California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other local Democrats will hold a high-profile press conference to combat the legislative effort to add five additional House seats in Texas. Newsom, along with Gov. JB Pritzker and Gov. Kathy Hochul, have been working alongside state legislatures to develop a plan to add additional guaranteed Democratic seats in the House through redistricting. The process requires states to change their constitutions or bylaws to allow for redistricting outside of a census year, when congressional maps are typically redrawn.
Newsom penned a letter to Trump on Monday pressing the president to have Texas and other red states stop their mid-decade redistricting efforts, saying that they are playing with fire and risking the destabilization of their democracy. If Trump does not stand down, Newsom will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states. If the other states call off their redistricting efforts, they will happily do the same. Newsom’s office gave Trump until Tuesday evening to reply to the letter, but Trump failed to respond.
