Everyone knows why President Trump has applied pressure on Texas Republicans to conduct a mid-decade revision of the state’s congressional district lines. Trump remembers the results of the GOP’s loss of the House majority in 2018, during his first term: two impeachments (though he wasn’t convicted in the Senate), endless oversight hearings and subpoenas of his staff, and the prevention of any domestic legislation he hoped to pass. A new Texas map could shift as many as five seats in favor of the Republicans. In a House currently divided between 220 Republicans and 212 Democrats, those seats could make the difference in who controls the chamber.
Trump’s bold move is being matched by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is pushing his state’s Democratic legislature to redistrict the Golden State and eliminate up to five of the state’s nine Republican districts. Newsom insists that his move is intended to save democracy (and not just the Democrats). In a podcast last week, he even referenced the historical example of how Adolf Hitler dismantled German democracy in 53 days. But everyone in California knows that Newsom’s real concern has far more to do with the Democratic presidential primaries he hopes to enter in 2028. If he can engineer a new Democratic gerrymander in California, he can appeal to the party’s liberal base by appearing to be Trump’s most successful opponent.
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