was scheduled to vote on a map Thursday night. “Yesterday, Texas moved forward with their Trump power grab so this notion of “conditioning” is no longer applicable — it is self-evident that California will need to move forward in response to what Texas has done,” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said in a statement.The governor’s office noted California’s change is also meant to simplify the question that is presented to voters this fall. Republican states will no longer be mentioned in the ballot measure, which will ask voters to simultaneously approve the new politically drawn congressional maps and support independent redistricting nationwide. The act of redrawing district lines to specifically favor a political party is known as gerrymandering, a once taboo practice to openly admit to that is now being boasted by both Democrats and Republicans.California Democrats began publicly advocating for redistricting after President Donald Trump called on Texas to send five additional Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives. Trump made the request because midterm elections could typically lead to shifts in power.California lawmakers approved legislation Thursday that will establish the Nov. 4 special election. The Assembly approved ACA 8 with 57 ayes and 20 nos, with Democrat Alex Lee abstaining from the vote. Democrat Dawn Addis was absent on Thursday.The state Senate then voted to approve ACA 8 on a 30-8 vote. The ballot measure is expected to be known as Proposition 50. The cost of a special election is not yet public, but it is expected to cost at least $200 million, which is around what it cost for the 2021 election that attempted to recall Newsom from office. Newsom signed two pieces of legislation later Thursday that outline the logistics for the special election and provide resources and money for it. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    It’s official.

    California voters this fall will be asked to approve Democratic-drawn congressional maps, after the Legislature approved a bill Thursday calling for a special election in the fall.

    Earlier Thursday, California’s Democratic leaders moved forward with an effort to change the congressional district maps so that they heavily favor Democrats, regardless of what Texas or other Republican states do.

    (Video below: Gov. Newsom, Democratic lawmakers answer questions about the redistricting special election.)

    This content is imported from YouTube.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.



    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    The effort that was promoted by California Democrats as a way to counteract efforts in Texas to send more Republicans to Congress will no longer rely on the action in the Lone Star state or others that allegedly spurred redistricting efforts, according to legislative documents KCRA 3 obtained Thursday.

    Democratic state lawmakers in the California Assembly made changes to the legislation known as ACA 8 on Thursday morning, minutes before they began debating and voting on the proposed ballot measure that would present the new maps to voters in a special statewide election this fall.

    (Video below: Gov. Newsom speaks with legislative leaders at a bill signing.)

    This content is imported from YouTube.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    The changes clarifying that the maps do not rely on Texas or other states were put in a separate bill that lawmakers are prepared to approve on Monday.

    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democratic leaders have repeatedly insisted that California would have no need to enact new Congressional maps if Texas and other GOP states cease redistricting efforts. It has been part of a bitter fight between states over which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives halfway through President Donald Trump’s term.

    But now the legislation, known as the Election Rigging Response Act in California, has all references to any red state’s redistricting efforts stricken out of the language.

    That special election would ask voters to allow the new, politically drawn maps heavily favoring Democrats to take effect 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections. It could be a legal gamble in the state, where voters in 2008 and 2010 took the power away from politicians to draw Congressional districts and gave it to an independent, citizens-led redistricting commission.

    (VIDEO BELOW: How did we get here?)

    The change comes a day after the Texas House approved new Congressional maps that attempt to remove five Democrats from its representation and replace them with Republicans. The maps are now halfway through that state’s process. The Republican-controlled state Senate was scheduled to vote on a map Thursday night.

    “Yesterday, Texas moved forward with their Trump power grab so this notion of “conditioning” is no longer applicable — it is self-evident that California will need to move forward in response to what Texas has done,” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said in a statement.

    The governor’s office noted California’s change is also meant to simplify the question that is presented to voters this fall. Republican states will no longer be mentioned in the ballot measure, which will ask voters to simultaneously approve the new politically drawn congressional maps and support independent redistricting nationwide.

    The act of redrawing district lines to specifically favor a political party is known as gerrymandering, a once taboo practice to openly admit to that is now being boasted by both Democrats and Republicans.

    California Democrats began publicly advocating for redistricting after President Donald Trump called on Texas to send five additional Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives. Trump made the request because midterm elections could typically lead to shifts in power.

    California lawmakers approved legislation Thursday that will establish the Nov. 4 special election.

    The Assembly approved ACA 8 with 57 ayes and 20 nos, with Democrat Alex Lee abstaining from the vote. Democrat Dawn Addis was absent on Thursday.

    The state Senate then voted to approve ACA 8 on a 30-8 vote.

    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    The ballot measure is expected to be known as Proposition 50.

    The cost of a special election is not yet public, but it is expected to cost at least $200 million, which is around what it cost for the 2021 election that attempted to recall Newsom from office.

    Newsom signed two pieces of legislation later Thursday that outline the logistics for the special election and provide resources and money for it.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Most Michigan voters support U.S. aid for Gaza, poll finds

    Steve Neavling

    Signs at a pro-Palestinian encampment at Wayne State University in May 2024.

    A majority of Michiganders want the U.S. to help secure food, water, and medical supplies for people in Gaza, where Israeli attacks since October 2023 have killed more than 62,000 and led to mass starvation, a new poll shows.

    The survey, released Thursday by the progressive advocacy group Progress Michigan, found that 69% of Michigan voters support U.S. aid to Gaza, including 45% who strongly support it. Just 22% oppose the aid, while 8% were unsure.

    Support was highest among Democrats, with 67% strongly backing aid and another 20% somewhat in favor. Independents also favored action, with 43% strongly supporting aid and 21% somewhat supporting. Republicans were more divided, with 18% strongly supporting aid and 33% somewhat supporting, while 38% opposed.

    Women were more likely than men to support aid, with 50% strongly in favor compared with 41% of men. By race, 68% of white respondents expressed support, with 45% strongly and 23% somewhat, and Black residents also supported U.S. involvement, including 39% strongly and 36% somewhat.

    In each demographic, more people favored aid to Gaza than opposed it.

    A poll from Progress Michigan found bipartisan support among Michigan residents calling for aid for Gaza. - Progress Michigan

    Progress Michigan

    A poll from Progress Michigan found bipartisan support among Michigan residents calling for aid for Gaza.

    “Some things are bigger than partisan politics, and the ongoing genocide in Gaza is one of them,” Sam Inglot, executive director of Progress Michigan, said. “Michiganders recognize that allowing an entire population to starve and suffer without medical care is a moral failure we cannot accept. People are fed up with the foot dragging and the excuses and are demanding an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people.”

    Inglot said the poll shows voters want urgent action, not excuses from elected officials.

    “We have a moral imperative to do everything we can to get food, water and medical supplies to those who still remain in Gaza, and end the bombings and killing of Palestinians,” Inglot said. “It’s time for our lawmakers to stop making excuses for the reprehensible actions of the Israeli government and step up to do the right thing.”

    The results come from Progress Michigan’s monthly Lake Effect polls, which survey voters across the state.

    Steve Neavling

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  • Texas House Passes Congressional Redistricting Bill After Absconding Dems Return



    After House Democrats absconded for more than two weeks in opposition to a Congressional redistricting bill, the Texas House on Wednesday passed the bill by a vote of 88-52.

    It was passed after roughly eight hours of debate during which the majority of Democrats called Republicans racist.

    State Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, filed HB 4, the redistricting bill, which was added to the call for the first and second legislative special sessions. He also authored the redistricting bill the legislature passed in 2021 that remains in litigation.

    “I’ve heard a lot of comments, and I will tell you I don’t take them personally,” Hunter said. “These are tough issues. I feel like sometimes that I’m a pinata with no candy, just being hit. But I respect all of you.” Speaking to Democrats who fled the state, he said, “you left for 17 to 19 days and most of the comments I’ve heard could have been handled, discussed or mutually resolved in this House within that time. You chose to leave … that’s your choice. We chose to stay. That was our choice.”

    State Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, like her colleagues, said the redistricting plan was racist. Collier on Monday refused to comply with House rules she voted for, not leaving the chamber, The Center Square reported. On Wednesday, she asked Hunter if he was aware that during the time of slavery, Blacks fled, or that during Nazi rule, Jews fled. “They fled their oppressor,” she said, accusing House Republicans of being oppressors, saying they “don’t reflect the diversity of Texas.”

    She also complained that House Democrats weren’t involved in the redistricting process, to which Hunter replied they were gone for 17 days and chose not to be a part of the process.

    “When you are oppressed, you flee the oppressors,” she said.

    In response, state Rep. Katrina Pierson, R-Rockwall, said, “Chairman Hunter may not have taken the personal attacks and disrespect personally, but I did. The opposition gets to stand here and grandstand and say pretty much anything that they want, and we’re expected to stand here and just take it.

    “You call my voters racist. You call my party racist, but yet we’re expected to follow the rules. Well, that double standard ends today.”

    “More minority voters are voting their values, not their skin color,” she continued. “Many of them are moving to Texas to escape blue states because their values have been successfully gerrymandered into suppression. I’ve heard the accusations that this mid-decade redistricting is going to silence voters, and that it misrepresents the population of Texas. The facts don’t match the rhetoric.”

    She said that under current congressional maps, Texas has zero Black CVAP (citizen voting age population) districts. Under the new map, there are two. She also replied to Collier’s claim, saying that Blacks fled during slavery to Republican states.

    “I have heard repeatedly that these maps are gerrymandered, but that doesn’t fit the narrative either. That’s just spin because in many parts of the state, the map eliminates gerrymandering; they emphasize compactness in whole counties and whole cities. Political performance isn’t just legal, it is fair. It reflects the voters of the state of Texas,” she said.

    She also pointed out that President Donald Trump won Hispanic voters in Texas in the last election. “President Trump flipped 11 out of 18 counties on the Texas-Mexico border. He doubled his support from 2020. Political performance is the driver” behind the redistricting. “You lost,” she told Democrats. “Get over it.”

    After the vote, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, thanked members who carried the bill, also saying the new map is constitutional and legal.

    “These past few weeks have not been easy, but the House members who showed up for work every day have shown a dedication to their constituents that will not be forgotten,” he said. 

    Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.

    Bethany Blankley – The Center Square

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  • Trump hails Texas redistricting approval that could add five GOP congressional seats nationwide

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    President Donald Trump is calling Texas lawmakers’ approval of a sweeping redistricting plan to add up to five new GOP-leaning congressional seats a “Big WIN” for Republicans.

    Trump fired off a post via Truth Social hailing the state for “never letting us down,” saying the victory was more than a state win but a national turning point. He went on to urge other Republican-led states to follow the Lone Star State’s lead.

    “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. Florida, Indiana, and others are looking to do the same thing. More seats equals less Crime, a great Economy, and a STRONG SECOND AMENDMENT. It means Happiness and Peace,” he said.

    TEXAS GOP LAWMAKERS POISED TO FINALIZE TRUMP-BACKED MAP AFTER DEM REDISTRICTING WALKOUT ENDS

    Following Texas Democratic lawmakers’ return on Monday, President Donald Trump urged the state legislature to move quickly to pass a highly controversial redistricting bill, saying, “Please pass this Map, ASAP.” (Sergio Flores/Getty; Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

    Trump also suggested that a move in that direction could secure as many as 100 additional seats for the GOP nationwide if they followed suit.

    “But Republicans, there is one thing even better – STOP MAIL-IN VOTING, a total fraud that has no bounds. Also, go to PAPER BALLOTS before it is too late – At one tenth the cost, faster, and more reliable. If we do these TWO things, we will pick up 100 more seats, and the CROOKED game of politics is over. God Bless America!!!,” the post went on.

    Texas Republicans pushed the new congressional map through the state House Wednesday in an 88–52 party-line vote, brushing aside Democratic objections in a bid to strengthen the GOP’s hold on Congress heading into 2026.

    WITH TEXAS DEMS BACK, TRUMP URGES LEGISLATURE: ‘PASS THIS MAP, ASAP’

    The Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, where a redistricting fight is brewing.

    A major battle over congressional redistricting took place at the Texas State Capitol.  (Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    While Trump celebrated the redistricting as a major Republican win, Democrats framed it as only the beginning of a much larger legal battle.

    “This part of the fight is over, but it is merely the first chapter… Our best shot is in the courts. This is not over. We will continue fighting,” said Rep. Gene Wu of Houston.

    Texas House Democrats also accused the GOP of trying to dilute minority voting power, saying the map was illegal and racially discriminatory.

    Eric Holder, California Gov Gavin Newsom and New York Gov Kathy Hochul

    Democrats have signaled retaliation in response to Republican redistricting efforts across the country, particularly in Texas. (Getty Images)

    “Members, it breaks my heart to see how this illegal and rigged, mid-decade redistricting scheme is dividing our state and our country,” Rep. Chris Turner, a Democrat, said. “This is Texas, it’s not Washington D.C. The impulses of outside politicians and their billionaire backers shouldn’t dictate what we do in this chamber, in this House.”

    “This process was a total sham from the very beginning… This is a racist power grab that especially goes after our African American and Latino representatives,” said Rep. Jon Rosenthal

    Republicans defended the map as necessary to reflect population growth and safeguard voter representation.

    “Different from everyone else, I’m telling you, I’m not beating around the bush,” Rep. Todd Hunter, said about the map’s goal. “We have five new districts, and these five new districts are based on political performance.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Democrats unveiled their new map last week in an effort to nullify the map Texas Republicans were creating. If that bill is passed, it would create five new Democratic-leaning congressional districts that would counteract Texas.

    The dueling maps highlight the high-stakes fight for control of the House, with both parties using redistricting to try to lock in their advantage before 2026.

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  • Gavin Newsom, Kathy Hochul issue warnings after Texas redistricting vote

    Democratic Governors Gavin Newsom and Kathy Hochul of California and New York, respectively, issued brief warnings to Texas after the Republican-led state legislature voted Wednesday evening to advance a controversial congressional redistricting plan.

    Newsweek reached out to GOP Texas Governor Greg Abbott‘s office via email for comment.

    Why It Matters

    The vote occurred after weeks of partisan standoffs in Austin, including a Democratic walkout, as it heightened concerns that states could spark a mid‑decade redistricting “arms race” ahead of the 2026 midterms.

    Texas Republicans said the map could produce as many as five additional GOP‑leaning seats; Democrats said they would mount legal challenges and urged broader pushback from governors and allies.

    The Lone Star State’s GOP also felt partisan pressure and backing from President Donald Trump to press the plan further along and approve it.

    What To Know

    Posting to X after the vote passed, Newsom said, “It’s on, Texas.”

    Hochul also said in a post to X, “Game on.”

    The Texas House approved the proposed congressional map by an 88-52 party‑line vote, advancing the legislation to the state Senate, where passage is expected.

    What People Are Saying

    Trump on Truth Social Tuesday: “CONGRATULATIONS TEXAS! The July Border Statistics are in and, once again, they are the LOWEST RECORDED NUMBERS IN UNITED STATES HISTORY. The U.S. Border Patrol reported ZERO releases of Illegal Aliens into the Country. Texas’ Border is Safe and Secure, and the entire World knows it. All we need to do is keep it this way, which is exactly why Texas Republicans need to help us WIN the 2026 Midterm Elections, and pass their new Bill, AS IS, for the ONE BIG, BEAUTIFUL CONGRESSIONAL MAP!

    “With the Texas House now in Quorum, thanks to GREAT Speaker Dustin Burrows, I call on all of my Republican friends in the Legislature to work as fast as they can to get THIS MAP to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk, ASAP. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

    This is a developing story that will be updated with additional information.

    Republican Governor Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference on July 8 in Hunt, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

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  • Texas House approves controversial GOP congressional redistricting map



    Texas House approves controversial GOP congressional redistricting map – CBS News










































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    The Texas House on Wednesday night passed a controversial, Republican-backed proposal to redraw the state’s congressional maps. The bill now moves onto the Texas Senate. CBS News reporter Erica Brown has more.

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  • Obama applauds Newsom’s California redistricting plan as ‘responsible’ as Texas GOP pushes new maps

    Former President Barack Obama has waded into states’ efforts at rare mid-decade redistricting efforts, saying he agrees with California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s response to alter his state’s congressional maps, in the wake of Texas redistricting efforts promoted by President Donald Trump aimed at shoring up Republicans’ position in next year’s elections. “I believe that Gov. Newsom’s approach is a responsible approach. He said this is going to be responsible. We’re not going to try to completely maximize it,” Obama said at a Tuesday fundraiser on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, according to excerpts obtained by The Associated Press. “We’re only going to do it if and when Texas and/or other Republican states begin to pull these maneuvers. Otherwise, this doesn’t go into effect.”While noting that “political gerrymandering” is not his “preference,” Obama said that, if Democrats “don’t respond effectively, then this White House and Republican-controlled state governments all across the country, they will not stop, because they do not appear to believe in this idea of an inclusive, expansive democracy.”According to organizers, the event raised $2 million for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and its affiliates, one of which has filed and supported litigation in several states over GOP-drawn districts. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Eric Holder, who served as Obama’s attorney general and heads up the group, also appeared.The former president’s comments come as Texas lawmakers return to Austin this week, renewing a heated debate over a new congressional map creating five new potential GOP seats. The plan is the result of prodding by President Donald Trump, eager to stave off a midterm defeat that would deprive his party of control of the House of Representatives. Texas Democratic lawmakers delayed a vote for 15 days by leaving the state in protest, depriving the House of enough members to do business.Spurred on by the Texas situation, Democratic governors, including Newsom, have pondered ways to possibly strengthen their party’s position by way of redrawing U.S. House district lines, five years out from the Census count that typically leads into such procedures.In California — where voters in 2010 gave the power to draw congressional maps to an independent commission, with the goal of making the process less partisan — Democrats have unveiled a proposal that could give that state’s dominant political party an additional five U.S. House seats in a bid to win the fight for control of Congress next year. If approved by voters in November, the blueprint could nearly erase Republican House members in the nation’s most populous state, with Democrats intending to win the party 48 of its 52 U.S. House seats, up from 43.A hearing over that measure devolved into a shouting match Tuesday as a Republican lawmaker clashed with Democrats, and a committee voted along party lines to advance the new congressional map. California Democrats do not need any Republican votes to move ahead, and legislators are expected to approve a proposed congressional map and declare a Nov. 4 special election by Thursday to get required voter approval.Newsom and Democratic leaders say they’ll ask voters to approve their new maps only for the next few elections, returning map-drawing power to the commission following the 2030 census — and only if a Republican state moves forward with new maps. Obama applauded that temporary timeline.”And we’re going to do it in a temporary basis because we’re keeping our eye on where we want to be long term,” Obama said, referencing Newsom’s take on the California plan. “I think that approach is a smart, measured approach, designed to address a very particular problem in a very particular moment in time.”___Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAPSee more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    Former President Barack Obama has waded into states’ efforts at rare mid-decade redistricting efforts, saying he agrees with California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s response to alter his state’s congressional maps, in the wake of Texas redistricting efforts promoted by President Donald Trump aimed at shoring up Republicans’ position in next year’s elections.

    “I believe that Gov. Newsom’s approach is a responsible approach. He said this is going to be responsible. We’re not going to try to completely maximize it,” Obama said at a Tuesday fundraiser on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, according to excerpts obtained by The Associated Press. “We’re only going to do it if and when Texas and/or other Republican states begin to pull these maneuvers. Otherwise, this doesn’t go into effect.”

    While noting that “political gerrymandering” is not his “preference,” Obama said that, if Democrats “don’t respond effectively, then this White House and Republican-controlled state governments all across the country, they will not stop, because they do not appear to believe in this idea of an inclusive, expansive democracy.”

    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    According to organizers, the event raised $2 million for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and its affiliates, one of which has filed and supported litigation in several states over GOP-drawn districts. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Eric Holder, who served as Obama’s attorney general and heads up the group, also appeared.

    The former president’s comments come as Texas lawmakers return to Austin this week, renewing a heated debate over a new congressional map creating five new potential GOP seats. The plan is the result of prodding by President Donald Trump, eager to stave off a midterm defeat that would deprive his party of control of the House of Representatives. Texas Democratic lawmakers delayed a vote for 15 days by leaving the state in protest, depriving the House of enough members to do business.

    Spurred on by the Texas situation, Democratic governors, including Newsom, have pondered ways to possibly strengthen their party’s position by way of redrawing U.S. House district lines, five years out from the Census count that typically leads into such procedures.

    In California — where voters in 2010 gave the power to draw congressional maps to an independent commission, with the goal of making the process less partisan — Democrats have unveiled a proposal that could give that state’s dominant political party an additional five U.S. House seats in a bid to win the fight for control of Congress next year. If approved by voters in November, the blueprint could nearly erase Republican House members in the nation’s most populous state, with Democrats intending to win the party 48 of its 52 U.S. House seats, up from 43.

    A hearing over that measure devolved into a shouting match Tuesday as a Republican lawmaker clashed with Democrats, and a committee voted along party lines to advance the new congressional map. California Democrats do not need any Republican votes to move ahead, and legislators are expected to approve a proposed congressional map and declare a Nov. 4 special election by Thursday to get required voter approval.

    Newsom and Democratic leaders say they’ll ask voters to approve their new maps only for the next few elections, returning map-drawing power to the commission following the 2030 census — and only if a Republican state moves forward with new maps. Obama applauded that temporary timeline.

    “And we’re going to do it in a temporary basis because we’re keeping our eye on where we want to be long term,” Obama said, referencing Newsom’s take on the California plan. “I think that approach is a smart, measured approach, designed to address a very particular problem in a very particular moment in time.”

    ___

    Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Latest news on the Texas, California redistricting fights



    Latest news on the Texas, California redistricting fights – CBS News










































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    Texas Democratic lawmakers are still seeking ways to prevent the implementation of new congressional maps in the red state. This comes as California lawmakers prepare for a potential vote on redistricting. CBS News’ Hunter Woodall reports.

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  • Texas Republicans closer to voting on new maps following Democrat protests

    Texas Republicans appear to have a clear path forward to pass their new congressional maps as soon as Wednesday, as lawmakers are set to reconvene on the House floor. CBS News’ Hunter Woodall joins CBS Morning News with what to expect.

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  • California Republicans push Democrats on transparency, timeline for redistricting

    SACRAMENTO — California’s push to redraw the state’s congressional districts to favor Democrats faced early opposition Tuesday during legislative hearings, a preview of the obstacles ahead for Gov. Gavin Newsom and his allies as they try to convince voters to back the effort.

    California Democrats entered the redistricting fray after Republicans in Texas moved to reconfigure their political districts to increase by five the number of GOP members of Congress after the 2026 midterm elections, a move that could sway the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections.

    The proposed map of new districts in California that could go before voters in November could cost as many as five Golden State Republicans their seats in Congress.

    In Sacramento, Republicans criticized Democrats for trying to scrap the independent redistricting process approved by voters in 2010, a change designed to remove self-serving politics and partisan game-playing. GOP lawmakers argued that the public and legislators had little time to review the maps of the proposed congressional districts and questioned who crafted the new districts and bankrolled the effort.

    In an attempt to slow down the push by Democrats, California Republicans filed an emergency petition at the California Supreme Court, arguing that Democrats violated the state Constitution by rushing the bills through the legislature.

    The state Constitution requires lawmakers to introduce non-budget bills 30 days before they are voted on, unless the Legislature waives that rule by a three-fourths majority vote. The bills were introduced Monday through a common process known as “gut and amend,” where lawmakers strip out the language from an older pending bill and replace it with a new proposal.

    The lawsuit said that without the Supreme Court’s intervention, the state could enact “significant new legislation that the public has only seen for, at most, a few days,” according to the lawsuit filed by GOP state Sens. Tony Strickland of Huntington Beach and Suzette Martinez Valladares of Acton and Assemblymembers Tri Ta of Westminster and Kathryn Sanchez of Trabuco Canyon.

    Democrats bristled at the questions about their actions, including grilling by reporters and Republicans about who had drawn the proposed congressional districts that the party wants to put before voters.

    “When I go to a restaurant, I don’t need to meet the chef,” said Assembly Elections Committee chair Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz).

    Democrats unveiled their campaign to suspend the independent redistricting commission’s work Thursday, proposed maps of the redrawn districts were submitted to state legislative leaders Friday, and the three bills were introduced in the legislature Monday.

    If passed by a two-thirds vote in both bodies of the legislature and signed by Newsom this week, as expected, the measure will be on the ballot on Nov. 4.

    On Tuesday, lawmakers listened to hours of testimony and debate, frequently engaging in testy exchanges.

    After heated arguing and interrupting during an Assembly Elections Committee hearing, Pellerin admonished Assemblymembers Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) and David Tangipa (R-Clovis).

    “I would like you both to give me a little time and respect,” Pellerin said near the end of a hearing that lasted about five hours.

    Tangipa and the committee’s vice chair, Assemblywoman Alexandra Macedo (R-Tulare), repeatedly questioned witnesses about issues that the GOP is likely to continue to raise: the speed with which the legislation is being pushed through, the cost of the special election, the limited opportunity for public comment on the maps, who drew the proposed new districts and who is funding the effort.

    Tangipa voiced concerns that legislators had too little time to review the legislation.

    “That’s insanity, and that’s heartbreaking to the rest of Californians,” Tangipa said. “How can you say you actually care about the people of California?

    Berman dismissed the criticism, saying the bill was five pages long.

    In a Senate elections committee hearing, State Sen. Steve Choi (R-Irvine), the only Republican on the panel, repeatedly pressed Democrats about how the maps had been drawn before they were presented.

    Tom Willis, Newsom’s campaign counsel who appeared as a witness to support the redistricting bills, said the map was “publicly submitted, and then the legislature reviewed it carefully and made sure that it was legally compliant.”

    But, Choi asked, who drew the maps in the first place? Willis said he couldn’t answer, because he “wasn’t a part of that process.”

    In response to questions about why California should change their independent redistricting ethos to respond to potential moves by Texas, state Sen. Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) was blunt.

    “This is a partisan gerrymander,” she said, to counter the impacts of Trump administration policy decisions, from healthcare cuts to immigration raids, that are disproportionately impacting Californians. “That’s what we’re talking about here.”

    Her comments prompted a GOP operative who is aiding the opposition campaign to the ballot measure to say, “It made me salivate.”

    California Common Cause, an ardent supporter of independent redistricting, initially signaled openness to revisiting the state’s independent redistricting rules because they would not “call for unilateral political disarmament in the face of authoritarianism.”

    But on Tuesday, the group announced its opposition to a state Senate bill.

    “it would create significant rollbacks in voter protections,” the group said in a statement, arguing that the legislation would result in reduced in-person voting, less opportunities for underrepresented communities to cast ballots and dampens opportunities for public input. “These changes to the Elections Code … would hinder full voter participation, with likely disproportionate harm falling to already underrepresented Californians.”

    Seema Mehta, Laura J. Nelson

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  • Video: Where Democrats Lost on Voter Registration

    If you want to understand the health of a political party, take a look at their voter registration numbers. And for the Democrats, it’s not looking good.

    Shane Goldmacher, Claire Hogan, David Jouppi and Zach Caldwell

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  • Texas Democrat says she’s locked inside state Capitol after refusing mandatory DPS escort

    Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier from Fort Worth returned to the Texas Capitol on Monday but says she remains locked inside the Capitol because she wouldn’t sign a permission slip to be under escort by the Texas Department of Public Safety. 

    The escorts for all House Democrats who left the state of Texas last month — preventing a vote on a GOP-led redistricting effort — are meant as a guarantee that they will return to the House by 10 a.m. Wednesday for the next special session.

    CBS News Texas spoke with Collier via Zoom on Monday, and she said the situation is wrong — just like the new Congressional maps she and other Democrats have tried to block from being passed. 

    “I have a right to resist, I have a right to oppose, just like my voters do, just like Texans have a right to challenge government, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m challenging these decisions that are being made. I don’t agree with them,” said Collier. 

    She continued, adding, “All the Democrats will be working together to get that legal record set so that we can take this fight to the court.”

    Collier also said that, according to DPS, she must stay in the House chambers or inside her office at the Capitol.

    CBS News Texas has reached out to DPS for comment.

    In a statement, the Texas House Democratic Caucus said the police escorts were the “latest Republican tactic to monitor and control Democratic lawmakers following their successful quorum break.”  

    Collier and dozens of other House Democrats who returned to the Capitol on Monday received a Texas-sized welcome from their supporters as they walked from the rotunda into the House chamber minutes before the House session began around noon.

    The Democrats had fled to blue states earlier this month after President Trump suggested the state should redraw its U.S. House district maps to secure more Republican seats. The Democrats had remained out of the state to deny Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott a quorum, temporarily derailing a special legislative session that the governor called to reshape the state’s congressional maps.

    The GOP-led redistricting effort would create five more Republican-leaning House seats ahead of the 2026 midterms. Republicans currently have a narrow majority in the House.

    Because the Democrats broke quorum for two weeks, there weren’t enough House members to hold the special session. On Monday, there were 120 members present on the floor, but 30 were still absent. 

    Rep. Gene Wu, the House Democratic Caucus chair, said their efforts to block the potential five Republican-leaning seats have now moved into their second phase, the legal phase.

    On Monday evening, the House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting approved the new maps along party lines by a 12-8 margin. The legislation goes to the full House which could vote on the maps as early as Wednesday.

    The Texas Senate redistricting committee approved the maps on Sunday, and the full Senate will take them up sometime this week.

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  • Trump says he’ll sign executive order aimed at eliminating mail-in ballots

    President Trump says he will sign an executive order aimed at eliminating voting through mail-in ballots ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, joins “The Takeout” to discuss.

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  • Texas Legislature begins new special session, GOP resumes redistricting push as Democrats return

    The Texas State House of Representatives could vote as early as this week on the state’s controversial congressional redistricting plan after Gov. Greg Abbott called a second special legislative session with Democrats ending their boycott and returning to the state. CBS News correspondent Nidia Cavazos has more.

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