If Texas Gerrymanders, Should CA Do The Same? Readers Weigh In

Gov. Gavin Newsom is forging ahead with a plan to redraw California's district maps in an attempt to gain more power for the Democratic Party to offset the GOP's plan to do just the same in Texas.

Redistricting, the process of redrawing voting district boundaries to determine which voters are grouped for elections, is typically done every 10 years based on census results. But Texas Republicans want to break from tradition to gain an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections at the behest of President Donald Trump. The GOP majority in Texas seeks to add five more Republican seats.

Newsom is moving forward with a plan to trigger a special election on redrawing California's congressional districts to gain more Democratic seats if Texas moves forward.

Last week, we asked readers to share their opinions on California Democrats' response to Texas Republicans' plans. Of some 754 respondents, about 66 percent of them (494 voters) said they think California should redraw its political maps if Texas moves forward with its redistricting plan to give Republicans more power.

We also asked respondents whether Newsom should weigh in on another state's redistricting. Out of 604 respondents, 56 percent said "yes," 41 percent said "no" and about 3 percent were "unsure."

We also invited respondents to share their thoughts in the comments. Here's what some of them had to say:

Democrats need to rise up and fight back! What’s good for the goose is good for the gander!!

Maintaining our institutions and traditions is important- we need to speak up and act when our institutions are under attack. I don't like California redistricting in retaliation, but I like the initial Texas redistricting even less.

Redistricting is done by both sides. Have been for decades. California has over 80% democratic control. More propaganda to rile the people up. This is nothing new, political business as usual.

The Gov should be more worried about fire victims in SoCal and fixing what’s wrong with our state. This state is a hot mess.

All democratic states should just do it now. The republicans WILL do what they want, we should just do it first and wipe them out. No more rules for dems, just like the republicans. Get into the games Dems, win the game.

In California’s Constitution it states that California has the option to redistrict every ten years but Texas does not have that “10 year” rule. They should be able to it and Newsom shouldn’t have a say.

We should clean our own house before telling others what to do. CA is super majority nowhere left to gerrymander.

What's Happening Now

Trump is urging other Republican-led legislatures to follow Texas’s lead, aiming to prevent a repeat of the 2018 midterms, when Democrats won control of the U.S. House during his first term. The majority blocked parts of his agenda and impeached him twice. With the current maps, Democrats are just a few seats shy of a House majority, and only three dozen of the 435 districts are considered competitive.

The California legislature has returned from recess and now has less than a month to pass a bill calling for the November special election to finalize a new map.

Voting officials are scrambling to prepare for the special election, which will take a "Herculean" effort, as one state election official told CalMatters.

“It’s difficult for us, just in a regular election, being a smaller rural county,” Juan Pablo Cervantes, the registrar of voters for Humboldt County, told Calmatters.

Typically, Cervantes and his staff have at least five months to find voting sites, hire staff and procure all the machines, pens and ballots for a statewide election.

“That’s usually a Herculean effort on its own,” Cervantes said.

Republicans on Monday already decided to fire back at the effort, with GOP legislators accusing California Democrats of using a legislative tactic that violates the state constitution.

The group of Golden State Republicans is suing the state, arguing that Democratic leaders bypassed a rule that says the legislation must be publicly available for 30 days before lawmakers vote on it.

To get the new maps on the ballot, Democrats repurposed two existing bills, instead of authoring new legislation that would have triggered a 30-day holding period. Read more about that from CalMatters.