House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Monday he has directed his chamber's campaign arm for Republicans to do what it can to prevent an effort to redraw California's congressional districts designed to thwart a similar middecade redistricting plan in Texas.
California Democrats on Friday proposed a new congressional map that seeks to neutralize the five-seat gain expected under Texas' redistricting plan. Led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, they are putting the map on the ballot in a special election in November, bypassing the state's independent redistricting commission.
"Unlike other states, California must shred its own Constitution to succeed in its desperate gambit to 'end the Trump presidency,'" Johnson posted on X. "Voters in California and across the nation see through this partisan stunt. Gavin Newsom should spend less time trampling his state's laws for a blatant power grab, and more time working to change the disastrous, far-left policies that are destroying California.
"Newsom obviously wants to launch a presidential campaign on the backs of disenfranchised California voters, but it will not work."
Johnson wrote that he asked the National Republican Congressional Committee "to use every measure and resource possible" to rally against California's new map.
"Democrats across the nation have played politics with redistricting for decades, and this is just the latest example," Johnson wrote. "Republicans who are following state and federal laws will not be lectured by people who abused the system. I have instructed the NRCC to use every measure and resource possible to fight the California Democrats' illegal power grab.
"I will continue to lead efforts to defend our House Republican incumbents and grow our majority so that we can continue to deliver on our common sense, America First agenda."
Johnson wrote that California's effort, spearheaded by Newsom and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is "a slap in the face" to those who support the state's independent redistricting commission.
"Gavin Newsom's latest attempt to disenfranchise millions of California voters was written in the dark of night by the DCCC — more than 2,700 miles away from Sacramento in Washington," Johnson wrote. "This is a slap in the face to Californians who overwhelmingly support the California Citizens Redistricting Commission."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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