Gov. Gavin Newsom set a Nov. 4 special election Thursday to redraw California’s districting lines mid-decade, an effort to combat President Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott’s initiatives in Texas. His aim is to gain five U.S. House seats in 2026 to counterbalance the proposed redistricting gains in the Lone Star State.
“We can’t stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across this country,” the governor said during a Los Angeles press conference, standing alongside Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, among others.
Newsom additionally called on other blue states to consider special motions to redistrict their own constituencies and gain more Democratic House seats, citing similar GOP efforts proposed in Missouri, Indiana, Florida and Ohio.
“We need to stand up — not just California, other blue states need to stand up. We need to be firm,” he said, later adding: “This is a break-the-glass moment for our democracy, for our nation. This is about action, and that’s what we’re doing here in California.”
The special election will first require two-thirds legislative approval, expected to go through next week. Newsom emphasized that putting the redistricting proposal up to a state-wide vote is “precisely the opposite” of the approach in Texas, where the directive is coming directly from the White House to “legislatively try to jam them through against the consent of the people.”
“We’re asking the voters for their consent to do midterm redistricting in 2026, 2028 and 2030 for the congressional maps to respond to what’s happening in Texas, to respond what Trump is trying to excite,” Newsom said. “And [we] will do so in a way that also affirms our desire as a state to level the playing field all across the United States. We believe in a national independent redistricting framework, and we believe that’s the right goal and the right thing to pursue.”
Trump knows he'll lose so he's rigging the system. pic.twitter.com/quQR9b0ycA
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) August 14, 2025
Coinciding with the press conference Thursday, Newsom’s office launched an official social media campaign in promotion of the Nov. 4 vote, encouraging Californians to vote “YES.”
“Trump’s election rigging comes to an end now,” Newsom’s pinned post on X read. “California won’t stand by and watch Trump burn it all down.”
Trump’s election rigging comes to an end now. California won’t stand by and watch Trump burn it all down — we are calling a special election to redraw our Congressional maps and defend fair representation.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) August 14, 2025
This is a five alarm fire for Democracy. Vote YES November 4. pic.twitter.com/7MQz6LjaG6
Responding on behalf of California Republicans to the redistricting special election on Thursday, the state’s Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin dismissed the partisan effort as “Gavin the Gaslighter overturning the will of the voters and telling you it’s for your own good.”
“Gov. Newsom says this is about giving power to the people, but the people already have that power,” Rankin said in a statement obtained by TheWrap. “They used it to create and expand California’s independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, taking politicians out of the process so no one could rig the maps for their own gain. Now, Newsom wants to take that power back, rush through secret maps, and spend hundreds of millions so he and his friends can choose their voters instead of voters choosing their representatives. He calls it transparent and temporary but it is really a calculated power grab that dismantles the very safeguards voters put in place.”
