Gavin Newsom vows to fight 'fire with fire' if Texas Republicans move forward with redistricting plan
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: When Texas started messing with its maps, California Governor Gavin Newsom said two can play that game.
In an impassioned press conference on Monday, August 4, Newsom sounded off on GOP-led redistricting efforts in Texas, warning that California won't just sit back and watch. If the Lone Star State wants to redraw political lines to favor Republicans, as he alleges, the Golden State might just strike back with its own maps.
“We’re not going to roll over,” Newsom declared. “We’re going to fight fire with fire.”
Gavin Newsom vows California isn't 'going to roll over' if Texas moves forward
Gavin Newsom clarified he's not looking to redraw districts out of the blue. However, if Texas goes there, California’s ready to clap back.
“The proposal that we’re advancing with the legislature has a trigger only if they move forward, to dismantling the protocols that are well-established,” he said. “Would the state of California move forward in kind? Fighting? Yes, fire with fire.”
But Newsom was quick to say he still supports independent redistricting — he’s not tossing that idea out the window.
"We will offer them the opportunity to make judgments for themselves, again, only if Texas moves forward," he noted. "I’ll reinforce that we believe it should be a national model, independent national redistricting, and it would revert back to its original form, but it’s done in response to the existential realities that we’re now facing. Things have changed, facts have changed, so we must change."
Newsom even tossed in a little California flex.
"They’ve triggered this response and we’re not going to roll over and we’re going to fight fire with fire, but we’re going to do so not just punching with the weight of the fourth largest economy, the most populous state in our union, the size of 21 state populations combined," he said.
"We also will punch above our weight in terms of the impact of what we’re doing, and I think that should be absorbed by those in the Texas delegation. Whatever they are doing will be neutered here in the state of California, and they will pay that price," Newsom warned.
Democrat drama and drawing lines
When pressed on whether he had seen the draft maps reportedly floated around in a closed-door California Democrat meeting Sunday night, Gavin Newsom said he hadn't.
But there was plenty of chatter into the evening last night, which continued on Monday morning and will continue until Democrats finalize on a process.
“That process has to have the concurrence, the support of two-thirds of the legislature,” he noted. “The maps, we believe, should be transparent. They should be provided in a transparent way to the public, and as a consequence, those maps are being processed and will be brought to light.”
Still, Newsom stressed that it’ll be the people of California who ultimately call the shots.
Greg Abbott vs the fleeing Democrats
Meanwhile, in Texas, things are already getting heated. Dozens of Texas Democrats bolted the state for Chicago and New York to block a vote on redistricting on Monday. Their goal is to stop a GOP plan that could hand Republicans five new seats in the US House.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott wasn’t amused. He threatened to arrest and expel the lawmakers if they didn’t return by Monday afternoon.
The Texas House Democratic Caucus responded by saying, “Come and take it.” They also slammed the redistricting push as a “racist mid-decade redistricting scheme.” According to them, the new lines are designed to keep Republicans in power by carving out safe seats—particularly by targeting communities of color.
Abbott didn’t back down. He claimed four of the five swing seats would be majority-Hispanic and accused Democrats of panicking because they’re bleeding support from Hispanic and Black voters.
“These are seats where Democrats are having to come to grips with reality,” he said. “Real Texans don’t run from a fight.”
“Democrats are freaking out,” he added. “Texas will continue to fight for what is right.”
Critics blast Gavin Newsom’s ploy
Back in California, not everyone’s buying Gavin Newsom’s “defensive” strategy.
California GOP Chairwoman Corrin Rankin torched the governor’s redistricting threat, saying it tramples on the state's voter-approved, nonpartisan redistricting process.
“While Governor Newsom frames this redistricting as a defensive move, it undermines California’s nationally respected, voter-approved Citizens Redistricting Commission,” Rankin told Fox News. “And if successful, sets a dangerous precedent that voters’ choices can be overruled whenever politicians find it politically convenient.”
“Our primary concern is safeguarding Californians’ constitutional rights against partisan manipulation disguised as defending democracy; true democracy means empowering voters, not politicians, to decide representation,” she added.
