California Republicans sue to stop Newsom, Democrats from pushing redistricting plan

California Republicans are urging the state’s Supreme Court to stop Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats from quickly moving forward with their push to redraw congressional districts to add up to five left-leaning seats in the heavily blue state.

Four GOP state lawmakers filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in California’s Supreme Court to stop the Democrat-dominated state legislature from holding a vote by the end of this week to advance the redistricting push.

“Today I joined my colleagues in filing a lawsuit challenging the rushed redistricting process. California’s Constitution requires bills to be in print for 30 days, but that safeguard was ignored. By bypassing this provision, Sacramento has effectively shut voters out of engaging in their own legislative process,” Republican state assembly member Tri Ta wrote in a social media post.

Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez, one of the four Republicans behind the suit, told Fox News Digital that she joined the lawsuit because “Californians have already spoken clearly at the ballot box. In 2008, voters approved Proposition 11 to take redistricting power away from politicians and give it to an independent citizens’ commission. Two years later, with Proposition 20, voters doubled down and expanded that power to include congressional districts, passing it by a decisive 61% to 39%. Governor Newsom’s plan is a direct attempt to undo that mandate and put politicians back in control. I’m standing up because this isn’t about partisan advantage; it’s about respecting the will of the voters who demanded fairness and transparency.”

CALIFORNIA UNVEILS NEW CONGRESSONAL MAPS TO WIPE OUT FIVE GOP-CONTROLLED SEATS AND COUNTER TRUMP

The move by the GOP lawmakers is the latest development in the high-stakes battle between Republicans and Democrats in California and in Texas over congressional redistricting ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

In Austin, Texas, the GOP-dominated state House of Representatives on Wednesday resumed meeting amid a second straight special session called by conservative Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

As they return to work, they’re expected to pass a GOP-crafted redistricting map that would create up to five Republican-leaning congressional districts at the expense of currently Democrat-controlled seats in the red state.

REDISTRICTING BATTLE: FLEEING TEXAS DEMOCRATS RETURN HOME

“Please pass this Map, ASAP. THANK YOU TEXAS,” President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post on Monday.

The Republican push in Texas, which comes at Trump’s urging, is part of a broader effort by the GOP across the country to pad their razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats stormed back to grab the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections.

Republicans in Texas enjoy a supermajority in the legislature and the state Senate passed the new congressional maps last week, during the first special legislative session.

But Republicans in the Texas House were prevented from holding votes on the new map for two weeks, as dozens of Democratic state representatives fled the state to deny the GOP a quorum in the Texas House. 

Democratic lawmakers in Texas pledge to take their fight to court after the maps are passed by the legislature and signed into law by Abbott, which is expected in the coming days.

While the Republican push in Texas to upend the current congressional maps doesn’t face constitutional constraints, the path for Newsom and Democrats in California is much more complicated.

The governor is moving to hold a special election this year, to obtain voter approval to undo the constitutional amendments that created the non-partisan redistricting commission. 

A two-thirds majority vote in the Democrat-dominated California legislature would be needed to hold the referendum, and Democrats in Sacramento on Monday unveiled a bill to move forward with the referendum.

But the emergency petition filed on Tuesday by the state Republican lawmakers argues that the California Constitution prevents the legislature from acting on redistricting bills until next month, because a 30-day review period is needed for new legislation. 

Sanchez argued that voters were being intentionally excluded from the process, telling Fox News Digital, “The whole reason voters approved Propositions 11 and 20 was to guarantee public involvement, fairness, and transparency in how political maps are drawn. More than 35,000 Californians participated in the last redistricting process because they trusted it would be open and free from political manipulation. Governor Newsom’s plan sidesteps that by pushing changes quickly through the Capitol with little opportunity for voters to weigh in. That’s not just an oversight; it’s a deliberate effort to cut voters out and overturn what they chose at the ballot box.”

The lawsuit was filed as the California Assembly Elections Committee held a hearing Tuesday on the push for the referendum. GOP lawmakers on the committee and Republicans who submitted comments to the panel heavily criticized the Democrats’ redistricting effort.

The state Republican Party, which hosted the lawsuit news conference, said that “Californians voted to put redistricting in the hands of the people, not politicians. What Democrats are doing is a blatant power grab, and the California Republican Party will fight it at every opportunity to protect voters’ voices.”

“Their scheme would tear apart communities, silence public input, and erase the transparency that voters demanded when they created the Citizens Redistricting Commission,” California Republican Party chairwoman Corrin Rankin added in a statement to Fox News.

But Newsom this week argued that “California and Californians have been uniquely targeted by the Trump Administration, and we are not going to sit idle while they command Texas and other states to rig the next election to keep power — pursuing more extreme and unpopular policies.”

And last week, at an event unveiling the Democrats’ redistricting push in California, Newsom charged, “Here we are in open and plain sight before one vote is cast in the 2026 midterm election and here [Trump] is once again trying to rig the system.

Sanchez pushed back on Newsom’s framing to Fox News Digital. “This isn’t about Texas. It’s about California voters and the choice they already made,” she said. “In 2008 and 2010, Californians passed Propositions 11 and 20 to create and expand an independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. Both measures passed with strong support, Prop 20 by more than 61%, because people wanted to stop gerrymandering and take power away from politicians. They voted for fairness, transparency, and accountability. Governor Newsom’s plan ignores that decision and tries to take back power for himself and Sacramento insiders. I’m going to stand with the voters and make sure their voices are respected.”

Newsom is considered a likely contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, and the California GOP claimed that “Newsom is kicking off his shadow presidential campaign by trying to rig and steal California’s independent, bipartisan citizen redistricting process.”

Last week’s event by Newsom also served as a fundraising kickoff to raise massive amounts of campaign cash needed to sell the redistricting push statewide in California. 

The non-partisan redistricting commission, created over 15 years ago, remains popular with most Californians, according to public opinion polling.

That’s why Newsom and California Democratic lawmakers are promising not to scrap the commission entirely, but rather replace it temporarily by the legislature for the next three election cycles.

The proposed map was submitted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

And Republican former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who represented a congressional district in California’s Central Valley for 17 years, argued in an appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that “when you think about how they drew these lines, there wasn’t one hearing. There is no debate. There’s no input. Even the legislature in California doesn’t have input. The DCCC is just ending it. That is why we need to stop Newsom’s power grab.”

McCarthy, who is helping to lead the GOP fundraising effort to counter Newsom and California Democrats leading up to the likely referendum this autumn, said that “November 4th will be the election that people could actually have a say,” as he pointed to polls showing strong support for the current non-partisan redistricting commission.

The push to temporarily replace the commission is also being opposed by other high-profile Republicans. Among the most visible is former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the last Republican elected governor in Democrat-dominated California.

The longtime Hollywood action star says he’s mobilizing to oppose the push by Newsom to temporarily scrap the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission.

“I’m getting ready for the gerrymandering battle,” Schwarzenegger wrote in a social media post Friday, which included a photo of the former professional bodybuilding champion lifting weights.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Schwarzenegger, who rose to worldwide fame as the star of the film “The Terminator” four decades ago, wore a T-shirt in the photo that said “terminate gerrymandering.”

Schwarzenegger, during his tenure as governor, had a starring role in the passage of constitutional amendments in California in 2008 and 2010 that took the power to draw state legislative and congressional districts away from politicians and placed them in the hands of an independent commission.

Original News Source Link – Fox News

Running For Office? Conservative Campaign Consulting – Monthly Rates!