Newsom Muses on Gerrymandering of California Districts

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is contemplating scrapping the state’s independent redistricting commission even as his party struggles to win back voter approval. 

“[Republicans are] playing by a different set of rules. They can’t win by the traditional game, so they want to change the game,” Newsom said at a press conference on Wednesday, adding that the California Citizens Redistricting Commission is “a national model. Right now, there may not be a nation to model.” 

California currently uses the commission to determine the boundaries for the state Assembly and state Senate of the Legislature, the State Board of Equalization, and congressional districts. The commission comprises 14 members—five Democrats, five Republicans, and four individuals not affiliated with either party. 

Newsom was criticized by some fellow Democrats for expressing openness to changing the redistricting system.

“By legitimizing the race to the bottom of gerrymandering, Democrats will ultimately lose,” California Assemblyman Alex Lee, the chairman of the Legislative Progressive Caucus, told Politico, adding:

Trying to save democracy by destroying democracy is dangerous and foolish.

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A Democrat political consultant who asked not to be identified explained the worry that Newsom was walking into a public relations nightmare.

“The idea of taking away the power from the citizens and giving it back to the politicians—the optics of that is horrendous and indefensible,” the consultant warned. 

Newsom has justified what critics would describe as gerrymandering of California’s districts based on Texas’ upcoming congressional redistricting process that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, called for last week.

“Years and years ago, we did independent redistricting in a state that I assure you, with two-thirds majorities in the Legislature, could gerrymander like no other state, and we’ve been playing fair, but I saw what he [Abbott] just did today. Made me question that entire program. I mean, these guys are going to do everything in their power to maintain their power,” Newsom explained to Justin Kanew, the founder of The Tennessee Holler, a liberal news site.

California currently has millions of illegal aliens, which are counted for the purposes of allotting congressional districts and Electoral College votes. Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., recently introduced legislation with 18 other senators to exclude noncitizens from being counted toward the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives and votes on the Electoral College map. 

“While people continue to flee Democrat-run cities, desperate Democrats have back-filled the mass exodus with illegal immigrants so that they do not lose their seats in Congress or their electoral votes; hence, artificially boosting their political power and, in turn, diluting the power of other Americans’ votes,” Hagerty said in a press statement. 

President Donald Trump became the first Republican nominee to win the popular vote in a presidential election in 20 years. The president was also the first candidate to capture all of the swing states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—since President Ronald Reagan’s historic 1984 landslide reelection. The Republicans have maintained narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress.