California Republican moves to ban middecade redistricting wars

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Aug 5, 2025

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A California Republican is pushing a bill in Congress that would ban virtually all redistricting before 2030, a move that would kill President Donald Trump’s effort to flip up to five Democratic seats in Texas and also efforts to retaliate by blue states like New York and California.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., says he plans to introduce legislation on Tuesday that would bar middecade nationwide and nullify any new maps approved before the next census is carried out in 2030.

“This will also stop a damaging redistricting war from breaking out across the country,” Kiley said in a statement.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-New York, who represents a swingy Westchester County-based district, has said he will introduce a similar bill to ban all gerrymandering in all states.

The seats represented by both Lawler and Kiley could be on the chopping block if Democrats to the Texas effort by gerrymandering their own congressional maps.

“Newsom is trying to subvert the will of voters and do lasting damage to democracy in California,” Kiley said. “Fortunately, Congress has the ability to protect California voters.”

Trump, who has pushed the Texas effort to flip Democratic seats in the 2026 midterms, showed no interest in any redistricting compromise Tuesday.

“I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats,” Trump told CNBC.

GOP leaders in Congress, who would need to give the green light, haven’t commented on the proposals by Kiley and Lawler.

Although Kiley slammed Newsom, the most immediate impact of his legislation would be to nix the controversial Republican effort to rejigger Texas congressional map with the goal of changing the current 25-13 GOP edge to a 30-8 margin.

The Lone Star State GOP has launched the effort after Trump demanded they find a way to give Republicans more seats in an effort to hold onto the House of Representatives in what is shaping up as a tricky political environment in 2026.

Democratic state lawmakers fled the state Monday and for now have succeeded in denying a quorum for Republicans to move ahead. But most analysts believe the GOP can eventually muscle through its move in Texas.

Republicans in other red states like Missouri, Florida, Ohio and Indiana are also considering similar efforts to nuke Democratic seats before 2026.

But Democrats are considering responding with changes of their own.

If Texas goes ahead with its redistricting plan, Newsom says he will push to redraw California’s map to benefit Democrats. The Golden State’s delegation is now split 43-9 in favor of Democrats but political insiders say it could easily be redrawn to give Democrats up to a 49-3 edge.

Gov. Hochul is also vowing to fight fire with fire by redrawing New York’s map to extend Democratic edge from the current 19-7 margin, although any such effort is unlikely to take effect in time for the 2026 vote.