By California Democrats have unveiled a sweeping new congressional map aimed at reshaping the state’s House delegation by flipping five Republican-held districts and reinforcing vulnerable Democratic seats. The proposal, advanced by the Democratic-controlled legislature, is explicitly framed as a counteroffensive to Texas Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting plan, escalating a national struggle over partisan gerrymandering.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the plan would go before voters in a November special election, since California requires a ballot initiative for such changes. Standing before reporters, he cast the move as a direct response to Texas’ maneuver to shift five Democratic districts into Republican hands. “We anticipate that these maps will completely neuter and neutralize what is happening in Texas,” Newsom declared.
If ratified, the map would dramatically contract Republican influence in California, leaving the GOP with just four of the state’s 52 House seats—a scant 8 percent of the delegation. By contrast, Texas’ proposed map would leave Democrats with only 21 percent of its delegation, even as California Republicans currently hold 17 percent of the seats.
The redrawn lines target incumbents Reps. Doug LaMalfa, Ken Calvert, Darrell Issa, Kevin Kiley, and David Valadao. LaMalfa’s 1st District, a GOP bastion since 1981, would stretch into staunchly Democratic Sonoma County, where Kamala Harris took over 70 percent of the vote in 2024. Calvert’s longtime Inland Empire seat would be dismantled and replaced with a solidly blue district east of Los Angeles. Calvert condemned the effort in sharp terms: “I strongly oppose the scheme being orchestrated behind closed doors by Sacramento politicians to take constitutionally afforded power away from the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission,” he told The Daily Caller.
Issa’s 48th District would be reconfigured into Democratic territory, while Kiley’s 3rd would absorb liberal precincts around Sacramento. Kiley, who is sponsoring federal legislation to outlaw mid-decade redistricting, defended the state’s existing system. “It was the voters themselves that said, ‘We want to take the politics and the politicians out of redistricting,’” he told MSNBC. Meanwhile, Valadao’s already precarious Central Valley seat would tilt further left, virtually ensuring Democratic takeover.
Beyond ousting Republicans, the proposal strengthens six endangered Democrats—Reps. Adam Gray, Josh Harder, Mike Levin, Dave Min, Derek Tran, and George Whitesides—by folding in more reliably Democratic voters.
California’s nine-member Republican delegation issued a joint statement blasting the plan, citing polling data that shows strong resistance to overriding the independent commission. “Governor Newsom is trying to grab power away from the citizens on the commission and give it to Sacramento politicians to gerrymander their own districts,” the lawmakers wrote, urging voters to reject the measure.
KTLA reported that the Politico/Citrin Center survey of 1,445 registered voters found 64% support keeping the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, which voters created through 2008 and 2010 ballot measures to curb political influence in the process. Thirty-six percent favored shifting that responsibility back to the Legislature.
The poll, conducted July 28 to Aug. 12, found support for the commission consistent across age groups, ranging from 62% among Gen Z and millennials to 77% among members of the Silent Generation. College-educated voters were more likely than those without a degree to back the panel, 69% to 61%.
The study also showed that 72% of Democrats, 66% of Republicans and 61% of independents said they want to keep the commission.
One person Newsom may not have considered fighting against him is former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The New York Times wrote that “a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom held a splashy campaign rally to debut his ballot measure to redraw California’s congressional map, Arnold Schwarzenegger walked into a Santa Monica hotel for breakfast on Friday.
He was wearing a new custom-made T-shirt. It was emblazoned with an image of a raised fist, an expletive aimed at politicians and the phrase, ‘Terminate Gerrymandering.’
As governor of California from 2003 to 2011, Mr. Schwarzenegger led the charge to do just that. He fought to overhaul how the state draws political maps, ultimately winning when voters passed a pair of ballot measures that took that power away from politicians and gave it to an independent commission.”
I’m getting ready for the gerrymandering battle. pic.twitter.com/Lbgr1bnGw8
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) August 15, 2025
In response, Gavin Newsom has been posting odd tweets on social media, bizarrely trying to imitate Donald Trump’s style.
DONALD IS FINISHED — HE IS NO LONGER “HOT.” FIRST THE HANDS (SO TINY) AND NOW ME — GAVIN C. NEWSOM — HAVE TAKEN AWAY HIS “STEP.” MANY ARE SAYING HE CAN’T EVEN DO THE “BIG STAIRS” ON AIR FORCE ONE ANYMORE — USES THE LITTLE BABY STAIRS NOW. SAD! TOMORROW HE’S GOT HIS “MEETING” WITH…
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) August 15, 2025
so nice! pic.twitter.com/mkOMRvAalh
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) August 17, 2025
The battle has reignited long-standing debates over fairness in representation and the legitimacy of California’s voter-approved Citizens Redistricting Commission. With the November special election looming, the outcome will shape not only California’s political future but also the balance of power in Congress.
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