California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Friday that the state will move forward with a ballot measure in November to redraw its congressional map in response to a Republican-backed redistricting plan in Texas.
Speaking alongside state Democratic leaders, Newsom said they would call for a special election in the first week of November to vote on redrawing the congressional map, a move that could potentially add five more U.S. House seats to the Democratic tally.
“We will pick up five seats with the consent of the people, and that’s the difference between the approach we’re taking and the approach they’re taking. We’re doing it [on a] temporary basis,” he added.
Newsom also reaffirmed that the state will remain committed to its independent redistricting process. The Democrats said they expected to have a newly agreed-upon map, based on previous plans reviewed by the state’s independent redistricting commission, ready for public scrutiny next week, three months before it would go to voters.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks in support of the Texas Democratic lawmakers for their walk out to block a vote on a congressional redistricting plan sought by President Donald Trump, during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., on Aug. 8, 2025. Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo
Abbott added redrawing the congressional map onto the special session agenda after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sent the Texas governor a letter on July 7 raising concerns that four congressional districts in the Houston and Dallas areas were unconstitutional because of “racial gerrymandering.”
Current boundaries run afoul of the Voting Rights Act by relying on racial demographics to group minority voters into “coalition districts,” where no single racial group forms a majority, according to the DOJ.
Paxton said Texas law gives him the authority to represent the state in “quo warranto actions” and to appear before the Texas Supreme Court in matters of direct state interest.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the Texas Department of Public Safety, along with the FBI, is tracking down Democratic lawmakers who left the state, and they will be brought to the Texas Capitol.
Texas Rep. Gene Wu speaks in front of Democratic members of Congress and Texas House Democrats during a news conference, after they left their state to deny Republicans the quorum needed to redraw the state’s 38 congressional districts, at IBEW Local Union 701 in Warrenville, Ill., on Aug. 4, 2025. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images
Kiley’s legislation, if passed, would also put the brakes on Texas Republicans’ plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts.
In response to the bill, Newsom said that he supports the state’s independent redistricting commission and that any redistricting actions in California would be contingent on Texas’s decisions.
“I’m appreciative that this member of Congress is waking up to the realities, what has occurred in Texas,” Newsom said during a press conference Aug. 5. “I haven’t heard much from him as it relates to the condemnation of their efforts, but I’m grateful that he recognizes the importance of a national framework.”
Darlene McCormick Sanchez, Jill McLaughlin, and Reuters contributed to this report.
