加利福尼亚州州长加文·纽瑟姆周四宣布，他正在推进在11月4日的特别选举中投票表决该州拟议的新国会地图，以对抗得克萨斯州共和党人推动的十年中期重划选区。
“我知道他们说‘不要惹德克萨斯’嗯，不要惹伟大的金州，”纽瑟姆在新闻发布会上说，两侧是国会民主党成员和加州工会领导人。
“我们这样做是为了回应一位美国总统，他给得克萨斯州的一位在任州长打电话说，‘给我找五个座位，’”他后来补充道。
在周四的活动之前，纽森和他的媒体团队已经在社交媒体上抨击唐纳德·特朗普总统，用所有大写字母发布嘲讽消息，看起来像是模仿特朗普自己的社交媒体帖子。
纽瑟姆在讲话中表示，州政府将在2030年人口普查后确认其对该州独立选区划分委员会的承诺，“但我们要求选民同意在2026年、2028年和2030年进行中期选区划分，以便国会地图对德克萨斯州发生的情况做出回应……我们将以某种方式这样做，这也确认了我们作为一个州在全美范围内公平竞争的愿望。”
在与他的声明同时发布的一段竞选视频中，纽瑟姆用严厉的措辞框定了这个问题。
“这是美利坚合众国民主的五级火警。唐纳德·特朗普试图点燃民主的火炬，继续试图操纵选举，”纽瑟姆在视频中说。
纽瑟姆演讲附近的移民逮捕
就在州长周四发表讲话时，联邦特工似乎正在会场外实施移民执法行动。
“我们在哪里?我们现在就在民主中心外面?有成千上万的冰毒...你觉得是巧合?”他指的是位于洛杉矶市中心日裔美国人国家博物馆的民主中心，也是他发表讲话的地方。“唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)和他的爪牙、硬汉汤姆·霍曼(Tom Homan)明确决定，不管是不是巧合，这里是推进ICE逮捕行动的地点。”
洛杉矶市长卡伦·巴斯说，这次手术“绝不可能”是巧合。
“这是广泛宣传，州长和我们的许多民选官员在这里举行记者招待会，谈论重划选区。他们决定要来，在州长面前摸摸鼻子，”她说。“你为什么要这么做?这太不尊重人了。这是一种挑衅行为。他们在谈论洛杉矶的混乱，他们是现在洛杉矶混乱的根源。这是完全不可接受的。”
美国海关和边境保护局官员Gregory Bovino告诉记者，CBP正在进行例行的“巡回巡逻”，并在纽瑟姆发表讲话的地点外进行了逮捕，但对暗示选择该地点进行逮捕是因为州长正在举行活动的说法进行了反驳。
当被问及CBP就在纽瑟姆的新闻发布会外面进行逮捕是否是巧合时，博维诺说:“违反法律不是巧合。违法就是违法。违法不是巧合。所以当他们违反法律时，你可以预期你可能会被逮捕。
加州的新地图会是什么样子?
加州立法机关现在将不得不通过立法将这些地图付诸投票。
在声明发布后，纽瑟姆对记者说，他没有提到拟议中的国会地图会是什么样子，只是说它们将在未来几天内提交。他说，州立法者将在周一提出法案，启动特别选举，并表示他有信心获得三分之二的立法者批准新地图。
在批评者对透明度的质疑中，纽瑟姆声称，加州的过程比德克萨斯州处理重划选区的方式更透明，部分原因是选民将在特别选举中权衡。
他将十年中期的重划选区努力描述为一项“临时”措施，并表示该州通常重划国会地图的独立委员会将在2030年继续工作。
“我们需要纠正过去的做法，”纽瑟姆在公开讲话中说，并补充说，“仅仅牵手、烛光守夜和谈论世界应该是什么样子是不够的。我们必须认清已经打出的牌，我们必须以牙还牙，我们必须承担更高层次的责任。”
即使加州正在推进特别选举，纽瑟姆说，如果共和党人经营的州考虑重新划分选区，但不推进重划自己的地图，该州十年中期重新划分选区的计划将被停止。
纽瑟姆在活动结束后对记者说:“我想提醒大家，除非这些州中的一个向前发展，否则这不会向前发展。”。“仍然有一个退出坡道——不仅仅是德克萨斯州，还有我提到的密苏里州，或者佛罗里达州、印第安纳州，这些其他州正在考虑采取前所未有的措施，在中期重划选区中操纵选举。所以我们希望他们不会前进。如果是那样的话，这种努力就没有必要了。但我们不会等待，”他说。
共和党人批评纽森的举动是政治性的。
来自加利福尼亚州的共和党众议员凯文·凯利(Kevin Kiley)提出了一项法案，禁止十年中期重新划分选区，写于X周四下午:“我们不会让加文·纽瑟姆摧毁加州的民主。”
加州议会共和党领袖，州众议员詹姆士·加拉格尔，写于X:"在政治顾问和可能的政治家的参与和影响下，在黑暗中绘制地图，然后提前5天通知公众在已经决定的地图上提出意见，这与透明背道而驰。
得克萨斯州共和党州长格雷格·艾伯特(Greg Abbott)的发言人安德鲁·马哈利(Andrew Mahaleris)在给美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)的一份声明中，批评了加利福尼亚州目前对国会选区的划分——52个国会席位中有9个由共和党人占据——并谈到纽森的举动，“这只不过是他2028年白日梦的政治姿态。”
全国共和党国会委员会发言人克里斯蒂安·马丁内斯在新闻发布会前的一份声明中说:“加文·纽瑟姆的最新噱头与加州人无关，而是与巩固激进的民主党人的权力，压制加州选民，支持他可怜的2028年总统梦想有关。”。
马丁内斯在声明中说:“纽森说得很清楚:他将撕碎加州的宪法，践踏民主——运行一个愤世嫉俗、自私自利的剧本，加州人是事后的想法，权力是唯一的优先事项。”。
California will move forward with redistricting vote to counter Texas, Newsom says
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that he is moving forward with putting proposed new congressional maps for the state on the ballot in a Nov. 4 special election in an attempt to counter mid-decade redistricting being pushed by Republicans in Texas.
"I know they say 'Don't mess with Texas.' Well, don't mess with the great Golden State," Newsom said at a news conference, flanked by Democratic members of Congress and California union leaders.
"We're doing this in reaction to a president of the United States that called a sitting governor of the state of Texas and said, 'Find me five seats,'" he added later.
Ahead of Thursday's event, Newsom and his media team had beentrolling President Donald Trump on social media, posting mocking messages in all capital letters, appearing to mimic Trump's own social media posts.
In his remarks, Newsom said the state government will affirm its commitment to the state's independent redistricting commission after the 2030 census, "but we're asking the voters for their consent to do midterm redistricting in 2026, 2028 and 2030 for the congressional maps to respond to what's happening in Texas … and we'll do so in a way that also affirms our desire as a state to level the playing field all across the United States."
In a campaign video released concurrently with his announcement, Newsom framed the issue in stark terms.
"It is a five-alarm fire for democracy in the United States of America. Donald Trump, who is trying to light a torch on democracy, continues to try to rig the election," Newsom says in the video.
Immigration arrest near Newsom speech
As the governor was speaking Thursday, federal agents appeared to be conducting an immigration enforcement operation outside of the venue.
"Where are we? We are at Democracy Center and right outside at this exact moment? There are dozens and dozens of ICE agents ... You think it's coincidental?" Newsom said, referring to the Democracy Center at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles where he was delivering his remarks. "Donald Trump and his minions, [border czar] Tom Homan, tough guy, clearly decided, coincidentally or not, that this was a location to advance ICE arrests."
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said there was "no way" the operation was a coincidence.
"This was widely publicized that the governor and many of our elected officials were having a press conference here to talk about redistricting. And they decided they were going to come and thumb their nose in front of the governor's face," she said. "Why would you do that? It's unbelievably disrespectful. It's a provocative act. They're talking about disorder in Los Angeles and they are the source of the disorder in Los Angeles right now. This is just completely unacceptable."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection official Gregory Bovino told reporters that CBP was conducting routine "roving patrols" and made an arrest outside of the venue where Newsom was speaking, but pushed back against insinuations that the location had been chosen for arrests because the governor was holding an event.
Asked if it is a coincidence that CBP made arrests right outside of Newsom's presser, Bovino said, "Breaking the law is not coincidental. Breaking the law is breaking the law. There's no coincidence in breaking the law. So when they break the law, you can expect that you're probably going to get arrested.
What will California's new maps look like?
The California legislature will now have to pass legislation to put the maps on the ballot.
Speaking to reporters after the announcement, Newsom did not address what the proposed congressional maps would look like -- only saying that they would be presented in the next few days. He said state legislators would introduce bills on Monday to put the special election in motion and said he is confident they'll have the two thirds of legislators needed to approve the new maps.
Amid questions from critics about transparency, Newsom claimed the process in California is more transparent than how Texas has handled redistricting, in part because voters will get to weigh in during the special election.
He described the mid-decade redistricting effort as a "temporary" measure and said that the state's independent commission that normally redraws congressional maps would continue its work in 2030.
"We need to disabuse ourselves of the way things have been done," Newsom said in his public remarks, adding, "It's not good enough to just hold hands, have a candlelight vigil and talk about the way the world should be. We have got to recognize the cards that have been dealt, and we have got to meet fire with fire, and we've got to be held to a higher level of accountability."
Even as California is moving forward with the special election, Newsom said the state's plans for mid-decade redistricting plans would be halted if Republican-run states considering redistricting don't move forward with redrawing their own maps.
"This does not go forward -- I want to remind everybody -- unless one of these other states move forward," Newsom told reporters after the event. "There's still an exit ramp -- not just Texas, but Missouri, as I mentioned, or Florida, Indiana, these other states that are considering doing the unprecedented, rigging their elections with midterm redistricting. So we're hopeful they don't move forward. If that's the case, this effort will not be necessary. But we're not waiting," he said.
Republicans are criticizing Newsom's move as political.
U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican congressman from California, who has proposed a bill that would ban mid-decade redistricting,wrote on Xon Thursday afternoon: "We will not let Gavin Newsom destroy democracy in California."
State Rep. James Gallagher, the California Assembly Republican Leader,wrote on X: "Drawing maps in the dark with political consultants and likely politicians' input and influence and then giving 5 days notice for public input on maps that have already been decided is the opposite of transparency. #Gavinmandering"
In a statement to ABC News, Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson for Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, criticized California's current breakdown of congressional districts -- where nine of 52 congressional seats are held by Republicans -- and said of Newsom's move, "This is nothing more than political posturing for his 2028 pipe dream."
"Gavin Newsom's latest stunt has nothing to do with Californians and everything to do with consolidating radical Democrat power, silencing California voters, and propping up his pathetic 2028 presidential pipe dream," National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Christian Martinez said in a statement ahead of the press conference.
"Newsom's made it clear: he'll shred California's Constitution and trample over democracy -- running a cynical, self-serving playbook where Californians are an afterthought and power is the only priority," Martinez said in the statement.
