California Democrats Unveil Proposed Congressional Map To Counter Texas Redistricting

California Democratic lawmakers unveiled on Friday a proposed redrawn state congressional map they intend to place on the November ballot amid a redistricting battle with Texas.

The proposed congressional map is expected to give Democrats five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 election, which Democratic lawmakers said was a response to Texas Republicans’ redistricting plan.

As Aldgra Fredly reports for The Epoch Times, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) said in a statement that the proposed map is consistent with guidelines laid out by the independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission.

“It allows for more compact districts than in the current Commission-drawn map, keeps more communities and neighborhoods together, splits fewer cities, and makes minimal disruptions to the Commission-drawn map so as to impact as few residents as possible,” DCCC Executive Director Julie Merz stated in a letter accompanying the proposed map.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said they would introduce a legislative package next week aimed at allowing state voters to decide on whether to adopt the proposed constitutional amendment without going through the state’s independent redistricting commission.

The package also includes a bill enabling the new congressional map to take effect if other states redraw districts, and another bill authorizing reimbursement of costs to administer the election.

The governor accused President Donald Trump and Republicans of undermining democracy with a plan to redraw the congressional map in Texas.

“This moment calls for urgency and action—that is what we are putting before voters this November, a chance to fight back against his anti-American ways,” Newsom said.

California’s First Congressional District is currently anchored in the state’s conservative far northeast corner and is represented by Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa. The district has a nearly 18-point GOP registration edge.

Under the proposal, Democrats would end up with a 10-point registration advantage there after drastic reshaping to include parts of heavily Democratic Sonoma County near the Pacific Coast.

LaMalfa has criticized the proposed congressional map.

“How on earth does Modoc County, on the Nevada and Oregon border, have any common interest with Marin County and the Golden Gate Bridge? Voters took this power from Sacramento for just this reason,” he stated.

“This is naked politics at its worst.”

The move came as Texas Republicans proposed a new congressional map after the U.S. Department of Justice suggested that several districts in Texas are likely unconstitutionally created by grouping minorities to form a majority.

The redistricting proposal, which would flip five Democratic seats in the 2026 election, prompted more than 50 Texas Democratic lawmakers to leave the state in early August and break quorum in a bid to block the plan from moving forward.

They mostly sought refuge in Illinois, where Gov. JB Pritzker vowed to protect them from extradition or other legal threats leveled by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Others fled to New York and California, both led by Democrats.

Abbott has accused Democrats of gerrymandering in the past and said his state could go further than California when it comes to redistricting.

“Look at the map of Illinois. Look at the map they gerrymandered a long time ago. They got nothing left with regard to what they can do,” he said on CNN on Aug. 11.

“And know this: If California tries to gerrymander, find more districts, listen, Texas has the ability to eliminate 10 Democrats in our state.”