Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom perfectly responded to Texas Republicans passing the gerrymander Donald J. Trump requested, with the new map helping Republicans flip as many as five seats. Newsom signed legislation to create new congressional districts in California as a direct countermove to Republicans in Texas. And now, California Republicans are worried that Newsom's move would be a "guillotine" for their party in that state, as it will reduce what little power they have.
Politico reports:
Republicans wield almost no power in California. But as a moribund state party gathered here over the weekend, it confronted an even grimmer reality now suddenly settling in: If the state gerrymanders its congressional map, they’ll practically be an endangered species.
“It’s a guillotine,” said Dale Quasny, a party delegate and real-estate broker from suburban Los Angeles County. “We won’t be able to pick up the pieces and move forward. I mean, we were making a little headway, but this would be a catastrophe.”
Long locked out of power in Sacramento, one thing that Republicans here and nationally have counted on for years from California was influence in U.S. House races — and the ability to help deliver Republican majorities by winning battleground races in the state’s Central Valley and Orange County.
Now they’re on the brink of losing even that — a consequence of the redistricting wars that could cost the GOP as many as five House seats in California.
It is in part the Republican president, Donald Trump, who got them here. The GOP base in the state is as ardently MAGA as anywhere. But it was Trump’s push for a Republican gerrymandering in deep-red Texas that sparked a national battle over redistricting, provoking Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders to respond with a Nov. 4 ballot measure to gerrymander California’s lines.
Even Republicans here, while chiding Newsom, were critical of Trump’s redistricting effort. And as rank-and-file members of the GOP gathered in Orange County for their annual convention, the festivities were overshadowed by angst over the consequences of redistricting in a deep-blue state.
“I’m certainly frustrated that our party’s leadership has not been more proactive in trying to stop a redistricting war,” said Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley, whose seat in the Sacramento suburbs is at risk of being drawn out of existence. “We shouldn’t be having mid-decade redistricting in any state.”
This is a self-inflicted wound from taking the lead from President Crybaby Pee Pants, who was trying to avoid the well-deserved shellacking his party is expected to take in the midterm elections, and Trump knows that will make him look bad, so he signaled to Texas Republicans to add five seats for the GOP. Newsom is fighting back, and it's working.
