Newsom Hits Back At Trump’s Call For Texas Redistricting — With Threat That California Dems Will Do Same

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California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) hit back at President Donald Trump’s Tuesday call for Texas to redraw its congressional districts, suggesting that if the Texas Republicans do so, California’s Democrats would as well.

Trump was asked to comment on reports that he wants Texas to redraw its districts to further favor the GOP in the state. “Are you calling them for a complete redrawing of the Congressional map?” a reporter asked the president on the White House lawn.

“No, no, it’s just a very simple redrawing. We pick up five seats, but we have a couple of other states where we’ll pick up seats also,” replied Trump – brazenly calling to gerrymander House seats in his party’s favor ahead of the midterms.

Newsom shared a clip of Trump’s remarks and replied, “There are currently 9 Republicans in the California Congressional Delegation.”

“Just thought folks might like to know that fun fact,” Newsom replied.

Gerrymandering has long been a widely used, yet highly controversial, practice in the United States where partisan legislatures draw district lines to favor the outcome they desire – often diluting certain ethnic or socio-economic groups across several districts to ensure they can’t form a majority in any one district.

Politico reported on Trump’s DOJ pushing for redistricting in Texas on Tuesday and noted that Gov. Greg Abbott (R) “asked state leaders to do it during a summer special session. The move is seen as an opportunity for Republicans to prevent Democrats from flipping the House back in 2026, but some see it as a dangerous risk.” The report noted that 12 of Texas’s 38 districts are currently held by Democrats, and in order to create more GOP-leaning districts, Republicans will have to be shifted from GOP-held seats into Democratic-held seats.

“Those shifts could create the potential for Democrats to win more seats in Texas than they otherwise might,” noted Politico, which also quoted Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX), noting, “They are playing a little bit of roulette with these maps. In a wave election like what we have a potential opportunity for in ’26, I think it makes these Republicans very vulnerable.”