What about Texas? California Republicans pressed for answers in redistricting fight

California Republicans have a simple rebuttal when Democrats blame Texas for starting the congressional gerrymandering arms race: two wrongs don’t make a right.

That means they have to acknowledge both wrongs — a move that puts them at odds with their party leader, President Donald Trump, who wants the GOP to redraw congressional districts in red states to bolster its chances of retaining a majority in Congress next fall.

In Texas, Trump has said he’s “entitled” to five additional GOP House seats. Those maneuvers sparked California’s retaliatory effort, which Democratic lawmakers today are expected to place on the ballot for a special election in November.

The California maps, backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, would offset the Texas map by tilting five Republican-held congressional districts toward Democrats.

“I haven't heard a single Republican in the state of California, who's in office in the state Legislature, defend Texas,” said Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, Republican of San Diego and an unabashed Trump supporter. “Gerrymandering is wrong no matter who's doing it, whether it's done by a red state or a blue state. Politicians manipulating the lines of their districts, it's wrong.”

DeMaio, along with Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher, on Monday introduced a resolution calling on Congress to propose a constitutional amendment requiring all states to use a nonpartisan commission for redistricting, as California’s constitution has required since voters passed a ballot measure creating that process in 2010. All GOP Assemblymembers have signed on.

“When does it stop?” said Sen. Tony Strickland, a Huntington Beach Republican, who warned that a gerrymandering race to the bottom would result in a “destructive country” and “chaos” by encouraging redistricting every two years. Instead, he said all states should adopt California’s model, where maps are drawn every 10 years by an independent citizens redistricting commission.

“What we have currently right now should be the model and the gold standard for the rest of the country to follow,” he said.

He was among several California Republicans who this week sued the state over Newsom’s rush to put his ballot measure before voters. The California Supreme Court late Wednesday rejected their complaint.

The independently drawn districts, which resulted in Democrats winning 43 of the state's 52 seats, have also drawn criticism from Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who have said the maps are unfairly tilted against Republicans.

Researchers have found the maps give Democrats a slight advantage by some measures but are competitive on other ones.

What Republicans in Congress say

Several California Republicans in Congress have also called for an end to the redistricting wars. Their motivations include preserving voter representation, as well as keeping their seats.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Rocklin Republican, introduced a bill in Congress that would ban mid-decade redistricting nationwide — effectively a detente among the states. Kiley’s sprawling 3rd congressional district, which stretches nearly 500 miles through the conservative-leaning eastern Sierra region, would become a much smaller one that includes more liberal suburbs of Sacramento under the Democrats’ plan.

On Tuesday, when House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, criticized Newsom’s map efforts, Kiley wrote on social media demanding his bill be brought to the floor – a long shot at best. It would mean undoing Trump’s plans for Texas and weakening the Republicans’ chance of holding on to power in Congress.

“Mr. Speaker, these are nice words but we need action,” Kiley said.

Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley would be at a disadvantage if California voters approve Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to redraw the state’s congressional districts. Here, he speaks at a press conference in Sacramento on Aug. 24, 2021.

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Anne Wernikoff

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CalMatters

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Republican Reps. Doug LaMalfa of Oroville and Rep. Jay Obernolte of Big Bear Lake have also spoken against mid-decade redistricting in California and other states, saying the practice creates voter distrust.

Matt Rexroad, a GOP consultant and redistricting specialist, said California Republicans are right to push for independent redistricting nationwide and to oppose gerrymandering in both blue and red states. He called the redistricting wars “a horrible idea for everyone,” for both principled reasons and raw numerical ones.

Newsom’s map would not only draw out five Republican seats but also eliminate three competitive districts held by Democrats in Southern California. Rexroad isn’t convinced Republicans can win the seats in Texas under their new maps.

“In addition to the reasons (for independent redistricting), I think it’s a bad trade,” he said.

Other Republicans in California have been more cautious to openly criticize the Trump-backed efforts in Texas. A spokesperson for Rep. Young Kim said the Orange County congresswoman viewed Newsom’s plan as an “unconstitutional power grab” and believed he should “focus on addressing crises facing Californians instead of disenfranchising voters and positioning himself for a presidential run.”

Spokespeople for Republican Reps. Tom McClintock, David Valadao, Darrell Issa, Ken Calvert and Vince Fong did not respond to questions from CalMatters in time for publication.

Newsom vs. Trump

Some GOP state lawmakers have demurred when asked if they would call on Trump directly to back down from redistricting in Texas — a move that California Democrats have said would prompt them to abandon their gerrymandering effort — or deflected blame in Texas to civil rights groups that sued over the current map, which gives Republicans 25 safe seats and two competitive ones, and Democrats 11 safe seats.

As that case wound its way through the federal courts, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote Texas in July saying it needed to redraw its congressional maps — giving Gov. Greg Abbott justification to convene a special legislative session for that purpose.

“I haven’t been a part of those conversations,” state Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, a San Diego Republican, said when asked if Trump should also back down from new maps in Texas. “I’m not an expert on Texas law or the Texas constitution or their legislature. I’m concentrating on California.”

In the Senate elections committee on Tuesday, Democrat Tom Umberg needled Republican Steven Choi for saying California was wrongly following the “same condemnable actions” of other states.

“If you're condemning what they're doing in Texas, I assume that you condemn the president of the United States,” Umberg, of Santa Ana, said. “It’s a bold move for a Republican … so I congratulate you for your courage.”

Choi, of Irvine, said he was only using the word “condemn” because Democrats had.

“What I meant was, let’s don’t become the bad ones or part of the bad actors, if you are condemning them,” he said. “I didn’t criticize or evaluate (Texans’) actions.”

Whether bipartisan criticism on California Republicans’ part will help or hurt them may well be moot. The campaign over the GOP seats, Rexroad said, will ultimately come down to a more basic question.

“I don’t know what sort of strategy they can come up with, because the governor’s strategy is clear,” he said. “‘Choose me, or choose Trump.’”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.