Newsom Gets Brutal News After Vowing to Further Gerrymander California

A new poll shows that California voters want to keep the state’s independent redistricting commission, even as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) pushes to shift that power to the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature.

Newsom aims to redraw California’s political maps in a way that benefits Democrats, countering President Donald Trump’s push for Texas lawmakers to do the same in favor of Republicans.

A POLITICO–Citrin Center–Possibility Lab survey found that only 36% of registered California voters support giving congressional redistricting authority back to state lawmakers, while 64% want to keep the independent commission in place.

Among party lines, 66% of Republicans, 61% of Democrats, and 72% of independents favor keeping the commission. Just 28% of independents support transferring the power to the legislature, the Washington Examiner reported, citing the survey.

When policy influencers — described by POLITICO Pro subscribers “deeply versed in the state’s political landscape” — were surveyed, their responses largely aligned with partisan preferences. Ninety-one percent of Republican policy influencers backed keeping the commission, while a narrow majority of Democratic influencers, 51%, favored handing the authority to the legislature.

“That surprised me a little bit, given that this is being pushed so heavily by Newsom and by the Democratic Party nationally that we have to combat Texas,” Jack Citrin, a veteran political science professor at UC Berkeley and partner on the poll, told POLITICO.

Newsom is set to launch his redistricting push on Thursday, following the Trump administration’s refusal to relent in its own efforts to encourage GOP-controlled states to redraw their congressional maps. Citrin noted the poll results were unsurprising, as voters have previously supported the creation of an independent commission at the ballot box.

“It’s not surprising, in the sense that California has voted twice for this independent review commission not all that long ago,” Citrin said. “And there’s a lot of mistrust and cynicism about politicians and the Legislature. That’s reflected here as well.”

The California governor has so far been hesitant to advance his redistricting proposal, which would put a November special election question to voters on adopting maps favoring Democrats. The governor has been waiting to see what happens in Texas before proceeding, as that state is still working to bring its Democratic lawmakers back to vote on its own maps, the Examiner noted.

Newsom isn’t seeking to eliminate the commission entirely but wants to put its work on hold for now. He aims to pass a constitutional amendment allowing legislative-approved maps to be used for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 election cycles.

The governor has previously expressed confidence that voters will be receptive to his plan.

“I think the voters will approve it. I think the voters understand what’s at stake,” Newsom said in a news conference last Friday. “We live in the most un-Trump state in America.”

The governor’s internal polling recently indicated that a slim majority of voters back his proposal, with support increasing when the plan is framed in more partisan terms. Still, the latest survey could pose a hurdle for Newsom’s redistricting push, which is intended to bolster Democratic chances of reclaiming the House. The new maps are expected to be released by Friday.

Citrin said: “If this is the starting point, then they will have a struggle.”

An Illinois judge, meanwhile, refused state authorities’ request to prosecute Texas House Democrats who fled to the state to break quorum in an attempt to prevent a redistricting effort that could give Republicans an additional five seats in the U.S. House.

On Wednesday, Judge Scott Larson of the Eighth Circuit Court of Illinois denied Texas’ demand to extend a civil arrest warrant issued on August 8 for Democrats who fled there, stating that his court lacked jurisdiction.

Larson concluded Paxton and Burrows had “failed to present a legal basis for the court” and said he could not instruct Illinois law enforcement to enforce civil warrants imposed on “nonresidents temporarily located in the State of Illinois.”