House Democratic leadership, rank-and-file members and aides to at least one blue state governor have been meeting to decide how to retaliate if Texas Republicans follow through on the White House’s push to reshape the state’s congressional map, according to four Democratic members of Congress familiar with the discussions.
In these talks, staffers to California Gov. Gavin Newsom have signaled their boss’s willingness to counter any redistricting in Texas with a similar move to redraw the maps in his own state, in an attempt to offset potential GOP gains, according to the lawmakers who were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The Democratic meetings are a response to recent calls from President Donald Trump’s political orbit for Republicans in Austin to draw new district lines that would shift GOP voters from safely red districts into neighboring blue ones, in a bid to flip the seats and protect the GOP’s slim House majority in 2026.
The lawmakers said multiple blue state leaders in addition to Newsom were involved in similar talks, though it was not immediately clear which states beyond California were in the mix.
A Newsom spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
These dynamics, which have not been previously reported, could make the Trump team’s already-risky gambit more perilous.
Any attempt to scoop up additional GOP seats in Texas would require spreading Republican voters across additional districts. The prospect has drawn opposition from much of Texas’ GOP congressional delegation over fears that mapmakers could overextend and endanger currently safe incumbents.
One Republican member of Congress from Texas who is unhappy about the White House’s redistricting plan told The Texas Tribune that a push from blue states could help the state’s GOP delegation make the case for calling off the redistricting scheme.
Democrats see the fight as an essential offensive posture that could make the difference in reclaiming the House, where Republicans narrowly control 220 seats to the Democrats’ 213. One of the Democratic members familiar with the deliberations said the party needs to “fight fire with fire.”
“I’m not going to fight with one hand tied behind my ass,” another one of the Democratic lawmakers said. “We shouldn’t be so nice if Texas decides to do this.”
See here, here, and here for the background. I don’t know how seriously to take this, but I’m happy to see the fight being shown. As the story notes, California has a redistricting commission, so doing a redraw there is not as straightforward as it would be in Texas, where Greg Abbott can force it onto a special session agenda. I assume there are ways around that, but I know nothing about California politics, so I don’t have any idea how messy or time-consuming it could get. The first move remains with Texas, so it could all come to nothing anyway.
I really hate gerrymandering. The SCOTUS was given the chance to kill it, but of course they didn’t the wrong thing.
I can only hope that if the GOP does it, that we get to see how wave elections flip overextended districts.