Newsom signs California redistricting plan

Politics Newsom signs California redistricting plan that could tilt 5 House seats toward Democrats By Nidia Cavazos, 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 Updated on: August 21, 2025 / 8:33 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed into law a contentious congressional redistricting plan, as state Democrats seek to counter a Trump-backed effort to add to the GOP's House majority by redrawing Texas' congressional maps. The new map — which still needs to be approved by voters — would shift five of California's Republican U.S. House seats to be more favorable to Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections.  The legislation easily passed the Democratic-led Assembly and Senate on Thursday. After Newsom's signature, it will be added to the ballot on Nov. 4 for the voters' final say. That election is likely to be expensive and unpredictable, given how quickly the effort has come together and how little time there is between the state Legislature's actions and voters starting to have their say. California Democrats insisted they had no choice but to undertake the new maps after President Trump intervened in Texas and asked Republican lawmakers to redraw the districts to preserve the GOP's razor-thin majority in the U.S. House. Following Newsom's declaration that he would redraw California's maps, several other states said they would undertake similar efforts. "They fired the first shot, Texas. We wouldn't be here had Texas not done what they just did," Newsom said during a signing ceremony Thursday. "We're neutralizing what occurred [in Texas] and we're giving the American peop...