California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks throughout a information convention with Texas lawmakers on the Governor’s Mansion on July 25, 2025 in Sacramento, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
California Gov. Gavin Newsom warned President Donald Trump on Monday that he’ll push to redraw his state’s congressional district maps if Trump doesn’t name on Texas and different Republican-led states to finish efforts to redraw their very own districts.
“You are playing with fire, risking the destabilization of our democracy, while knowing that California can neutralize any gains you hope to make,” the Democrat Newsom wrote in a letter to Trump.
Newsom stated that the GOP-led states are looking for to revamp their congressional maps to “rig the upcoming midterm elections” to profit Republican candidates.
If the Republican majority within the Texas legislature is profitable in redrawing district maps, it’s anticipated to present their get together a further 5 seats within the House of Representatives.
Democrats presently must flip three House seats to win again management of that congressional chamber within the 2026 midterms.
Trump, in an interview final week with CNBC, stated that his fellow Republicans are “entitled to five more seats” within the House. Trump accused California and Illinois, which have Democratic-controlled House caucuses, of gerrymandering their congressional districts to keep up that edge.
Newsom, in his letter to Trump, wrote, “This attempt to rig congressional maps to hold onto power before a single vote is cast in the 2026 election is an affront to American democracy.”
“This is not what the Founders envisioned, and California cannot stand idly by as this power grab unfolds,” Newsom wrote.
“If you will not stand down, I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states,” Newsom wrote.
The governor added that if the opposite states “call off their redistricting efforts, we will happily do the same.”
Newsom’s warning is among the many starkest examples of Democrats vowing to counter the trouble in Texas to redraw congressional maps.
That effort has reached a fever pitch in latest days as Democratic state lawmakers have fled Texas to disclaim Republicans a quorum wanted to advance laws within the state House.
A lot of Democratic lawmakers on Sunday suggested that the get together has to “fight back” towards the redistricting effort.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday reiterated his warning that the Democratic lawmakers will probably be arrested upon their return.
“If they want to evade that arrest, they’re going to stay outside of the state of Texas for literally years,” he stated on Fox News.
The push to redraw congressional maps forward of the 2026 elections has additionally unfold to different states, together with Indiana.
The White House didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for touch upon Newsom’s letter.