Abbott vs. Newsom: Rhetoric Ratchets Up in House Redistricting Arms Race

As Texas Republicans push to redraw their congressional map along (district) lines more friendly to their party, a redistricting arms race has broken out between governors from both parties.

Texas state House Republicans’ redistricting plans could hypothetically flip as many as five Democrat-held congressional seats, an effort President Donald Trump supports. 

In response, California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom is threatening a mid-decade redistricting of his own with a new ballot measure. On Monday, he penned a letter to President Donald Trump threatening to counter Republican districts if the Texas redistricting proceeded.

“California cannot stand idly by as this power grab unfolds,” Newsom wrote. “If you will not stand down, I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states.”

California currently has 43 Democrats and just nine Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives, in a state where President Donald Trump received more than 38% of the vote in 2024.

Newsom is moving forward with a November special election, in which voters would decide on a constitutional ballot measure to redraw the map. California currently employs a bipartisan redistricting commission to draw its district boundaries. 

New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul, whose state relies on a similar commission, has also threatened retaliatory redistricting.

But Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, is not showing any signs of backing down over these threats.

“Both New York and California are so gerrymandered they don’t have any more seats that can be picked up,” Abbott said Monday on Fox News in response to Newsom’s statement. 

“I’ll tell you this, if California thinks they’re going to move their needle to the extreme and eliminate five Republican members … Texas is not going to do five, we’re going to add 10 more Republican seats using the same procedure.” The Lone Star State’s House delegation currently consists of 38 members, with 25 Republicans, 12 Democrats, and 1 vacancy.

Abbott similarly argued in a CNN interview that the deck is stacked in Republicans’ favor, given the dearth of Republican representation in blue states.

 Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott (Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images)

“Look at the map of Illinois, look at the map of California, New York, and Massachusetts, and so many other blue states. They gerrymandered a long time ago. They got nothing left with regard to what they can do,” the Texas governor said.

In Illinois, Trump won almost 43.5% of the vote in 2024, but Republicans hold only three of its 17 congressional districts. In New York, Trump won 43.3% of the vote, but the GOP holds seven of 26 seats. In Massachusetts, he won 36% of the vote, yet Republicans hold none of the state’s nine districts.

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