The battle over congressional redistricting in the United States has reached a fever pitch, as California and Texas find themselves at the heart of a high-stakes power struggle that could shape the future of the House of Representatives. With the 2026 midterm elections looming, state leaders, lawmakers, and activists are clashing over the rules that determine how Americans are represented in Congress, raising urgent questions about the integrity of democracy itself.
On August 14, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a bold legislative package aimed at countering what he called a Republican effort to gerrymander congressional districts in Texas—a move widely seen as designed to protect former President Donald Trump from political accountability. Newsom’s proposal, dubbed “The Election Rigging Response Act,” is set to go before California voters in a special election on November 4, 2025. The initiative would retain California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission, declare state policy supporting the use of fair, nonpartisan redistricting commissions nationwide, and temporarily adopt new congressional districts for use through 2030 if other states, like Texas, proceed with partisan redraws. If Texas and others keep their current maps, California’s would remain unchanged.
“California will not sit idle as Trump and his Republican lapdogs shred our country’s democracy before our very eyes,” Newsom declared in a press release. He added, “This moment calls for urgency and action – that is what we are putting before voters this November, a chance to fight back against his anti-American ways.” Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas echoed this determination: “We are prepared and we will fight fire with fire. We will do whatever it takes to defend our democracy. We will do whatever it takes to protect the voices, the votes, and the rights of every American.”
The legislative package introduced by Newsom includes three bills: one calling for the November 4 special election to let voters decide on the constitutional amendment, another establishing the new congressional map that could be triggered by the amendment, and a third authorizing reimbursement for the costs of administering the election. This rapid legislative push has drawn both praise and criticism from across the political spectrum.
Republican state legislators in California responded swiftly, filing a lawsuit on August 19, 2025, to block Newsom’s mid-year redistricting plan. The emergency petition, filed by the Mandeep Dhillon law firm (previously owned by Harmeet Dhillon, now assistant attorney general overseeing the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights division), argues that the California Assembly violated laws requiring a 30-day period between the introduction of legislation and voting. The suit also criticizes the process as lacking transparency, with maps allegedly prepared in secret by the legislature rather than through the state’s independent redistricting commission.
“Instead of a months-long transparent and participatory process overseen by an independent citizens redistricting commission for such a sensitive matter, the public would be presented instead with an up or down vote on maps unilaterally prepared in secret by the legislature,” the filing states. Republican Senator Tony Strickland, one of the plaintiffs, called the plan “nothing more than a power grab” and warned that “the redistricting tit-for-tat sets a dangerous precedent that will not be easily undone.” Strickland also drew a historical analogy: “The Golden Gate Bridge toll was supposed to be temporary. You’re still paying the toll.”
Despite the legal and political hurdles, California Democrats are pressing ahead. Committee votes on the measure were scheduled for August 19 and 20, with potential floor votes as soon as August 21. According to local television station KCRA, internal polling presented to lawmakers shows 52% of voters support the measure, 41% oppose it, and 7% remain undecided. The proposal has already generated more than 13,000 public comments online, and committee hearings have drawn passionate testimony from both supporters and opponents. Jodi Hicks, CEO of Planned Parenthood California, testified in favor, arguing, “If we don’t fight back, federal attacks on reproductive health care will only get worse.”
The stakes are high. The Texas redistricting effort, encouraged by Trump, is expected to give Republicans a net gain of five congressional seats in 2026. House Republicans currently hold a razor-thin three-seat majority, and similar redistricting pushes are underway in Ohio, Missouri, Florida, and potentially Indiana. In contrast to Texas, where lawmakers draw the lines, California’s maps have been crafted by an independent commission since a 2010 voter-approved reform. Republicans in California argue that overriding this commission undermines the will of the voters and plan to introduce legislation advocating for independent map-drawing bodies in all 50 states.
The national debate is not confined to California and Texas. In Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has been an outspoken critic of Trump’s recent moves to restrict voting options and push for redistricting. On August 18, 2025, Benson appeared on CNN’s “Laura Coates Live,” where she characterized Trump’s efforts to ban mail-in ballots and some voting machines as “attempts to essentially rig” the 2026 midterm elections. She asserted, “He’s scared of the power of the voters in the midterm elections, voters who have seen grocery bills skyrocket, who can’t afford to buy homes, who are facing huge tax increases and cuts to healthcare. He doesn’t want to have to face the voters in fair districts with fair and accessible voting laws across this country.”
Trump, for his part, has doubled down on his claims of widespread voter fraud, vowing to “lead a movement” to eliminate mail-in ballots and certain voting machines. He has promised to sign an executive order to bring “HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections.” In Michigan, however, the right to vote by mail is enshrined in the state constitution, and redistricting is handled by a bipartisan citizens commission established by a 2018 ballot initiative.
Benson also raised alarms about Trump’s use of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., as part of a crackdown on crime and homelessness that began August 11, 2025. Approximately 800 D.C. National Guard troops have already been deployed, with another 1,250 guardsmen from Mississippi, West Virginia, Ohio, and South Carolina soon to join. The deployment, which included a federal takeover of the city’s police department, has sparked fears of potential voter intimidation as the midterms approach. “Governors all around the country need to be talking about that and calling that out,” Benson said, “and then also connecting the misuse of our military and our National Guard is a way to potentially even intimidate Americans, American citizens, from exercising their fundamental right to vote.”
As the 2026 midterm elections draw nearer, the nation’s eyes remain fixed on the redistricting battles unfolding in California, Texas, and beyond. With both sides warning of dire consequences for democracy, the outcome of these fights may well determine not just the balance of power in Congress, but the very rules by which American democracy is played.
