Republicans sue to block Newsom's fast-track California redistricting plan [View all]

Source: The Guardian

Tue 19 Aug 2025 14.47 EDT
Last modified on Tue 19 Aug 2025 14.58 EDT


Republican state legislators in California filed suit on Tuesday to block a mid-year redistricting plan meant to counter Texas’s effort to redraw congressional district lines. The emergency petition argues that the process being used in the California assembly violates laws requiring a 30-day period between the introduction of legislation and voting on it.

“Instead of a months-long transparent and participatory process overseen by an independent citizens redistricting commission for such a sensitive matter, the public would be presented instead with an up or down vote on maps unilaterally prepared in secret by the Legislature,” states the filing on behalf of senators Tony Strickland and Suzette Martinez Valladares, assemblyman Tri Ta and assemblywoman Kathryn Sanchez.

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, announced his state’s redistricting plan last week in terms on social media mocking Donald Trump’s flamboyance, intent on using the voting power of the US’s most populous state to counteract Texas’s redrawn map, which would be expected to deliver a net gain of five congressional seats to Republicans in 2026.

Newsom praised the California effort on Monday, calling it a necessary response to Trump’s influence over redistricting in Texas and other Republican-led states. “We are not going to sit idle while they command Texas and other states to rig the next election to keep power,” Newsom said, adding that the proposal gives Californians “a choice to fight back”.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/19/california-gavin-newsom-redistricting-republicans