Redistricting DRAMA in California

The Redistricting Debate 

One major topic of controversy in the news over the past few weeks has all centered around a little thing called redistricting. You may have heard something about Governor Newsom trying to pass through redistricting in California in response to stuff happening in Texas. It’s super important that we break down what is going on here, because districts affect voting, which affects you!

So…just what is redistricting? Let’s start with the very basics. At the federal government level, we have the United States Senate and we have the US House of Representatives. Every state gets 2 Senators, regardless of population or size; conversely the number of representatives in the House depends on a state’s population. States are broken up into districts - so, the bigger the state is, the more districts it will have. The people in a district then vote to elect their representative, and so essentially voters decide which political party they want to represent them in the House. 

These districts are super important, because where the boundaries of each district are drawn will decide who is in that district and will affect how the members of that district are represented. This is where something like gerrymandering - which you might also have heard of - could come in. Gerrymandering is when political district lines are drawn in a way that intentionally benefits one political party or group over others. It’s a way to manipulate the system by changing how votes are counted through the map design.

There are two main ways this can be done in states. The first is called cracking, and this is where a certain group of voters is spread across so many districts that they can’t form a majority anywhere. The second is called packing, and converse to cracking, this is where you could draw the lines to cram in one political party’s votes to just a few districts so they win big in those areas, but lose everywhere else. 

Now, if you think about California, you start to wonder - is this happening to conservatives in the state? Because realistically, in the 2024 presidential election, Republicans made up nearly 40% of the vote,[1] but Republicans only hold 9 out of 52 seats in the House.[2] This leads conservatives to question what is going on, and why it feels like we have very far from proportional representation? 

But, regardless of the answer to that question, all of this background is to say that district maps are very important in your state and they have the ability to shift the balance of power with how you are represented in Congress. 

So, to circle back and answer our first question, just what is redistricting? Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like - it’s the process of redrawing those boundaries of electoral districts, which in turn means changing the areas that determine who represents you. This happens every 10 years, and it’s based on the US Census to reflect changes in the population. Think of it like updating the lines on a political map to make sure everyone’s vote counts equally, since populations grow, shrink, or move over time. You wouldn’t want to keep the districts that are based on outdated numbers, because your vote may not be fairly represented. 

Controversial Redistricting Efforts

Okay, so with that background, what is going on lately that has to do with redistricting? Well, you may have heard it come up in the news, specifically regarding two controversial states: Texas and California. 

In June of this year, President Trump’s Administration began working with Texas Republicans to explore options for redistricting in the state, ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.[3] If Republicans’ redistricting proposal is passed, it will give their party five more seats in the House, which would be HUGE for President Trump since he has a pretty slim majority as it stands.[4] However, that idea has obviously sparked outrage from Democrats as they don’t want Trump to maintain the majority in either the House or the Senate. But one Democrat in particular has taken this issue to a whole new level, and that would, of course, be our own beloved governor.

Now, in response to Texas’ redistricting efforts, Gavin Newsom has pledged that if Republicans in Texas gain 5 additional seats, that he will push redistricting here in California, which would result in the loss of – you guessed it – 5 Republican seats for our state.[5] Right now, Democrats hold 43 of 52 seats; this would make it so that Democrats hold 48 of 52[6] - leaving Republicans with just 4 seats. Isn’t that absolutely CRAZY? As if conservatives have too much power here to begin with.

Newsom has said he will only move forward if Texas moved forward, stating he will “fight fire with fire.”[7] In fact, he’s been using all kinds of inflammatory language, saying there might not even be an election in 2028 if California doesn’t respond with redistricting or if Texas gains additional Republican seats.

Underlying Motives & Legal Processes

But I think we need to understand – why is Texas considering redistricting in the first place, and how are they going about doing it? Because the media is portraying this as a power grab by President Trump, and so Newsom is posturing as almost heroic by pushing back against an imbalance of power. But is that the case?

I would argue – no, it’s not. Let me explain. As I said earlier, district maps are based on the national census, which is taken once every ten years. The most recent census was taken in 2020, and so the maps today are based on population counts from that year. The problem is that the U.S. Census Bureau came out with a report in 2022 saying that the 2020 census was widely miscounted. The report found the census had:

-        “Significant net undercount rates in six states: Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, and – you guessed it – Texas.

-        It also uncovered significant net overcount rates in eight states — Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island and Utah.”[8]

So clearly, the census favored giving more seats to Democrat states and less seats to Republican states – with Texas being specifically included. 

This is the background for why President Trump is saying Texas deserves more seats – not because he’s making it up or pulling it out of thin air, but because the Census Bureau themselves admit that the count, which is what the districts are based off – is not accurate, and it favors one political party over another. What Governor Newsom is proposing to do is NOT based off a proven census error, it’s just retaliation against a political party he doesn’t like.

But then, even beyond motive or rationale for redistricting, there’s also the matter of HOW – how can states like Texas and California redistrict and are they operating within legal bounds.

Well, for Texas, the Texas legislature are the ones who have the authority to draw the district lines. Since the Texas House is Republican controlled, the new district lines would likely pass and then be subject to approval by the governor. To prevent this, Texas Democrats have literally just left the state to prevent the house from reaching a quorum needed to pass the measure, which is why things are still at a standstill in terms of redistricting in Texas.[9] But, all of that is to say that Texas is allowed to redistrict this way because ultimately the power lies within the legislature.

This is different, however, in California. Per California’s own state constitution, we rely on a bipartisan citizen redistricting commission to draw district lines after each census. This was established in 2008 with the goal of keeping political parties from influencing districting – which, again, is very questionable in California if you look at how much Democrats have power here – but regardless, the intention was to prevent one political party, like the party in power in the state legislature, from districting in their favor. For California to redistrict right now, as Gavin Newsom is proposing that he will do, would mean the governor would bypass this bipartisan commission, which again goes against our state constitution. So, what Newsom is trying to do as a loophole is to go to the people directly with a special election. 

On Friday, Governor Newsom officially announced the plan to hold a special election this November for voters to approve giving power to the California legislature for this one instance to redraw the district lines ahead of the 2026 midterm election.[10] If voters approve the ballot initiative, the legislature will redistrict to remove 5 Republican seats and give those seats to Democrats.

Redistricting California: Yes or No?

What are we to think about all of this? Are our leaders, like our Governor, doing the right thing in response to Texas, and if not, then what should they be advocating for?

I think we can break this down to be pretty simple. If districts are based on the census, then we need the census to be accurate and to be fair. The census has been proven by the very US Census Bureau to be unfair and inaccurate. Therefore, we need a new census. That’s it, that’s the fix.

The fix is not gerrymandering states to try to make up for it, the fix is not responding in retaliation to what other states are doing, and the fix is certainly not breaking our own state constitution in response.

You can question if Texas is doing the right thing or not, I think that’s a fair question. But, we have to agree on the facts that at least Texas is operating in line with the fact that their state was PROVEN to have been undercounted, and that does have a real and unfair impact on representation across the state. California, on the other hand, has not suffered the same impact. California is not responding to an error in the census. California’s leadership is simply politicking, once again, to try to censor conservative representation even more than they already have and to continue to boost the Democratic party – which isn’t right, no matter what you think about Texas.

Not to mention, it’s completely hypocritical. It’s hypocritical of Gavin Newsom to say that Texas is wrong to play politics, and then to turn around and do the exact same thing – but to do it even WORSE because he is breaking the guardrails that voters approved to be in California’s constitution to prevent this very thing from happening.

So, if we do end up with a special election this November, you absolutely must vote no. Not just to prevent this brazen gerrymandering in our state that will continue to hurt conservatives, but to send a clear message to our governor and other state leaders that we will not be used as pawns in their political power plays.

References:

[1]  Politico. “Kamala Harris Wins California,” July 29, 2025. https://www.politico.com/2024-election/results/california/.

[2] Blood, Michael R. “California Could Slash 5 GOP US House Seats to Counter Texas’ Move to Pad Republican Margin.” KCRA, August 6, 2025. https://www.kcra.com/article/california-redistricting-5-us-house-seats-texas/65603872.

[3]  Hutzler, Alexandra. “Texas Redistricting: What’s at Stake as Republicans Aim to Pick up 5 House Seats.” ABC News, August 6, 2025. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/texas-redistricting-stake-republicans-aim-pick-5-house/story?id=124377064.

[4] Linton, Caroline, Melissa Quinn, and Kaia Hubbard. “As Texas Pushes Redistricting Plan to Add 5 GOP House Seats Before 2026 Elections, Other States May Follow.” CBS News, August 7, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-redistricting-plan-california-new-york-illinois-indiana/.

[5] Nelson, Laura J. “California’s Plans for Congressional Districts Hurt Republicans - Los Angeles Times.” Los Angeles Times, August 7, 2025. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-08-07/california-redistricting-texas-redrawn-congressional-districts-bad-news-republicans.

[6] Blood, “California Could Slash 5 GOP US House Seats to Counter Texas’ Move to Pad Republican Margin,” August 6, 2025.

[7] Koseff, Alexei. “Newsom Ramps up California Redistricting Threat as Texas Weighs New Republican Maps,” CalMatters, July 25, 2025, https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/07/gavin-newsom-redistricting/.

[8] Lo Wang, Hansi. “These 14 States Had Significant Miscounts in the 2020 Census.” NPR, May 19, 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/1099810793/census-undercount-by-state-arkansas-florida-illinois-mississippi-tennessee-texas#:~:text=It%20also%20uncovered%20significant%20net,%25)%20and%20Utah%20(2.59%25.

[9] Méndez, María. “Texas Redistricting: What to Know About Dems’ Quorum Break.” The Texas Tribune, August 6, 2025. https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/04/texas-redistricting-democrats-quorum-break-what-need-know/.

[10] Koehn, Josh. “Newsom Says California Will Hold Special Election to Combat Trump, Texas Redistricting.” The San Francisco Standard, August 8, 2025. https://sfstandard.com/2025/08/08/newsom-california-election-redistricting-trump-texas/.