As California Democrats prepare to try to redraw the state’s congressional maps in response to a Republican-led effort in Texas, a patchwork coalition is forming to stop them.
It includes former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a longtime advocate of nonpartisan redistricting; Charles Munger Jr., the son of the late billionaire Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman; various state and federal California Republicans; and the League of Women Voters. All have come out against the effort driven by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who argues Texas’ move to deliver as many as five more GOP-friendly seats requires a proportional response.
Unlike Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott plans to call another special session for Republicans to enact their maps as soon as enough Democrats return, Newsom and legislative leaders will need to put any new maps up for a statewide referendum in November. The legislature returns Monday to consider a measure that must pass both chambers with two-thirds of the vote to make the November ballot.
Newsom, who has scheduled a Thursday 11:30 a.m. PDT (2:30 p.m. EDT) press conference on redistricting, has expressed confidence that voters will side with him.
“We’re going to fight fire with fire,” he said on a Wednesday episode of his podcast. “We’re going to neutralize whatever Abbott does next week or whenever they move forward the next special session.”
Still, success is not a foregone conclusion, particularly in an off-year referendum that’s likely to have lower turnout than a midterm or presidential election.
Opponents argue that they have a broad coalition that includes Democratic voters. More than 60% of voters in the state approved Proposition 20, the 2010 initiative that took control of congressional maps from the state legislature.
Munger, who spent $12.4 million to pass Proposition 20, said he will “vigorously defend the reforms he helped pass,” spokesperson Amy Thoma Tan said in a statement.
“His previous success in passing ballot measures in California means he knows exactly what is needed to be successful,” Thoma Tan said. “We will have the resources necessary to make our coalition heard.”
Common Cause reverses itself
But opponents have already lost one ally this time around.
Common Cause, one of the key good government groups backing redistricting reform, said Tuesday it would not “automatically condemn” mid-cycle redistricting efforts that meet certain criteria, a move that could lead to the organization holding its fire against the California countermeasure.
In a call with reporters Wednesday, Common Cause officials characterized the announcement as a “shift in our strategic posture,” not a move to abandon its long-term opposition to gerrymandering. The organization said it was too soon to say whether California will meet its six “fairness criteria,” which include that mid-cycle redistricting efforts should be targeted responses to gerrymandering in other states, have a set end date and involve some form of public participation.
“Governor Newsom will be held to the same standards and criteria as any other state who tries to engage,” Common Cause president Virginia Kase Solomón said Wednesday, adding that it would be “very hard to react” to California’s plan before it has been released.
The national group’s new stance comes after the state chapter said last month that Newsom was “wrong” on redistricting and urged him not to “pick a fight that honestly, his political party cannot and will not win.” National officials said the state organizations are now on board.
“Our California Common Cause team understands,” Kase Solomón said. “We had deep discussion around why we needed to make this decision. They were engaged in the decision. Their advisory board was engaged in the decision. And so we are all on the same page.”
The League of Women Voters, however, will continue to push back on the governor’s proposal. The group’s California chapter wrote Newsom and top Democratic leaders in the legislature Wednesday morning to “express our strong opposition” to the mid-cycle redistricting push. The group argued that even temporarily overriding the current maps would do long-term damage.
“We understand the urgency. Authoritarianism is not abstract; it is here, and it is dangerous. President Trump has created a constitutional crisis on multiple fronts – assaults to democracy that the League is at the vanguard of fighting,” wrote Dora Rose, the deputy director of the League of Women Voters of California. “But the way to fight is not to abandon one of California’s greatest democratic reforms.”
Schwarzenegger will be back
Democrats have framed their plan as a potential check on Texas, where Republicans have introduced new maps that could eliminate as many as five Democratic seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. That may be a winning argument in an off-year election in a blue state.
“The choice will be between Gavin Newsom and Donald Trump,” said Matt Rexroad, a Republican redistricting expert. “The odds of Republicans being able to win statewide is small.”
That doesn’t mean there won’t be an expensive effort to try. The Republican-led opposition in the state is likely to be well funded, thanks to a mix of national and in-state donors.
Schwarzenegger could also become a face of the coalition. The action star turned two-term California governor backed the ballot initiatives that placed the state’s congressional and legislative maps in the hands of the independent commission. Since leaving office in 2011, he’s campaigned on behalf of independent redistricting reforms in other states, including Michigan, Colorado and Ohio.
“Once he learned about gerrymandering when he was governor, he decided it was evil and he was going to fight it in California,” spokesperson Daniel Ketchell told CNN. “And once he was done being governor in California, he decided he was going to fight it all over the country, anytime he could.”
Another Republican threatens to sue
Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate in California’s 2026 governor’s race, has said he will challenge the measure in court if Democrats get it on the ballot. He argued the legislature doesn’t have accurate enough population data to draw new maps due to population shifts throughout the state after the pandemic.
“I think this whole thing is just a massive distraction from what we should be focusing on,” Hilton told CNN. “Nevertheless, I think it is unfair to the at least 40% Republican voters in California, and so I think it needs to be stopped.”
California’s Republican members of Congress will also likely play a bigger role in pushing back against the redistricting. Rep. Kevin Kiley, whose district covers a broad swath of central California along the state’s border with Nevada, introduced legislation last week to ban mid-cycle redistricting, including the effort underway in Texas.
Kiley, who is one of five Republicans whom CNN reported Democrats are targeting, said he’s spoken to House Speaker Mike Johnson “several times” and has publicly called on him to allow a vote on his legislation when Congress returns from recess. “I’ve said that, as soon as we get back, I want to see a vote, and I’m willing to use whatever tools I can to make that happen,” Kiley said.
It’s unlikely Kiley’s measure will advance, given President Donald Trump’s insistence that Republican-led states should redraw their maps.
Kiley’s best ally may be the voters who formed the independent redistricting commission in the first place.
“It’s going to be imperative that voters get accurate information, because if they do, I am very confident voters will affirm their earlier decision that politics should not be part of the redistricting process,” Kiley said.
CNN’s David Adkins contributed to this report.
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