California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed a legislative package called the “Election Rigging Response Act” that allows redistricting efforts across the state.
“Californians have been uniquely targeted by the Trump Administration, and thanks to the hard work of the California legislature, they will have a choice to fight back — and bring much needed accountability to Trump’s efforts to undermine the democratic process,” Newsom said in a statement.
According to a release from the governor’s office, the legislative package gives Californians an “opportunity” in November to “push back against President Trump’s power grab in Texas and other Republican-led states. In doing so, Proposition 50 – named for the 50 United States – would allow Californians an opportunity to bring some much-needed accountability to the Trump Administration.”
The legislative package includes Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8, which allows constituents to “adopt a new, temporary Congressional map, in response to the congressional redistricting in Texas, that neutralizes Trump’s power grab;” Senate Bill 280, which establishes a timeline to conduct a special election across the state and sets aside funding for the election, and Assembly Bill 604, which creates “temporary Congressional District Maps that would take effect if the people vote to pass ACA 8 on November 4.”
Upon signing the legislation, Newsom declared California will be the “first state in U.S. history” to “submit to the people of our state the ability to determine their own maps.”
“I remind you all the time, it’s not the rule of law. It’s the rule of Don, and we’re standing up to that,” he added.
California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin condemned the legislative efforts, stating, “Governor Newsom has signed into law a blatant power grab, rushed through in secret by Democrats in the very kind of backroom process Californians voted to abolish when they created the independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. Voters established the Commission to guarantee fairness and transparency, and Democrats just shredded it to protect their own power.”
Rankin added that the special election will “waste hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on a rushed special election at a time when Californians are struggling with the cost of living, crime, and homelessness,” vowing to “fight this corruption in court and at the ballot box.”
