1w ago

Newsom threatens to redraw California House maps in protest at Texas plan

www.theguardian.com

Governor condemns Texas effort to redraw maps to pick up more seats and says Democrats should respond in kind

Seeking to offset a Republican plan to pick up congressional seats in Texas, California Democrats say they are prepared to redraw the state’s 52 congressional districts in a longshot and controversial effort to pick up Democratic seats.

Governor Gavin Newsom, seen as a likely presidential candidate in 2028, has been leading the threat in recent days. And Democratic members of California’s delegation in the US House appear to be on board.

“We want our gavels back,” Representative Mark Takano, a California Democrat, told Punchbowl News. “That’s what this is about.” Democrats hold 43 of California’s 52 seats and reportedly believe they can pick up an additional five to seven seats by drawing new maps.

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Newsom is a conservative-sliding turd who is actively abandoning left-leaning causes by paling around with anti-trans bigots in a cynical and harmful attempt to ride the Overton Window's continuing shift to the right.
Fuck that guy.
- Honestly, I think he's just a political opportunist, with no real convictions. He sets his sails with the direction the wind is blowing. He's nominally a democrat, because that is the prevailing party in California, but I guarantee he'd flip if the political calculus were in favor of doing so.
  
  That’s a good thing. A politicians job is to represent their constituents. If the people want a certain thing by majority, the politician should try to make it happen, with some exceptions of course.
- That just sounds like he's trying to run for president in 2028 and really needs to get the DNC behind him
  
  As much as I dislike the guy, he is at least standing up to some of what trump is doing. Is he my first choice? No. Is he my third choice? No. Is he my 12th choice? Still no. But fuck dude. I would literally take anyone who agrees that brown people should not all be slaves at this point. Like anyone who isn't a right wing christofascist cumbucket.
  But then again, if we don't get someone willing to discuss and rewrite large portions of the Constitution and other founding documents, we're just dead in the water anyways.
Better yet, divide into North and South California to win the Senate
- Or how about 20 States the size of New England States?
  
  A whole bunch of those end up red
- Ok, here's the plan. No legislation needed and the courts can't stop it. Alright, we divide the population of New York City into ten parts. The first part stays in the city to keep New York state. The other nine parts each move to the nine least populated states. We might have to put together some sub plans for the nine states so that we can pick up house seats along with the Senate seats.
  
  Good luck getting NYCers to leave NYC, we live here cause we love/hate it too much to leave
- According to an old CGPGrey video, this requires an actor of congress, except for in Texas, where they have a special privilege to subdivide themselves when they feel like it.
  
  I dunno, i think the current congress is stupid enough to think breaking up california is a win for the republican party
- Three. San Diego can be South California, Los Angeles can be Central California, and the Bay Area can be North California.
  
  And all the rednecks north and east of Mendocino? What’s to be done with them?
Governor Gavin Newsom, seen as a likely presidential candidate in 2028...
- There are only like 3 people in the democratic party who've convinced me they have a pair of nutts and he's one of them. I'm sick of these pushovers.
  
  Newsom is as neoliberal as it gets. He’s only governor of California because the alternatives were always much, much worse. You do not want him in the White House.
  
  he says a alot but does very little. In fact, what has he actually done? He's trying to fool you and its working. You want someone who is actually going to do something you need to look at other people like AOC or David Hogg.
  
  He profits massively by owning a big share of the “public” utility and then keeps approving rate hikes that he is supposed to be defending the taxpayer from. It’s simple corruption, powered by him.
  
  He's a fucking disaster. We can do so, so, so, so much better. He's Biden 2.0.
Just do it then.
Or just secede and hope other states that don’t want a dictator follow you. Then create your own policies, alliances, trade deals so that the fascists stop fucking you over constantly.
- We already are moving towards this. https://www.sos.ca.gov/administration/news-releases-and-advisories/2025-news-releases-and-advisories/Proposed-Initiative-Enters-Circulation-Requires-Future-Vote-on-Whether-California-Should-Become-Independent-Country
While your at it, get rid of the Electoral College.
What the FUCK?! Newsome is even as a "presidential candidate"?!
Good fucking dammit, I fucking hate the democrats so much.
Can we get Mendo, Humbolt, etc. on the map as one big-ass 7pt leaf? Please? 🤘🏼😜
Newsom needs to learn to do less threatening and a lot more doing. We're all a bit tired of the sternly worded letter approach to politics.
- Its not just his letters, his army of corporate lawyers and lower tier federal judges are also a threat. About as much of a threat as a fart in the wind, but still enough to generate the headlines he needs.
- Seriously. He’s playing this game like it’s 2008.
The US keeps falling further into the laughing stock.
- "Newsom’s plan in California is unlikely to succeed. More than a decade ago, California voters approved a constitutional amendment that stripped lawmakers of their ability to draw congressional districts and gave it to an independent redistricting commission. Newsom has only offered vague ideas for how to get around that requirement. He has suggested the legislature could call a quick voter referendum to potentially strip the commission of its power. He also said on Wednesday there was a possibility of the legislature trying to enact new maps on its own – a novel legal theory.
  “It’s not lawful in any way,” said Dan Vicuña, a redistricting expert at the watchdog group Common Cause. “It was clear that this was meant to be done one time after the census, through a public and transparent process that centers community feedback, and then to be not touched again until the next decade.”
  He added: “It’s not an invitation to them to circumvent the independent process and gerrymander maps in the middle of a decade. That would completely undermine the purpose of the independent process voters approved.”
  California’s independent commission has long been considered a model for making the process of drawing district lines fairer. There has been a bipartisan push in recent years to get more states to adopt commissions such as California’s, where ordinary citizens – Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated – have the power to draw district lines. After the 2020 census, four states – California, Arizona, Michigan and Colorado – used independent commissions. Democrats sought to require all states to use independent redistricting commissions in federal legislation that stalled in the US Senate during Joe Biden’s presidency."

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