‘We will nullify what happens in Texas,’ Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Friday that the state will move forward with a ballot measure in November to redraw its congressional map in response to a Republican-backed redistricting plan in Texas.
Speaking alongside state Democratic leaders, Newsom said they would call for a special election in the first week of November to vote on redrawing the congressional map, a move that could potentially add five more U.S. House seats to the Democratic tally.
“We are talking about emergency measures to respond to what’s happening in Texas, and we will nullify what happens in Texas,” the Democratic governor told reporters.
“We will pick up five seats with the consent of the people, and that’s the difference between the approach we’re taking and the approach they’re taking. We’re doing it [on a] temporary basis,” he added.
Newsom also reaffirmed that the state will remain committed to its independent redistricting process. The Democrats said they expected to have a newly agreed-upon map, based on previous plans reviewed by the state’s independent redistricting commission, ready for public scrutiny next week, three months before it would go to voters.
Former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who attended the conference, backed Newsom’s decision and praised Texas Democratic lawmakers for their efforts to block the GOP’s redistricting plan.
“It’s not wrong in what we’re doing. This is self-defense for our democracy,” Pelosi said. “I thank again our Texans for their leadership, for their courage, and most of all, for their patriotism.”
The move came as Texas Republicans drew a new congressional map aimed at flipping five Democratic seats in the November 2026 midterm election, prompting more than 50 Texas Democratic lawmakers to leave the state and break quorum in a bid to block the map from moving forward.
Abbott added redrawing the congressional map onto the special session agenda after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sent the Texas governor a letter on July 7 raising concerns that four congressional districts in the Houston and Dallas areas were unconstitutional because of “racial gerrymandering.”
Current boundaries run afoul of the Voting Rights Act by relying on racial demographics to group minority voters into “coalition districts,” where no single racial group forms a majority, according to the DOJ.
