California is moving forward with a partisan redistricting effort to counter Texas’ move

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday his state will hold a Nov. 4 special election to seek voter approval of new congressional map drawn to try to win Democrats five more U.S. House seats in 2026.

The move is a direct response to a Republican-led effort in Texas, pushed by President Donald Trump as his party seeks to maintain its slim House majority after the midterm elections.

Texas lawmakers are considering a new map that would help them send five more Republicans to Washington. Democrats who so far have halted a vote by leaving the state announced Thursday that they will return home if state Republicans end their current special session and California releases its own redrawn map proposal. Both were expected to happen Friday. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to call another special session to push through new maps.

“We can’t stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country,” Newsom said, joined by prominent labor leaders and Democratic politicians.

California lawmakers must officially declare the special election, which they plan to do next week after voting on the new maps. Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers, and Newsom said he’s not worried about winning the required support from two-thirds of lawmakers to advance the maps.

Democrats signaled that they plan to make the campaign about more than maps, tying it explicitly to the fate of American democracy and as an opportunity for voters to reject Trump’s policies.

“Donald Trump, you have poked the bear and we will punch back,” Newsom, who is seen as a possible 2028 presidential contender, said at a news conference with other Democrats.

The Thursday announcement marks the first time any state beyond Texas is officially wading into the mid-decade redistricting fight, kicking off a national standoff that could spill into more states.

A number of Republican-led states appear poised to move forward with their own new maps. In Missouri, a document obtained by The Associated Press shows the state Senate received a $46,000 invoice to activate six redistricting software licenses and provide training for up to 10 staff members

Newsom encouraged other Democratic-led states to get involved.

“We need to stand up — not just California. Other blue states need to stand up,” Newsom said.

Republicans currently hold an 219-212 majority in the U.S. House, with four vacancies. New maps are typically drawn once a decade after the census is conducted. Many states, including Texas, give legislators the power to draw maps. Some, such as California, rely on an independent commission that is supposed to be nonpartisan.

The California map would take effect only a Republican state moves forward, and it would remain through the 2030 elections. After that, Democrats say they would return mapmaking power to the commission approved by voters more than a decade ago.

Some people already have said they would sue to block the effort, and influential voices including former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may campaign against it. Newsom said he’s spoken with Schwarzenegger.

“Gavin Newsom’s latest stunt has nothing to do with Californians and everything to do with consolidating radical Democrat power, silencing California voters, and propping up his pathetic 2028 presidential pipe dream,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Christian Martinez said in a statement. “Newsom’s made it clear: he’ll shred California’s Constitution and trample over democracy — running a cynical, self-serving playbook where Californians are an afterthought and power is the only priority.”

California Democrats already hold 43 of the state’s 52 House seats, and the state has some of the most competitive House seats.

Elsewhere, leaders from red Florida to blue New York are threatening to write new maps. But none have moved as far as Texas and California.

Also Thursday, U.S. Border Patrol agents conducted roving patrols outside Newsom’s news conference, drawing condemnation from the governor and others.

Gregory Bovino, chief of the Border Patrol’s El Centro, California, sector, was part of the patrols.

“We’re here making Los Angeles a safer place since we don’t have politicians that will do that,” Bovino told a reporter with KTTV in Los Angeles. He said he didn’t know Newsom was inside nearby.

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Nguyễn reported from Sacramento, Calif. AP reporters Nadia Lathan in Austin, Texas, and David Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed.

Michael R. Blood And Trân Nguyễn, The Associated Press