California Democrats can make a bad redistricting situation even worse | Opinion
Bad government does not lead to good government.
That simple truth should be what guides politicians and citizens in redrawing maps for political elections, a process that Republicans and Democrats are threatening to weaponize in a partisan war where we all lose.
This war is being driven by President Donald Trump and it threatens our democracy.
Trump recently fretted about next year’s midterm elections, specifically those for the House of Representatives. There, Republicans hold a seven-seat majority, meaning they almost have to vote in unity to pass major legislation the president wants.
If Democrats can retake the House, Trump’s agenda for his final two years would transition from a GOP rubber stamp on every issue to actual opposition.
To short-circuit such a possibility, Trump wants states with GOP-majority legislatures to redraw congressional districts so more Republicans can win election to the House, allowing him to keep the majority he needs.
Redistricting is typically done once every 10 years after the census is taken. Any redrawing of political lines now would be out of order.
But that doesn’t faze Trump. He is calling on Texas to get him more GOP seats.
Last month Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session for lawmakers with redistricting as the main topic. A legislative committee hastily produced new maps with revised congressional districts that, potentially, would yield more Republicans to Congress. The full legislature has yet to vote on the proposals.
In response, Gov. Gavin Newsom wants congressional redistricting done now in California to reduce the state’s number of Republican representatives and boost chances for more Democrats to be elected. If this occurred, California’s Democrat gains could nullify what Texas is doing to promote Republicans.
Newsom faces a significant challenge, however. California voters in 2010 decided to let a bipartisan citizens commission — not lawmakers, as was done previously — determine boundaries for congressional races (as well as the Assembly, state Senate and Board of Equalization).
Newsom is considering a special election this November to present new maps to voters for approval. If they back the maps, those districts would stay in place until after the next census is completed and the citizens commission redraws the lines.
To Newsom, nothing less than the survival of American democracy is at stake, so he had to act.
“We’re going to respond in a transparent way, an honest way, but it’s in response,” the governor told reporters. “But I’m not going to sit back any longer in a position, a fetal position, in a position of weakness, when in fact California could demonstrably advance strength, and that’s what we intend to do.”
Protecting midterm elections
Trump messing around with congressional districts for midterm elections, not waiting every 10 years as has been the standard, is simply wrong. It creates more distrust among voters who already hold U.S. politicians in low regard.
But if Newsom goes through with changing California’s maps, he broadens the offense and breaks the rules as much as Trump.
Newsom can say is a his one-and-done moment, but the threat of future abuses — by either party — looms large.
That’s why California Democrats can make a bad situation even worse. Redrawing now is not what the voters chose when they created the Independent Redistricting Commission.
No new congressional maps
A dose of sanity in this nonsense could be a bill that Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, plans to introduce as soon as Tuesday. The measure would bar any midterm redistricting and nullify any new maps made before the next census.
“Gavin Newsom is trying to subvert the will of voters and do lasting damage to democracy in California,” Kiley said in a statement on his website. “Fortunately, Congress has the ability to protect California voters using its authority under the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution. This will also stop a damaging redistricting war from breaking out across the country.”
Given House Speaker Mike Johnson’s capitulating to Trump’s whims, however, the prospects for Kiley’s bill to get approved are probably slim to none.
Kiley has a vested interest in seeing no new maps get made in California — his district is rumored to be one of the Republican seats that would be redrawn for Democrats to win. But credit him for trying to stop the power grabs.
The solution to the current political mess is for Republicans to tell Trump no to his self-serving demands. California’s Republican state leaders have been notably silent over what their brethren in Texas are doing, while simultaneously blasting Newsom for daring to redistrict. How about telling Trump to stand down?
Democrats, meanwhile, need to put forward candidates who voters find relevant and worth backing. Strong positions delivered by compelling candidates geared toward middle-class voters wins elections — not producing gerrymandered maps at will.
Good government can only be achieved when the people’s representatives do the right thing.
