California and Texas, the states with the two biggest populations, are getting closer to redrawing their congressional districts in a political fight sparked by President Trump.
Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the plan for a new voting map that could give Democrats five additional seats in Congress. Lawmakers have also approved sending a measure to voters this November asking to allow the state to bypass its independent citizen redistricting commission.
Lawmakers in both states are seeking to add U.S. House seats for their respective parties, after Trump, who's eager to maintain the narrow GOP majority in the House, pushed the Texas Legislature to redistrict and help Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections.
Texas Republicans who designed their rare mid-decade redistricting plan have been clear about their intentions.
"I want everybody to know this," state Rep. Todd Hunter, sponsor of the redistricting bill, told his colleagues this week. "The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward: Improve Republican political performance."
Trump lauded the bill's progress, saying "Texas never lets us down." GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, a close Trump ally, said he would sign the measure, but Democrats have threatened to challenge the new map in court.
Redistricting is usually done after the national census at the start of each decade, and how voters are grouped into congressional districts can be critical in determining who wins the seats.
Abbott put a proposed redraw on the Legislature's agenda last month when Trump called for more Republican-leaning districts in Texas. The state currently has 38 seats in the House — 25 held by Republicans, 13 by Democrats.
Attention then turned to California, where Newsom, a Democrat, sought to counter the redraw in Texas. However, voters must weigh in there to circumvent the state's independent citizen redistricting commission.
The debate in California
Newsom has argued that California Democrats must "fight fire with fire."
"This isn't politics as usual," said Democratic Assemblymember Anamarie Avila Farias during a debate on the map. "This is an emergency for our state. This is an emergency for our country. This is an emergency for democracy."
"You move forward fighting fire with fire, what happens? You burn it all down. In this case, it affects our most fundamental American principle. Representation," Republican Minority Leader James Gallagher said during that same debate. "Now he's pushing this redistricting plan, this Gavinmander, illegally, against the constitution."
Democrats in the legislature have said that by sending the final decision to voters, they've made their proposal more transparent.
"The one argument here to which [Republicans] cannot rebut and will never be able to rebut is that the ultimate decision here rests with the people of the state of California," said Democratic Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel of Los Angeles. "The people of the state of California will get to decide what they want to do at this pivotal moment in history."
The White House has asked Republicans in other states to consider redistricting in their favor, too.
In Texas, Democrats broke quorum to disrupt Republicans' plans
Passage of the new Texas map would come after the return of Democrats who had left the state to block the presence of a quorum that would permit a vote. Abbott and other Texas leaders had threatened them with removal from office and arrest.
After two weeks, enough Democrats returned to allow a quorum on Monday. Democratic leaders said they were coming back because California had taken up the fight and they had run the clock out on one special session — only to see Abbott immediately start another.
"We're returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans' plans than when we left," House Democratic Caucus Leader Gene Wu said Monday. "Our return allows us to build the legal record necessary to defeat this racist map in court, take our message to communities across the state and country, and inspire legislators across the country how to fight these undemocratic redistricting schemes in their own statehouses."
Opponents of the new map say it weakens the votes of Black and Latino elected Democrats by putting them in new districts or moving more conservative white voters into theirs. It could lead to some Democratic members of Congress running against each other.
Republicans note the map increases the Latino voting presence in a couple districts and say more of them are voting Republican. Supporters of the redistricting acknowledge it was based on "political performance" in previous elections.
Some states ban partisan gerrymandering, the process of drawing districts to favor a political party. Texas does not. But gerrymandering for partisan benefit can sometimes overlap with illegal racial gerrymandering, which could soon be an issue in court for Texas.
Michael O. Adams, a political science professor at Texas Southern University and an expert on elections and redistricting, looked at the new map for Houston and said, "It's a modern example of retrogression: packing, cracking, carefully diluting emerging coalitions of color."
With reporting by NPR's Acacia Squires.
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