Newsom calls for special November election to block Trump from ‘rigging’ 2026 midterms
Governor Gavin Newsom, democratic legislators and their allies launched a special electoral campaign urging California voters on Thursday to approve the new Congress districts to reduce the Republican delegation of the State, a decision that could determine the control of the Congress next year and the president of President Trump next year.
The special electoral effort is a response to the States led by the Republicans, notably Texas, pushing at the request of Trump to redesign their Congress cards to promote Republicans and reduce the number of democrats to the closely divided American House of Representatives.
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Addressing a crowd-in-fire crowd at the American Japanese National Museum in downtown Los Angeles, Newsom described the effort of the Republicans as a desperate effort of a failed president to keep power by keeping the congress under his control.
“He does not play by a set of different rules – he does not believe in the rules,” said Newsom. “And consequently, we have to unsubscribe from the way things have been done. It is not good enough to hold out, having a candlelier and talking about how the world should be. We must recognize the cards that have been treated and we have to meet fire with fire.”
The governor was joined by the American senators of California, Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff; The Democrats of southern California in Congress and union leaders who are providing funding and campaign volunteers.
The measurement of the ballot, the “law on the response of the elections”, would temporarily eliminate the districts of the congress promulgated by the independent redistribution commission approved by the voters of the State.
“We are ready to do everything it takes to stop this takeover and to retaliate against all attacks against our democracy, against our students and on public education,” said Erika Jones, secretary-treasurer of California Teachers Assn., Who represents 310,000 public school teachers.
The Gerrymandering Plan in California could increase the domination of the Democratic Party in the State by rendering five districts of the Chamber more favorable to the Democrats, according to a card project examined by the Times. These changes could reduce by more than half of the number of Republicans representing California at Congress.
Outside the rally, which took place on a historic site where Japanese American families are on bus for incarceration camps during the Second World War, agents of the border patrol gathered and arrested at least one person. Newsom told the crowd inside that he doubted that it was a coincidence.
The Republicans criticized Newsom’s effort as an anti -democratic and a barely veiled attempt to stimulate a future presidential campaign.
The measurement of the election, said Christian Martinez, spokesperson for the National Committee of the Republican Congress, the arm of the campaign of the Republicans of the Chamber, aims to “consolidate the radical democratic power, to silence the voters of California and to support his dream of Pathetic presidential pipe 2028”.
For Newsom’s plan to work, the state’s legislature led by Democrats must vote to place the measure on the November 4 voting ballot. The final decision would be for California voters.
California should not “look at the same tactics as Texas,” said Amy Thoma, spokesperson for the Coalition Voters First, who includes Charles Munger Jr., the son of a billionaire who financed the measure of the ballot that created the independent commission.
“Two wrongs do not make a right, and California should not look at the same tactics as Texas. Instead, we must push other states to adopt our independent and non -partisan commission model across the country,” said Thoma. She said Munger would vigorously oppose any proposal for bypassing the independent commission.
Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who defended the independent redistribution in California and throughout the country, “believes that politicians in Texas tear people with their Gerrymander and that California’s best way to answer is to stand with the people, and not to light up at their level and to laugh our system against voters,” said his spokesman, Daniel Ketchll.
Since voters approved the independent redistribution of Congress in 2010, California districts were drawn once by decade, after the American census, by a panel distributed between registered democrats, republicans and voters registered without party preference.
The Commission is not authorized to consider the partisan composition of the districts, nor to protect holders, but rather examines “communities of interest”, logical geographic limits and the law on voting rights.
The current card was drawn in 2021 and entered into force for the 2022 elections.
Newsom pushes to suspend these district lines and put a new card adapted to the favor of democrats in front of the voters on November 4. This plan, he said, would have a “trigger”, which means that a redesigned map would only take effect if Texas or another state led by the GOP advances with his.
Sara Sadhwani, who sat on the redistribution committee which approved the current limits of the congress, said that even if she was deeply proud of the work she and her colleagues finished, she approved the efforts of Newsom because of unprecedented threats to democracy.
“Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures,” said Sadhwani, citing immigration raids, encouragement of political violence and the use of national guard troops in American cities. “And if that was not enough, we look at the framework of management which undoubtedly makes our founding fathers turn into their graves. … These are the characteristics of a democracy in danger.”
If the voters approved the measurement of the ballot, the new cards would be in force for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections, until the Independent Commission returned the limits of the congress in 2031.
To comply with the ambitious deadline for Newsom, the legislative assembly should pass the language of the ballot by a majority of two thirds and send it to the Newsom office before August 22. The Governor’s office and legislative leaders are confident in their ability to respect this threshold in the State Assembly and the Senate, where Democrats have a supermajority.
Newsom first mentioned the idea in mid-July, which means that the whole process could be carried out in about five weeks. Generally, restarting the electoral lines of the State and certifying a measure to appear before the voters on the ballot are processes which take months, if not more than a year.
In California, the Gerrymandering plan taking shape behind closed doors would increase the domination of the Democratic Party in the State by rendering five districts of the Chamber more favorable to the Democrats, according to a card project examined by the Times.
These changes could reduce by more than half of the number of Republicans representing California at Congress. California has the largest delegation in the country’s congress, with 52 members. Nine Republicans.
In the discussion plans, a district of Northern California represented by the representative Doug Lamalfa (R-Richvale) could move south, eliminating rural and conservative voters near the border of Oregon and collects the cities on the left in the County of Sonoma. The representative of the Sacramento region, Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), would see his district moving to the city center of the city.
The plan would also add more democrats to the central valley district represented by representative David Valadao (R-Hanford), which was a lasting target for Democrats.
South California would see some of the greatest changes: the representative Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall) would see his republican district safely in the County of San Diego becoming more purple thanks to the addition of Liberal Palm Springs. And the representatives Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills) and Ken Calvert (R-Corona) would be attracted by the same district, which could force the legislators to present themselves against each other.
The plan would also consolidate the Democrats who represent Swing districts, such as the Dave Min (D-IRVINE) and Derek Tran (D-Orange) representatives.
He could also add another district of southeast of the county of Los Angeles, in the region which elected the first Latin member of the California Congress in modern history. A similar seat was eliminated during the 2021 redistribution.
The Pusé des Républicains of Texas by Trump to redraw their cards launched redistribution battles across the country. This includes Florida, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri, where the Republicans control the State and New York, Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington, where Democrats are in power.
Democratic legislators in Texas fled the state to prevent the legislature led by the Republicans from approving a new card, preventing it from reaching the quorum necessary to approve the measure.
A second special session should start on Friday. The absent legislators are faced with threats of fines, civil arrest warrants and call to be removed from its functions.
The staff writer Taryn Luna in Sacramento contributed to this report.
