As California’s proposed redistricting maps are released, North State representatives push back
Both Rep. Doug Lamalfa and State Sen. Megan Dahle are pushing back on a California plan that would have a significant effect on North State voters. Neither have commented on a similar redistricting effort by Texas lawmakers that preceded California’s move. Both states’ plans would impact local voters for national political purposes.
“Absurd gerrymandering” is how Republican Sen. Megan Dahle, who represents much of the North State, referred Friday to a move by Gov. Gavin Newsom to redistrict California’s congressional election maps.
She made no mention of what provoked California Democrats to undermine voter power in the state’s conservative counties – a similar process that’s occurring in Texas under Republican leadership in efforts to reduce potential Democratic gains in the 2026 general election.
In a statement against California’s proposed redistricting released last week, Rep. Doug LaMalfa also opposed it without addressing whether he feels similarly about the actions of Republican leaders in Texas.
LaMalfa, who represents Shasta County as part of California’s congressional District 1, has pledged that he and other Republican lawmakers in California will fight the redistricting effort “by any means necessary” in order to ensure the will of the people continues to be reflected in elections. He’s among five California Republicans in Congress who could lose their seats in 2026 if the proposed redistricting maps are approved by statewide voters in the fall — pending state action to prompt the ballot measure.
The moves by both states would implement what is known as gerrymandering, a process that disempowers local voters by reestablishing in-state political districts in a way that’s intended to sway larger political outcomes.
In Texas, new maps intended to ensure key congressional votes for Republican initiatives can legally be approved by legislators without the input of local constituents. In California, a series of bills underlying the redistricting must be approved first by legislators this week and then by voters during a special election on Nov. 4.
Since 2010, California congressional districts have been drawn by the bipartisan California Citizens Redistricting Commission, which utilizes census data. The process, which last occurred in 2021, is something Newsom is proposing to temporarily dissolve, allowing legislators to redraw boundaries along political lines.
Newsom has titled his redistricting bill the “Election Rigging Response Act.” It will require waiving parts of the California Constitution. If legislators vote to move forward, holding the special election this fall will cost the state about $200 million. But Newsom, who’s faced big budget issues, is undeterred. He told reporters last week that “there’s no price tag for democracy.”
What redistricting means for the North State
Proposed maps for redistricting, which were drafted out of public view, were released by the Newsom administration on Friday. The associated bills were released this morning. They go to a vote of legislators this week and if successful could move forward to California voters’ ballots this fall.
The maps will have an outsized impact on North State voters, redrawing lines in a way that would shift Shasta County into California’s District 2 where Shasta, Siskiyou, Del Norte, Trinity and Modoc counties would share a district with Humboldt, Marin and parts of both Mendocino and Sonoma. /
California Democrats are rushing to place the redistricting bill on the ballot for a special statewide election in November in order to ensure that new lines, if passed by voters, will impact the June 2026 primary. Dahle says “in shoving this plan forward”, California Democrats are “breaking an astonishing number of legislative rules and constitutional principles.”
Her press secretary, Bruce Ross, responded to Shasta Scout’s request for specifics in part by emphasizing how the speed of the process is reducing transparency. In most cases, the state legislature requires any new bill to be introduced in print 30 days before being considered, Ross pointed out. But in the case of the Election Rigging Response Act, the bills were released Monday morning with voting scheduled this week.
Newsom has sought to explain away objections by saying his proposal for redistricting would only occur in California if similar gerrymandering is implemented in Texas first. He and other Democrats who support the plan claim it’s needed to prevent a fascist takeover of America.
Texas and California are not the only states making such moves. Other conservative states including Ohio, Missouri, Indiana and Florida are also considering redistricting. National reporting indicates that Republicans will have the advantage in a wider redistricting war due to the individual specifics of each state’s redistricting process.
Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5451810-california-voters-back-independent-redistricting/
California, specifically the Governor, wants to change the existing redistricting law. So we have to vote for a change …. but only until 2030!!! What a petty waste of money.
Still, I support it because we’ll be blasted 24hr’s per day with advertising that they hate Trump. It will backfire and turn more people against the Democrat party. This is exactly what we need in Ca. What Newsome cannot see is that people like what Trump is doing and want more of it.
You typed that out, like you were trying to convince yourself, because that was laughably wrong
Propublica exposed how Democrats gamed California’s “nonpartisan” commission to gain an extra 6 seats: https://www.propublica.org/article/how-democrats-fooled-californias-redistricting-commission
Thank you, Harry, for that link. It discusses how the Democrat party worked behind the scenes to provide biased testimony and maps to the redistricting commission. As a result, the commission, that we voted for, was misinformed in a calculated way to give one party an advantage. And we know which party benefited and how we as a state have really lost. So much for ‘democracy’.
I love that redistricting Democrat donkey tail along the west coast starting in Marin County going all the way up through Sonoma, Mendocino, Trinity counties and east to Shasta County. Are the Dems trying to make a path to pillage their distorted ideologies, policies, and nonsense to the north state?
Release the Epstein files. Now.
Nice to see all the left-wing Dems commenting.
Although I’m not surprised that local Republicans, now controlled by Trump, are sniveling about this plan, and about how Shasat Scout is just issuing Democratic facts, the fact is that no court told Texas to gerrymander, Republicans have used this tool much more than Democrats, and in 2022, Congress nearly passed the Freedom to Vote Act, a landmark package of reforms that included a prohibition on partisan gerrymandering in the drawing of congressional districts, but it was shot down by Republicans. See https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/how-gerrymandering-tilts-2024-race-house. Also, as pointed out, unlike Texas, California’s Plan will be voted on by the people, and it’s temporary. This is a fair and balanced article. Thank You, Shasat Scout.
I support California’s redistricting referendum as it subverts norms of systems of oppression, centering BIPOC, Latinx, LGBTQIA+, and minoritized communities against the patriarchy’s heteronormative privilege. It combats othering, microaggressions, and existential threats to small ‘d’ democracy by removing barriers to participation for stakeholders like the unhoused, persons who immigrated, pregnant people, and justice-involved individuals facing carceration. Through allyship, intersectionality, and radical transparency, we hold space for dialoguing, avoiding triggering invalidation or deadnaming, while addressing food insecurity, housing insecurity, and environmental violence. This progressive stack ensures safe spaces, rejecting cisgender heuristics, cultural appropriation, and body shaming in our postmodern Overton Window.( /s)
This makes the taxation without representation even worse! Between this redistricting plan and the possibility that AB 495 would become law, it is getting harder to stay in California.
This is tyranny beyond anything we have seen….
It’s notable that the redrawn map is being submitted to the people to vote on. This is 180 degrees different from what the political hacks in Texas are doing. As Republicans are otherwise so quick to say, sovereignty resides with the people.
Curtis Scott: very notable.
Would you choose to report exactly why the Texas lines are being redrawn?
With the small exception that you still have not mentioned any lawsuits or legal actions taken in Texas. And the gentleman above to say that there is none is not proof, it’s inflammatory and highly suspect of party line crap! Do the damn homework.
What a couple of whiny, entitled fools. Go cry about it. As my mom would say, they can dish it out but they can’t take it. Bye LaMalfa!
In this particular instance, I think it is important as a reporter that you do a little more investigating so that you are able to report factually and not sensationally. I think he will find that the Texas gerrymandering may have been litigated prior. I do believe it is also putting the map lines back where they were before this litigation. At this point current polls shows 68% of Californians do not want the maps drawn by the Democrat legislature. They believe it should be an independent body that is in place already.. These kinds of points make the article a little more valid.
Would like to see your sources.
You have a link to you 68% pole? No? yeah I thought so
https://ktla.com/news/california/most-californians-oppose-lawmakers-taking-over-redistricting-poll-says/amp/
Those polls are the equivalent of asking Shasta County voters who they voted for, for president, then making the headline “80% of all Californians voted for trump!
Sample size is key
Howard: EXACTLY!!!
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5451810-california-voters-back-independent-redistricting/
Looks like Steve didn’t bother to do the homework either! That is the problem with these sensationalized narrative hit pieces. They rarely do a deep dive and wait for the responders to do it for them and then there’s a retraction on page 64 in the fine print lol. Have a nice day Steve.
This issue is just now coming to the forefront of California’s voters. I’ll bet the support for the redistricting plan will grow as people understand that it’s a response to Trump’s attempt to install fascism in America. In internal polling conducted for California Democrats, a proposal to temporarily sideline the state’s independent redistricting commission, framing the action as a response to a “Trump-induced political emergency,” garnered 52% support among likely voters.
This polling, shared with state lawmakers, suggests a potential path to voter approval for the “Election Rigging Response Act,” the measure aimed at temporarily overriding the independent commission’s authority to redraw congressional districts.
See:https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/08/california-redistricting-things-to-know/#:~:text=That%20is%20not%20exactly%20what,those%20lines%2C%20at%2052%25.
So two links to the same poll? It’s hard to take that seriously without any source data. A legitimate poll should clearly state who was polled, how many people participated, what methodology was used, and—most importantly—what exact questions were asked. Without that information, it’s just a headline number with no credibility. Until those details are available, citing it as proof of anything is more of a talking point than actual evidence.
Hey look, here is another poll with completely different numbers! Depending on who you ask, what questions you ask, and when you ask them, a poll could have wildly different outcomes. Your “poll results” are not proof of anything. Deep dive my ass. If you dislike California so much, by all means LEAVE
https://www.kcra.com/article/california-democratic-legislative-leaders-redistricting/65592931
Far too long the dems have applied one snaky maneuver after another. Latest one is leaving texas duties to go hide out to stall matters. Calif needs a repub back as governor…Newscum is a vile , and corrupt criminally deceptive manner. Cal needs real morality and economically feasible management.
Repubs always the ones to protest the loudest.
Texas is under a judges order to redistrict because of a lawsuit. Please do your research and stop just reading the Democrats talking points. You are not from here, so maybe you don’t know, we spent hours in public meetings coming up with a process to draw the lines for districts. In fact it was called We Draw The Lines. Look it up. The people drew the lines and we did a good job. Please don’t let your dislike for the current president color your stories on this subject.
Nadine: I linked to the We Draw the Lines commission.
Should the quote today from Trump have any effect on redistricting? Perhaps eliminating all vote by mail and no machines will make this such an “efficient non political” win for America? I think not unless you are totally oblivious and willing to give up what our constitution founded -what were those empty words ? Of the people, by the people and for the people?
“Look it up.” ROLF!! I needed a good laugh, thanks
I was going to comment but Lucian Truscott is far more eloquent describing the damage Trump is doing to this country. Truscott is commenting on the Monday meeting over Ukraine. The point is, Trump must be stripped of power, and redistricting is a good start.
“This is a defining moment not just for the United States and what kind of country we will be going forward, but for the world, and what kind of planet our children will live on in the future both near and far. Dictatorships like Putin’s and the one that clearly Donald Trump wishes to establish in this country are a cancer on the human soul.“
The Brennan Center reports that 11 states are already heavily gerrymandered by the GOP, giving them 23 house seats they likely wouldn’t have otherwise. So it’s not just Texas, it’s the GOP attempting to steal seats they don’t deserve based on the popular vote. Why Dems are expected to conform to rules and norms the GOP abandoned years ago is beyond me (remember the Supreme Court appointments refused to Obama?)
I don’t like this, but until everyone starts playing by the same set of rules, this kind of thing is going to happen. To people in the GOP who cheered prior gerrymandering, the insurrection and the supreme court fiascos, well, enjoy the race to the bottom.
LaMalfa stated at his recent town hall meeting he is opposed to what Texas is doing with regard to mid-decade gerrymandering but I doubt he has expressed his displeasure with the guy who initiated the redistricting war. That would be a good question to ask Doug or Bruce if they ever agree to talk to you.
” … if they ever agree to talk to you.”
You did notice the article says I answered the reporter’s questions and cites information I provided, right?
My statement was whether or not LaMalfa told the president about his objection to what he was doing in Texas. You said the state legislature must wait 30 days before considering a bill. What you didn’t say is the legislature can waive that time requirement with a 3/4ths majority vote. When you do agree to talk, at least make some effort to be truthful.
I always strive to be straight with reporters, and provided much more information than ended up in this piece, which is fine. Time and attention spans are finite.
But a truth I learned early when I went to work for the Legislature is that the majority party will waive the rules freely when it suits them.
This process is caused directly by the attempt by Trump to take control of the nation by a massive republican majority.
La Malfa does not represent us. He says he is pro veteran but backs trump who has no respect for our military. He supports project 2025, that is trying to send us back 100 years and subjugate women again while promoting racist behavior.
Are you saying that Donald Trump does not back our military? That’s a joke, right? You must live in a hole?
I would be greatly relieved to be represented by anyone other than LaMalfa!
Perhaps they should get on the horn with Abbott and Trump and encourage them to stop trying to go full blown project 2025 in Texas and the nation. Have they not tried stealing the upcoming 2026 elections. Lamalfa might not be facing getting 86’d out of his district. 🤷🏽♂️
I agree.