Governor reveals election rigging response act to counter Trump’s push to gain five extra seats in Texas midterms

Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, said on Thursday state Democratic lawmakers would move forward with a redistricting plan to counter the Republican-led map-drawing effort in Texas aimed at securing a House majority after the midterm elections.

Newsom, joined by congressional Democrats and legislative leaders, unveiled a plan, known as the election rigging response act, that would override California’s independent redistricting commission and draw new congressional lines – a direct counter to a Texas effort, sought by Donald Trump, to push through mid-cycle maps that could hand Republicans five extra US House seats. The governor vowed the move would “neuter and neutralize” Texas’s proposal.

“Today is liberation day in the state of California,” Newsom declared at a rally in Los Angeles, in which he formally called for a 4 November special election to approve a new congressional map. “We can’t stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country.”

  • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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    4 months ago

    Conservatives never gave a damn about genuine fairness, it is time to stop playing ball with the fuckers.

    …I don’t like this game, but we don’t seem to have any GOOD choices, just less awful ones.

  • 418_im_a_teapot@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    Newsom, joined by congressional Democrats and legislative leaders, unveiled a plan, known as the election rigging response act, that would override California’s independent redistricting commission and draw new congressional lines

    I don’t fault what they’re doing here; war is war. But just look at how easily the democratic process can be stripped away. Just a flick of the pen and it’s gone. No real safeguards. Not a single shot fired.

  • HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 months ago

    There was an ICE raid right outside the building he was in today as a total intimidation tactic. ICE only got one person for so many suited up chuds. Fuck this shit

  • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    “We can’t stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country.”

    Yep, step the fuck up everyone.

  • paraphrand@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    This is still a form of gerrymandering, right? I hope this does not kick off a wave of disenfranchisement across other red states.

    We really need to get the US territories statehood/representation too. And DC.

    • OpenPassageways@lemmy.zip
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      4 months ago

      Hopefully the results is that everyone is concerned about gerrymandering instead of just Democrats and something can be done about it at the federal level.

      • lemonaz@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Somehow I doubt the trumpers are worried. They just want to win. If anything can guarantee their state goes for Trump they’ll take it.

        I’m not American, but from my limited experience, my QAnon relatives (who are immigrants themselves in another western country!) were ok with martial law and taking away women’s rights as the price to pay to get out of the “dictatorship” they imagined with “forced vaccination” and “LGBT indoctrination” and immigrant “invasion”. They also have no problem with taking away LGBT rights because “they have too many now, look at Hollywood”. They constantly bring up about how Jews run the world and how bad Israel is, but they have no problem with Trump being their lapdog and enabling their worst atrocities and fantasizing about building a riviera in Gaza. When all the Palestinians there will have perished (something I dread is likely to happen), they’ll probably credit Trump with ending the genocide. And don’t get me started on Epstein, which was their whole reason for joining QAnon. Back in February they were excitedly telling me, unprompted, how Pam Bondi says the files are on her desk. They haven’t said anything since. Wanna bet they’ll get defensive if I ask them about it now?

        My point is these people don’t care about democracy or human rights, they just scream about them when they experience disconfort, but really all they want is a godking who punishes “the right people” and reminds them every 10 seconds how special they are and how they deserve freedom and sovereignty not like the bad people who they are always persecuted by.

      • jj4211@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Just a note that none of this impacts presidential elections.

        But if Texas does their thing, this would be a necessary response for the house

        • OpenPassageways@lemmy.zip
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          4 months ago

          True… but if Trump had to contend with Democrat majorities in the house and Senate then he would have an incentive not to do illegal shit because he could be removed from office.

      • paraphrand@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Kicking off, say, five other states redrawing maps to cancel out California and to head off other blue states trying the same.

        That sort of frantic escalation wouldn’t be good.

        • pyre@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          from what I’ve gathered (although it’s been hard for me to find the exact info I’m looking for) most of the states with nonpartisan or bipartisan redistricting commissions seem to be democratic states by a significant margin.

          safe to assume the ones that have partisan commissions are already gerrymandered to hell and back. and there’s little to gain from doing it more; there will be diminishing returns.

          i think an all out war would mostly benefit the dems but again i don’t have very concrete data so I’ll qualify these statements to be based on gut and not much more.

          • lemonaz@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            That’s my gut feeling as well. Gerrymandering is a Republican tradition and they’ve been doing it in red states for decades now. Hard to believe there’s much more to squeeze from it. Blue states however…

  • person420@lemmynsfw.com
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    4 months ago

    Republicans are geographically dispersed while Democrats are generally packed into urban areas. We lose 100% of the time if we try the same gerrymandering tactics. We need to be smarter, not play their games.

    If you think I’m wrong, show me a single state we could flip from red to blue by gerrymandering. You need to show your work though. You can’t just say X state, you have to show HOW you could flip the state by gerrymandering.

  • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Shouldn’t they have saved the shot for another state, since Texas (AFAIK) stopped the attempt?

    I mean, I am all for fighting. But Democrats have very little ammo.

    Honestly it seems more like a attention grab for Newsom so he can run for president. I don’t want Newsom as the next candidate…

  • tlekiteki@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 months ago

    Hmm, the UK went for Labour, but their go*ernment banned independent social media and blacklisted protesters anyway. So is the Democratic Party going to save our souls?

  • PlaidBaron@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Obviously what Texas is doing is reprehensible but in a winner take all election system where Texas always goes republican and California always goes dem, does this actually makw a difference?

    • zarkony@lemmy.zip
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      4 months ago

      Winner takes all only applies to presidential elections. In this case, they are redistricting for more congressional seats.

    • DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 months ago

      Yes because likely CAs redistricting plans to make more blue and less red…therefore offsetting the 5 seats Trump is asking Texas to find (which will be more red and less blue)

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        And thats assuming Republicans do redistricting math right. At the current outrage levels tightening margins is a big gamble. They could be turning it into a landslide… Assuming elections are fair.

        It would be kind of crazy to see the Republican response if they lost like 30 seats or something, I am sure they would try to somehow invalidate the whole thing.

        • DancingBear@midwest.social
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          4 months ago

          If that happens it would be a good time for democrats to approve legislation mandating non-partisan redistricting at the federal level.