Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly signed the bills, selling them as a counterweight to Texas Republicans’ redistricting plans. Voters will have their say in a November election.
California’s Democratic-controlled Legislature passed bills Thursday setting up a high-profile special election this fall, when voters will decide whether to approve the party’s plan to gerrymander California’s congressional map.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who signed the legislation shortly after it passed, has championed the plan as a political counterweight to Texas’ recent move to create more Republican seats there as both parties get ready for a 2026 election in which control of Congress will be up for grabs.
Both the state Assembly and the state Senate passed the redistricting legislation Thursday, each with the two-thirds vote needed to enact “urgent” measures in the state. With Newsom’s signature, now it’s up to the voters to decide whether to temporarily sidestep the state’s independent redistricting commission, which voters put in place to handle the issue once every decade.
So Cali has the ability to put almost anything on the ballet, for better and worse. One benefit is that it can allow for laws and regulations to change quicker. Not sure how Texas works, but sounds like a hostage situation to me.