California Dems Plot Redistricting Power Play To Pick Up House Seats

California Democrats have plans to redraw the state’s districts, potentially threatening the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

According to California Democrats, their move was prompted by news that Texas might try to redraw its districts to gain more Congressional seats. Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott has “directed the state Legislature to discuss redistricting in an upcoming special legislative session,” KCRA noted. California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom said of Texas, “They’re playing by a different set of rules.”

On Wednesday, the California Democratic congressional delegation met with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and reportedly discussed ideas for gaining even more seats to overturn the perilously slim majority Republicans hold in the House, Punchbowl News reports.

“The games they play aren’t working and the more people get educated on what’s going on, the more they’re going to fight back,” California Assemblymember Leticia Castillo of Riverside, who left the Democratic Party and became a Republican, said of California’s Democrats.

In 2010, California voters approved Proposition 20, a constitutional amendment that transferred redistricting authority to an independent commission. Punchbowl News indicated that two plans are afoot to try to gain more seats, writing, “California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom sees two ways to overcome it.”

One route would be for Newsom to call a special session of the legislature that would offer voters the chance to “pause” the commission or rescind its redistricting power. California voters would have to approve this in a special election. The news site cautioned that such a route would entail heavy costs due to the funds required to disseminate the message over the airwaves. But one way to win over GOP voters might be to include a conservative favorite, such as implementing voter ID, in the proposition.

A second route would be to redraw districts and claim California’s constitution does not explicitly forbid mid-decade redistricting, which would likely prompt a lawsuit. Newsom has called such a scenario “a novel legal question.”

One roadblock to redistricting is the Voting Rights Act, which may protect districts from being redrawn as they have majority Latino populations, and redrawing them would endanger such a majority.

Targeted GOP districts that have reportedly been discussed include those of GOP Reps. Ken Calvert, Kevin Kiley, Darrell Issa, Young Kim, David Valadao, and Doug LaMalfa. “We want our gavels back,” Rep. Mark Takano, who would be the new chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee should Democrats regain the majority in the House, stated. “That’s what this is about.”

In 2011, to counter the even-handedness of the 2010 proposition, California Democrats devised a plan to influence the nonpartisan commission. Pro Publica reported:

Working with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — a national arm of the party that provides money and support to Democratic candidates — members were told to begin “strategizing about potential future district lines,” according to another email. 

The citizens’ commission had pledged to create districts based on testimony from the communities themselves, not from parties or statewide political players. To get around that, Democrats surreptitiously enlisted local voters, elected officials, labor unions and community groups to testify in support of configurations that coincided with the party’s interests. When they appeared before the commission, those groups identified themselves as ordinary Californians and did not disclose their ties to the party.