California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a fresh warning to President Donald Trump regarding his efforts to have Texas Republicans redraw congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“If you will not stand down, I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states,” Newsom wrote in a letter to Trump on Monday.
It comes after Republicans in Texas were set to approve new mid-decade congressional redistricting maps that would likely eliminate as many as five seats currently held by Democrats. Republicans backing the plan have argued that Democratic states have long since gerrymandered their districts to favor their party and shut out GOP voters, including California.
The move in Texas led dozens of Democrats to break protocol and abandon their state House seats to deprive the GOP majority of a quorum. Republicans in the state and around the country have blasted the Democrats for political cowardice and for also depriving Texans still suffering from recent storms the relief they need to rebuild.
The Democratic governor’s warning came as no surprise, Newsweek reported.
For weeks, Newsom has cautioned that if Texas Republicans move forward with their redistricting plans, he will respond in kind by redrawing districts in California, a state already dominated by Democrats.
He urged Trump to drop the effort, warning the president that he is “playing with fire” and “risking the destabilization of our democracy.”
Democrats are currently just three seats shy of reclaiming a House majority, with only a few dozen of the 435 districts considered competitive.
In California, Newsom and state Democrats are weighing a potential redrawing of congressional maps to secure additional House seats for the party. However, such a move would require voter approval to override the existing maps created by the state’s independent redistricting commission.
Trump’s push for redistricting in Texas is aimed at solidifying the Republican majority in the House, Democrats are claiming.
During his first term, Democrats seized control of the chamber in the 2018 midterms, launching aggressive investigations into his personal finances and business dealings and impeaching him twice — first over his alleged effort to condition military aid to Ukraine, and later over the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, neither of which were serious or based on any evidence.
In a letter to Trump on Monday, Newsom said he favored having independent commissions draw congressional districts rather than leaving the process to partisan legislatures. However, he added that “California cannot stand idly by as this power grab unfolds.”
If Texas and “the other states call off their redistricting efforts, we will happily do the same,” Newsom wrote. “And American democracy will be better for it.”
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has said AWOL state Democrats will be arrested when they return to the Lone Star State and taken to the capital to reinstate a quorum, also countered Newsom’s threat with one of his own.
“If California tries to gerrymander five more districts, listen, Texas has the ability to eliminate ten Democrats in our state. We can play that game more than they can because they have fewer Republican districts in their states,” he told CNN.
Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court seeking judicial declarations that 13 Texas House seats have been vacated due to continued unlawful absences by Democrat legislators.
“The rogue Democrat legislators who fled the state have abandoned their duties, leaving their seats vacant,” Paxton said in a press release. “These cowards deliberately sabotaged the constitutional process and violated the oath they swore to uphold.
“Their out-of-state rebellion cannot go unchecked, and the business of Texas must go on. I have asked the Texas Supreme Court to declare what has been clear from the beginning: that the runaway members have officially vacated their offices in the Texas House,” he added.
