Posted on 08/23/2025 4:19:11 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Nearly 50 people involved with the effort shared details with POLITICO about the tightly guarded process.
When word got out that Texas might undertake an extraordinary mid-decade redistricting at Donald Trump’s behest, a handful of top California Democratic operatives floated an idea to Rep. Zoe Lofgren: Could California respond in kind?
Lofgren, the chair of California’s 43-member Democratic delegation, consulted in June with a trusted data expert who dismissed it as absurd — a foolhardy end-run around the state’s popular redistricting panel with no guarantee of yielding enough blue seats to fully offset Texas. Deterred by those misgivings, California Democrats instead spent weeks putting up a front, dangling the threat of a countermove without making any real plans to do so.
“It seemed to me worth a bluff,” Lofgren said. “If the Texans and Trump thought they’d go through all of this and they’d end up not gaining anything, maybe they would stop.”
“But they didn’t stop,” she added. “They just doubled down.”
So did California Democrats, especially Gov. Gavin Newsom. In a matter of weeks, they bluffed themselves into the marquee political contest of Trump’s second term, a high-voltage fight to shape the outcome of the 2026 midterms and the remaining years of his presidency.
“It got very real, very fast,” recounted Newsom, whose provocative podcast appearances and social media posturing lit the fuse for this slapdash effort — and positioned him as a de facto leader of the opposition party in advance of his likely 2028 White House run.
Texas Republicans approved a gerrymandered map early Saturday morning.
POLITICO spoke with nearly 50 people involved with the California effort, including lawmakers, political operatives, staffers and redistricting wonks. Many were granted anonymity to share details of private deliberations of the tightly-guarded process, which spanned multiple..
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/08/newsom-redistricting-republican-lawsuit/
Zoe Lofgren was an incompetent moron when she first cement to Washington close to 40 years ago
She has declined intellectually ever since
California didn’t start it. Texas did. Because Texas said they’d redistrict it, they got the whole nation talking about how gerrymandered some states are, especially Dim states. Much like Texas sending illegals up north got the northeasterners talking about the bad side of illegal immigration.
This is Politico.. they can be counted on to make up a good story after the fact
This could backfire on hair boy..
Maybe Trump is maneuvering to outlaw gerrymandering entirely. The Democrats might lose bigly.
What the Alt Left does not realize is Dems have all ready done this in the Blue States over the last 2 decades.. If Red states do this too the Dems don’t have very many seats to gain but many to lose
The fly in this ointment here is that is costs money to harvest ballots and the Democrats don't have any money. They were already hurting in fundraising before they burned down the party's ATM machine in the Pacific Palisades.
Politico reported that the DNC has raised a whopping $15 mil to the GOP's $80 mil as of June.
It strikes me that if they have a sure-fire way to flip five seats blue to negate the Texas move to flip five seats red, the value of running against CA’s move in other states could be worth a lot more to the GOP. People do not like California; they dislike its politics, its leaders, and the perception that it raids federal dollars for illegal immigrants through MediCal and other programs. The laxity of their driver’s licensing programs is rather apparent. To Newsome, go ahead and make my day - this will pay beaucoup dividends across the country in states they are not thinking of.
They brag about having a commission. I think the only purpose for the commission is to prevent anyone from undoing their gerrymandering.
Part of their donation problem is the perception, by mega-donors that the kamala campaign squandered 2 billion dollars and continued to ask for donations after the election was over.
Am I supposed to believe that absent Texas, California would not have done this?
Umm, they were doing this regardless.
Texas didn’t “start” anything. The courts ordered them to redistrict. They had no choice.
California Redistricting is not a shoe-in even if it happens. Rats may well see unintended consequences as a result.
Count Chocula is going berserk and it shows with all his feigned outrage.
Yes, I agree that changing the Cali districts is not a shoo-in.
No voter wants to be lied to (about the commission) then completely disenfranchised, having their votes to create the commission be erased. And, the reason? The obvious notion is to settle a score with Texas. (And the unobvious reason, I just betcha, is to never, ever change the Cali districts back with Dems perpetual, maximum total power in the state. )
If the re-re districting goes through, will Cali voters ever realize that they've been had?
Count Chocula
Nailed it!
When Texas’ Democrat Congress Critters abandoned ship,
the Level of Democrats stood at 28% of Texas Congress
Critters. California Republican Congress Critters stood
at 17%.
So much for the Republicans being the evil doers, that
started all this.
Folks should also be aware that there are about 11 states
where there are no Republican Congress Critters. Of course
there shouldn’t be any (according to democrats), because they
only make up 30-48% of those states registered voters.
California already has 43 of 52 seats as democrats, despite only 46 percent of voters being democrats. Can’t get much worse than that. 48 of 52? I’m sure they’d like to do it.
No. They hate Trump more than they like life itself.
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