The moment Texas announced that it was going to redraw its legislative district maps, it was only a matter of time before Democrat-led states would counter the move.
California and its governor, Gavin Newsom, wasted no time redrawing state maps to recoup the five seats that Texas flipped from blue to red.
The GOP had hoped to block the effort after winning at the Supreme Court regarding the Texas maps, but a federal judge has just ruled the California maps can be used as planned in the upcoming cycle.
When Texas redrew its maps, Newsom accused Republicans of rigging elections, yet his answer was to attempt to do the very same thing.
He stated, “California will not sit idle as Trump and his Republican lapdogs shred our country’s democracy before our very eyes. In just six months, Trump’s unchecked power has cost Americans billions and taken an ax to the greatest democracy we’ve ever known.”
Newsom continued, “This moment calls for urgency and action – that is what we are putting before voters this November, a chance to fight back against his anti-American ways.”
I have never agreed with gerrymandering, and I never will. However, what amazes me here is that even the mainstream media is applauding Newsom’s cheating while smearing the GOP's redistricting push.
As we mentioned above, once the new law in California was passed, the GOP filed suit to thwart the use of new boundaries, just as Democrats were fighting the same battle in Texas.
The attempt, however, was unsuccessful, as a federal appeals panel ruled 2-1 in favor of allowing the new California maps to be used in the upcoming election.
Attorney General Pam Bondi then posted, “We disagree with yesterday’s 2-1 ruling on California’s redistricting map.”
She continued, “California impermissibly drew its new congressional map based on race. That’s unconstitutional. We are reviewing all legal options.”
The California GOP has already announced that it plans to take this case to the Supreme Court, but it is hard to imagine the Republicans obtaining any relief since the court already ruled that Texas could use its redrawn maps in 2026.
Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School, explained, “I don’t see the California GOP finding success with the Supreme Court, particularly given their recent opinion out of that emergency appeal from Texas, where they essentially said that the Texas lines were fine because they amounted to partisan gerrymandering.”
Another factor at play is the fact that the maps in California were approved by voters, giving Newsom another layer of protection against the Republican challenge.
I warned everyone when Trump asked Texas to redraw its maps that we were headed into a battle that was impossible to win. Democrats had far more seats to play with than the GOP did, but Trump was trying to beat history by having the maps changed. It was a foolish fight to start, and it was one that conservatives were destined to lose. You cannot accuse Democrats of gerrymandering maps, then order states to do the same in a bid to defy historical electoral trends. It’s indefensible.
