Civil Rights Policy Brief #247 | Rodney A. Maggay | August 16, 2025
The ongoing re – districting battle between the States of Texas and California was triggered by a suggestion from President Trump.
At the end of July 2025 President Trump suggested that Texas should re – district (or, redraw) their state congressional map prior to the 2026 general election. Trump’s purpose in suggesting a redraw of the map was to add five more reliably Republican districts in Texas. This would likely give the Texas congressional delegation five additional members of the House of Representatives in Washington. Texas Governor Greg Abbott then called a special session of the Texas State Legislature to consider the issue and issue a new map ahead of the 2026 elections.
Criticism of the plan was immediate. Texas state Democratic lawmakers decided to flee the state after Governor Abbott called a special legislative session for the legislature to draw a new Texas congressional map. Texas Democratic lawmakers left the state in order to deprive the state legislature of a quorum which would have prevented the chamber from taking action on this issue. Members of the media criticized the Texas proposal as a naked power grab that did nothing more than disenfranchise thousands of voters for blatantly partisan reasons. One article did suggest that the reasoning behind Trump’s proposal was to prevent his impeachment again should the Democrats take control of the House of Representatives after the 2026 election.
California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed a counter to Texas’ redistricting efforts. Because California is reliably Democratic, Governor Newsom proposed that if Texas decides to proceed with redrawing their state congressional map prior to the 2026 election, then California would do the same and redraw its state congressional map. If Texas proceeded to add five more reliably Republican districts, then California would redraw their map, eliminate districts that have been traditionally Republican and add five reliably Democratic districts. Governor Newsom also said that California’s efforts to redraw their state congressional map would only move forward if Texas went ahead and decided to redraw their state map.
After Texas Democratic state legislators decided to end their self – imposed exile out of Texas and returned to the state, Texas Governor Abbott called a second 30 day legislative special session to consider the re – districting issue. That special legislative session began at noon on August 15th. Just the day before, California Governor Newsom announced the Election Rigging Response Act, a proposed California constitutional amendment that would allow California voters to vote in November whether to adopt changes in re – districting in response to the re – districting efforts going on in Texas. LEARN MORE, LEARN MORE
Policy Analysis: The effort in Texas to redraw their state congressional map is unusual because of the timing. Historically, states only redrew their maps after the national census. The census is taken every ten years in years ending in zero. After the count is complete and the population of each state is known the number of representatives is apportioned among each state. Each state is guaranteed at least one seat in the House of Representatives and each state is given additional seats the larger their population. The final apportionment of House seats is what each state will have for the remainder of the decade. After ten years the process is repeated again with a new census. A state could see additional House seats or even lose a House seat depending on if the population in their state went up or down since the last census.
What is so unusual is that this redistricting effort is not happening after a national census but is instead happening mid – decade. Texas Republican legislators have been pressed on why they are going forward with re – districting now and they have given no sufficient justification, with one Texas GOP legislator saying simply, “Because we can.” The timing of the effort in Texas is just rife with problems, by disenfranchising current residents and potential new districts that likely discriminate against minority communities.
One positive from the situation in Texas is that it has seen Democratic states fight back and offer a myriad of options to counter the moves going on in Texas. New York has pledged to introduce a state constitutional amendment to allow mid – decade re – districting if Texas proceeds with their efforts. Wisconsin Democratic voters have already filed two lawsuits to try and redraw their state map for 2026. And in Maryland Democratic House Majority leader David Moon has promised to sponsor state legislation to re – district in response to Texas.
But by far the biggest challenge to Texas’ efforts have come from Governor Gavin Newsom and California. The Governor’s statements are no longer ordinary statements or statements devoid of details as to how California will counter efforts in Texas. Because California uses an independent re – districting commission to draw their maps every ten years, the state needed to get creative to allow the state to redraw their map mid – decade. The result is the Election Rigging Response Act. Under this act, California voters would vote in November to emphasize their support for the continued use of independent re – districting commissions to draw maps every ten years. But it would also allow an exception to re – draw prior to the 2026 election only if Texas goes forward with their efforts. The Governor even released a re – drawn California map that would add five more reliably Democratic districts showing what districts would be eliminated and what that would look like. This map even received support from the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC). As Governor Newsom has stated, “They do five seats, we do five seats.”
This situation is ongoing and could likely last through the end of 2025 since some states may have to put the issue to voters in special November elections. But the issue can also be easily resolved if Texas decides to back down, a possibility as some Texas GOP leaders, including Governor Abbott, have been uncomfortable with mid – decade re – districting. The fight continues.
Engagement Resources
National Democratic Re – Districting Committee (NDRC) – group working to promote fair maps and combat gerrymandering.
The Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom – statement from the Governor’s office with statements of support from other California leaders about re – districting.
PBS News – a listing of how other states – Republican and Democrat – are responding to Texas’ mid – decade re – districting efforts.
This brief was compiled by Rod Maggay. If you have comments or want to add the name of your organization to this brief, please contact rodwood@email.com.