California Gov. Gavin Newsom announces special election to re-draw maps [View all]
Source: USA Today
Aug. 14, 2025, 4:38 p.m. ET
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that his state would hold a special election Nov. 4 to ask voters to approve a mid-decade redistricting plan.
Newsom made the announcement after criticizing President Donald Trump and Texas Republicans for intending to redraw that state's congressional map ahead of the 2026 elections to create more Republican-leaning congressional districts. Redistricting efforts are also ongoing in Florida and Ohio that could benefit Republicans. Indiana and Missouri are also Republican-controlled states discussing redistricting.
Altogether, those efforts could yield Republicans nine or more additional seats to bolster their House 219-212 majority in advance of an election that may favor the Democrats, as Trump's approval rating sags.
California has an independent redistricting commission that is designed to limit partisan influence on the map-drawing process, but Newsom said voters could approve a measure to allow a new process to draw maps that would go into effect for House elections in 2026, 2028, and 2030, before ceding power back to the commission to draw maps ahead of 2032.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/08/14/california-special-election-redistricting-gerrymandering/85664690007/
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