California Gov. Newsom announces redistricting effort to counter Texas GOP

Politics California Gov. Gavin Newsom announces redistricting effort to counter Texas GOP By Hunter Woodall, Hunter Woodall Political Editorial Producer Hunter Woodall is a political editorial producer for CBS News. He covered the 2020 New Hampshire primary for The Associated Press and has also worked as a Kansas statehouse reporter for The Kansas City Star and the Washington correspondent for Minnesota's Star Tribune. Read Full Bio Hunter Woodall, Kaia Hubbard, Kaia Hubbard Politics Reporter Kaia Hubbard is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C. Read Full Bio Kaia Hubbard, Nidia Cavazos Updated on: August 14, 2025 / 8:27 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google California Democrats are preparing to counter Republicans' attempt to reshape a series of Texas congressional districts for political advantage in a back and forth that could define next year's midterm elections and with it, the final two years of President Trump's second term. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he is moving forward with a redistricting plan Thursday as national tensions rage over changing congressional lines mid-decade. Districts are usually redrawn after the decennial census, and under California law, the changes would require a special election. Newsom has vowed his state would respond after Texas Republicans released plans earlier this summer to redraw five seats held by Democrats and make them more favorable to the GOP. "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," Newsom said Thursday in a post on X ahead of his remarks. Newsom, speaking alongside a number of California officials in Los Angeles, said Mr. Trump is "trying to rig the system," adding that "as a consequence, we need to disabuse ourselves of the way things have been done." "We have got to recognize the cards that have been dealt," Newsom said. "An...