Since the second inauguration of Donald Trump as president in January 2025, Democratic leaders have been accused of wandering in the desert. Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders, lawsuits, and funding cuts that have shaken the foundations of the world economy, many universities, and federal agencies. Former President Biden and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris have retreated into their private lives licking their campaign wounds, leaving no prominent Democratic leader to challenge the onslaught of Trump 2.0. Into the void steps California’s Democratic Governor, Gavin Newsom.
Earlier this year, Newsom “warmly” greeted President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump when they came to survey Los Angeles neighborhoods devastated by wildfires. The temporary truce did not last long. When Trump called for Texas to initiate a mid-decade gerrymander of their Congressional districts to produce five more Republican seats, Newsom vowed to strike back to even the playing field. His solution would seek to turn five Republican-held seats in California to the Democratic side to offset the effects of the Texas gerrymander. The dueling efforts are intended to help each party attain majority control of the US House of Representatives after the 2026 midterm elections.
But in pursuing a mid-decade redistricting scheme, Newsom is disrupting a fledgling experiment in California to draw district boundary lines by a nonpartisan, independent commission with just two rounds under its belt. Prior to the commission’s first redistricting cycle in 2011, the process led to a protracted partisan stalemate between the governor and legislature that was finally settled by the courts (1991) and an incumbent protection plan that stifled electoral competition for a decade (2001). The campaign for the new independent commission was led by reform-minded Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to help reduce the partisan battles of the late 2000s. The new plan brazenly seeks partisan advantage for Democrats.
