Redistricting battle in Texas and California involves a head : NPR

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, and Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott have each pushed new congressional maps for his or her states.

Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu by way of Getty Images; Brandon Bell/Getty Images

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Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu by way of Getty Images; Brandon Bell/Getty Images

California and Texas, the states with the 2 greatest populations, are getting nearer to redrawing their congressional districts in a political combat sparked by President Trump.

Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the plan for a brand new voting map that might give Democrats 5 further seats in Congress. Lawmakers have additionally accredited sending a measure to voters this November asking to permit the state to bypass its impartial citizen redistricting fee.

Lawmakers in each states are looking for so as to add U.S. House seats for his or her respective events, after Trump, who’s keen to keep up the slim GOP majority within the House, pushed the Texas Legislature to redistrict and assist Republicans within the 2026 midterm elections.

The Texas Senate is predicted to cross the state’s new map later Thursday.

Texas Republicans who designed their uncommon mid-decade redistricting plan have been clear about their intentions.

“I want everybody to know this,” state Rep. Todd Hunter, sponsor of the redistricting invoice, advised his colleagues this week. “The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward: Improve Republican political performance.”

Trump lauded the invoice’s progress, saying “Texas never lets us down.” GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, a detailed Trump ally, mentioned he would signal the measure, however Democrats have threatened to problem the brand new map in court docket.

Redistricting is normally accomplished after the nationwide census at the beginning of every decade, and the way voters are grouped into congressional districts could be important in figuring out who wins the seats.

Abbott put a proposed redraw on the Legislature’s agenda final month when Trump referred to as for extra Republican-leaning districts in Texas. The state presently has 38 seats within the House — 25 held by Republicans, 13 by Democrats.

Attention then turned to California, the place Newsom, a Democrat, sought to counter the redraw in Texas. However, voters should weigh in there to avoid the state’s impartial citizen redistricting fee.

The debate in California

Newsom has argued that California Democrats should “fight fire with fire.”

“This isn’t politics as usual,” mentioned Democratic Assemblymember Anamarie Avila Farias throughout 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 mentioned throughout that very same debate. “Now he’s pushing this redistricting plan, this Gavinmander, illegally, against the constitution.”

Democrats within the legislature have mentioned that by sending the ultimate choice to voters, they’ve made their proposal extra clear.

“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,” mentioned 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 requested Republicans in different states to think about redistricting of their favor, too.

In Texas, Democrats broke quorum to disrupt Republicans’ plans

Texas state Rep. Todd Hunter, entrance proper, solutions questions throughout debate over a redrawn U.S. congressional map throughout a particular legislative session on Wednesday in Austin.

Eric Gay/AP

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Eric Gay/AP

Passage of the brand new Texas map would come after the return of Democrats who had left the state to dam the presence of a quorum that will allow a vote. Abbott and different Texas leaders had threatened them with removing from workplace and arrest.

After two weeks, sufficient Democrats returned to permit a quorum on Monday. Democratic leaders mentioned they have been coming again as a result of California had taken up the combat and so they had run the clock out on one particular session — solely to see Abbott instantly begin one other.

“We’re returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left,” House Democratic Caucus Leader Gene Wu mentioned 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 brand new map say it weakens the votes of Black and Latino elected Democrats by placing them in new districts or shifting extra conservative white voters into theirs. It may result in some Democratic members of Congress operating in opposition to one another.

Republicans word the map will increase the Latino voting presence in a pair districts and say extra of them are voting Republican. Supporters of the redistricting acknowledge it was primarily based on “political performance” in earlier elections.

Some states ban partisan gerrymandering, the method of drawing districts to favor a political social gathering. Texas doesn’t. But gerrymandering for partisan profit can generally overlap with unlawful racial gerrymandering, which may quickly be a difficulty in court docket for Texas.

Michael O. Adams, a political science professor at Texas Southern University and an knowledgeable on elections and redistricting, regarded on the new map for Houston and mentioned, “It’s a modern example of retrogression: packing, cracking, carefully diluting emerging coalitions of color.”

With reporting by NPR’s Acacia Squires.