California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday sent a letter to President Donald Trump threatening to redistrict his state unless Republicans in red states agree to call off plans to redraw their congressional district maps.
Trump said in an interview with CNBC last week that Texas Republicans are "entitled" to redrawing their congressional district maps to give themselves five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives because California is gerrymandered in favor of Democrats.
White House spokesman Steven Cheung later called Newsom "a loser of the highest order" in an interview, adding that he will "never be president no matter how hard he prostitutes himself to the press."
Newsom wrote in his letter obtained by the Los Angeles Times that if Trump and Republicans "will not stand down" on redistricting plans, "I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states. But if the other states call off their redistricting efforts, we will happily do the same. And American democracy will be better for it."
The governor added that Republicans are "playing with fire, risking the destabilization of our democracy, while knowing that California can neutralize any gains you hope to make," he told Trump in the letter. "This attempt to rig congressional maps to hold onto power before a single vote is cast in the 2026 election is an affront to American democracy."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.