California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he will take action to counteract Texas Republicans’ efforts to redraw congressional district lines before the upcoming midterm elections if their plan is approved.
On Tuesday, in an X post mimicking U.S. President Donald Trump’s tone and distinctive use of capital letters, Newsom announced that his office would soon unveil its intention to redraw congressional maps in California.
“DONALD ‘TACO’ TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, ‘MISSED’ THE DEADLINE!!! CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE ‘BEAUTIFUL MAPS,’ THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!). BIG PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH POWERFUL DEMS AND GAVIN NEWSOM — YOUR FAVORITE GOVERNOR — THAT WILL BE DEVASTATING FOR ‘MAGA.’ THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! — GN,” he wrote.
DONALD “TACO” TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, “MISSED” THE DEADLINE!!! CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE “BEAUTIFUL MAPS,” THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!). BIG PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH POWERFUL DEMS AND GAVIN NEWSOM — YOUR…
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) August 12, 2025
His move comes as tensions soar among state leadership, with Democrats accusing Texas Republicans of gerrymandering to sway elections in their favour.
Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for the arrest of more than 50 Texas Democrats, and the removal of top Democrat Gene Wu from office, after they fled the state to prevent the House from passing legislation they say would reduce the voting power of minority groups and increase the Republican Party’s chances of taking control of the U.S. House.
On Tuesday, after repeated threats to do so, Abbott announced that both chambers of the Texas House would adjourn on Friday without a date to reconvene if a quorum is not reached for the current session, adding that he would immediately call a new one.
“I will call the Texas Legislature back immediately for Special Session #2,” Abbott said in a statement. “The Special Session #2 agenda will have the exact same agenda, with the potential to add more items critical to Texans.
“There will be no reprieve for the derelict Democrats who fled the state and abandoned their duty to the people who elected them. I will continue to call special sessions after special sessions until we get this Texas first agenda passed.”
Texas is ‘preparing to arrest Democrats’ as Republicans push redistricting plan: Abbott
Trump and Abbott intend to redraw the Texas congressional map in the hopes of adding five more Republican seats in Texas in the midterm elections.
If they succeed, it would increase the party’s chance of maintaining its slim U.S. House majority, which currently sits at 219-212. Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas’s 38 seats in the House of Representatives.
Congressional lines are typically redrawn every 10 years to reflect population changes based on data from the national census; however, Texas’s break from tradition has forced a response from Democrat-run states, with Newsom leading the charge.
In a letter to Trump this week, Newsom wrote, “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.”
Read the letter @CAGovernor Gavin Newsom just sent Donald Trump:
"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.” pic.twitter.com/Atuz478VJ5
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) August 11, 2025
According to CBS News, Newsom’s team has been in talks with California’s Democratic congressional delegation and the California legislature, where drafts of new maps were discussed.
U.S. Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California told the outlet that the conversations were initially to determine if it was even possible to retaliate by gaining five Democratic seats to counter Texas’s.
“I’m confident that if we need to move forward, we will do that successfully. There’s tremendous unity on the Democratic side,” she said.
Currently, if Democrats were to win back as few as three seats from their opponents, they could flip the Republican-held House in next year’s midterm elections.
On Thursday morning, Newsom wrote on X, “Donald Trump and Greg Abbott are going to have a very bad day today.”
President Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott participate in a round table event at the Hill Country Youth Event Center to discuss flash flooding on July 11, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Trump has not publicly responded to Newsom’s announcement, though he has repeatedly referred to the politician as Gavin “Newscum,” a behaviour Newsom says is bullying.