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California Resolves To Fight Trump's Power Grab

In 2020, Trump called for Georgia to reverse President Biden's win in that state: "I just want you to find 11,780 votes..." Georgia did not comply.

This year, Trump asked Governor Greg Abbott of Texas to redraw that state's map of congressional districts to give Republicans five more districts where they are assured of winning in the 2026 midterm elections. Abbott readily agreed, and called a special session of the state legislature ("the lege") to get on with his assigned task. Trump is clearly worried about losing control of the House — and he should be.

Texas Democrats walked out and left the state, denying the lege a quorum. Under Texas law, this shuts it down. But Abbott put a hefty fine on the Democrats, and the FBI threatened to arrest them. When Beto O'Rourke tried to raise money for the Democrats, Texas AG Ken Paxton threatened to arrest him. An El Paso judge blocked that with a temporary restraining order.

The Democrats returned to Texas after two weeks, when the special session ended. But Abbott, as expected, called another one, and the lege, as expected, passed the measure. In addition, Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows required the Democrats to sign "permission slips" authorizing public safety officials to follow them around when they left the House, and consenting to arrest if they left town during legislative sessions. Nicole Collier did not comply, and she spent the night locked in the building. Now some Democrats are fighting this outlandish requirement.

It now goes to Abbott's desk. He will certainly sign it. After that, the court challenges will begin.

Other challenges have already begun. California's Governor Gavin Newsom proposed redrawing that state's map to give more districts to Democrats. Because an independent commission redraws California's electoral maps, this would require a special election in November. The state legislature, where Democrats hold a supermajority, approved this by a vote of 57 to 20.

Abbott, responding to Newsom, threatened to create even more Republican districts in Texas. Trump had already floated the idea of remapping other red states like Ohio and Florida. He also claims we need a new census because the one done in 2020 was flawed. And he said he will sign an executive order cancelling mail-in voting nationwide, as well as forbidding the use of certain types of voting machines.1 So goes the "football-game" model of governing in 2025 America.

California Republicans wasted no time. On Friday, 22 August, I received a slickly produced pamphlet in the mail. On the front, it bears a quotation from Gloria Chun Hoo, president of the League of Women Voters of California: "California has become a national model for independent redistricting. Let's protect the integrity of our democratic process and reject the dangerous idea of mid-cycle redistricting."

Inside, the pamphlet warns that California is in danger of backsliding to the bad old days: "For decades, Sacramento politicians drew their own district boundaries behind closed doors with no public oversight -- guaranteeing their reelection, denying voters a real choice, and shutting out many women and people of color from elected office."

Without mentioning Gov. Newsom, it declares that approving his redistricting measure will bring that situation back: "Politicians in Sacramento are rushing to abolish the Citizens Redistricting Commission's authority over congressional districts -- with plans for a steewide special election in just a few months that will cost $200 million."

"We Cannot Save Democracy by Burning it Down in California. Vote NO on Partisan Gerrymandering and Join the Coalition to Protect the Voters FIRST Act Today!"

The California League of Women Voters has written to Gov. Newsom opposing his redistricting measure. At the same time, they expressly disavow any connection with the Republican pamphlet and the Voters FIRST Act. I suspect this will prove true for the other people the pamphlet quotes.

This pamphlet presents people saying the right thing: save democracy. Left unsaid is the context that Gov. Newsom's action is intended to do exactly that, and it's only necessary because the Trump regime is bent on destroying democracy by remapping Texas and other red states to make sure the Republican Party keeps its majorities in both houses of Congress.

In short, Trump wants to cheat, and his party aims to shut down anything being done to stop him.

Sources:

1 Trump claims he got the advice to ban mail-in voting from V. Putin.
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This page was last modified on 25 August 2025.