{"id":137661,"date":"2025-08-11T19:02:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T19:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/137661\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T19:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T19:02:10","slug":"newsom-urges-trump-to-stand-down-on-texas-redistricting-nbc-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/137661\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsom urges Trump to stand down on Texas redistricting \u2013 NBC Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

California Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a> and other Democrats urged Republicans to stand down and avoid a\u00a0partisan brawl\u00a0spanning multiple statehouses as Texas GOP members were set Monday to try again to convene the state Legislature and redraw congressional districts to satisfy President Donald Trump<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Texas Democratic lawmakers remain outside of Texas after leaving the state to deny their GOP colleagues the quorum necessary to vote on Trump\u2019s unapologetically aggressive redistricting play. The president’s move also spurred Democratic governors, including Newsom, to pledge retaliatory redistricting efforts in their states \u2014 setting up the possibility of an extended standoff that could upend the 2026 midterm elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

.@realDonaldTrump<\/a>, if you will not stand down, California will be forced to lead an effort to redraw our maps to offset the rigging of maps in red states.<\/p>\n

If the other states call off their redistricting efforts, we will do the same. And American democracy will be better for it. pic.twitter.com\/RBoHNUx4u9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) August 11, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The GOP majority in Texas wants\u00a0to redraw\u00a0districts so that five more Republicans can be elected. Trump is pushing\u00a0other Republican-controlled legislatures\u00a0to follow suit as he tries to avoid a repeat of the 2018 midterms. Those elections during Trump’s first presidency yielded a new Democratic majority in the U.S. House that stymied his agenda and twice impeached him. Existing maps nationally put Democrats within three seats of a House majority at a time when there are only several dozen competitive districts out of 435.<\/p>\n

Responding to Texas, Newsom and other California Democrats are considering new boundaries to yield a five-seat shift toward Democrats. That would require, however, getting California voters to set aside existing maps drawn by an independent commission. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker have promised similar efforts.<\/p>\n

Newsom urged Trump in a letter Monday<\/a> to abandon his scheme, telling the president he is \u201cplaying with fire” and \u201crisking the destabilization of our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom said he prefers that independent bodies draw political districts rather than partisan legislatures, as is done in Texas and most GOP-controlled states. But, he wrote, \u201cCalifornia cannot stand idly by as this power grab unfolds.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Texas and \u201cthe other states call off their redistricting efforts,\u201d the governor added, \u201cwe will happily do the same. And American democracy will be better for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dozens of Texas Democratic lawmakers are staying in Illinois, New York and elsewhere, and they say they have no intentions of returning as long as Republicans are intent on mollifying Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocrats, especially in Texas, are standing firm,\u201d said Rep. Rhetta Bowers at a gathering of Texas lawmakers Monday in Illinois.<\/p>\n

The minority caucus intends to run out the clock on the current special session, which cannot extend beyond Aug. 19. But Gov. Greg Abbott said he’ll call lawmakers back to the Statehouse again and again until enough Democrats show up to reach the 100-member threshold required to vote on the bill.<\/p>\n

Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a U.S. Senate candidate, want state courts to remove lawmakers, asserting that they have abandoned their posts. Paxton also has asked an Illinois court to enforce Texas civil warrants issued for the absent lawmakers’ arrests. For now, the lawmakers who are out of state remain beyond the reach of Texas authorities and the warrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they show back up in the state of Texas, they will be arrested and taken to the Capitol,” Abbott said over the weekend on \u201cFox News Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the least, Texas lawmakers face $500 daily fines for each absence under legislative rules. But Bowers and others have said they remain undeterred. She compared both the proposed Texas maps, which would disproportionately affect districts represented by Black and Latino Democrats, and Abbott’s and Paxton’s threats to the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-20th century.<\/p>\n

Republicans, she said, are using \u201cthe very same tactics used against Black and brown Americans\u201d who pushed for passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. \u201cTheir fight is our fight, and just like the Civil Rights heroes of the past, no matter the cost we are prepared to see it through to the end,\u201d Bowers said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t