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If Texas gerrymanders, California says it will too — but should it?

On Monday at 3:30 p.m., Gov. Gavin Newsom's press office said President Donald Trump had 24 hours to call off a controversial plan to redraw Texas' congressional maps to bolster the party's chances of keeping its House majority in the 2026 midterm elections.

Redistricting is the process of redrawing voting district boundaries to determine which voters are grouped for elections. The GOP majority in Texas wants to redraw districts to add five more Republican seats.

Typically, redistricting happens once a decade after the U.S. Census or as a result of a court order. But Texas Republicans want to break from that tradition to gain an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections.

Newsom, along with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, has threatened to do the same in defense of democracy.

“It’s time to make another phone call to [Texas Gov.] Greg Abbott — this time instead of calling them and telling him you’re ‘entitled’ to five congressional seats, it’s time to tell him to stand down,” Newsom warned Trump in a video posted Monday on X. “If you don’t, California will neutralize anything you do in the state of Texas.”

In his letter, Newsom urged the president to abandon his plan, saying that he is “playing with fire" and “risking the destabilization of our democracy.”

Trump is urging other Republican-led legislatures to follow Texas’ 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.

Newsom's threatening letter hit Trump's desk as Texas Republicans gathered Monday to try again to convene the state Legislature and redraw congressional districts.

However, Texas Democrats fled the state earlier this month to deny their GOP colleagues the quorum needed to vote on the redistricting plan. Texas Republicans have since voted to send state troopers to arrest them and bring them back to the Capitol. Though no actual criminal charges would be brought.

Lawmakers physically outside Texas are beyond the jurisdiction of state authorities.

“If you continue to go down this road, there will be consequences," House Speaker Rep. Dustin Burrows said from the chamber floor, later telling reporters that the threat included fines.

New York Gov. Hochul appeared with Texas Democrats last week and argued that their cause should be national.

“We’re not going to tolerate our democracy being stolen in a modern-day stagecoach heist by a bunch of law-breaking cowboys,” Hochul said. “If Republicans are willing to rewrite rules to give themselves an advantage, then they’re leaving us with no choice: We must do the same. You have to fight fire with fire.”

Newsom said California Democrats are already preparing a rare redistricting plan that could go before voters on Nov. 4 — but only if Texas proceeds with its proposed congressional map changes.

State lawmakers last week outlined a “trigger” provision, meaning the measure would appear on the November ballot only if Texas moves ahead with redrawing its districts to gain five additional GOP seats.

While Newsom’s Tuesday deadline looms for Trump, another clock is ticking: When the Legislature returns from recess on Aug. 18, it will have less than a month to pass a bill calling for a November special election and finalize a new map.