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California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday that his condition would organize a special election on November 4 to obtain voters approval for a new electoral card aimed at allowing Democrats to win five additional seats in the House of Representatives in 2026.
This initiative is a direct response to an initiative led by the Republicans in Texas, supported by President Donald Trump, while his party seeks to keep its small majority in the Chamber after the mid-term elections.
Texan legislators are considering a new card that would allow them to send five additional Republicans to Washington. The Democrats, who have so far blocked the vote by leaving the state, announced on Thursday that they would return home if the state republicans ended their current extraordinary session and if California published its own proposal for an electoral redistribution. These two events were to take place on Friday. The republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, is expected to convene another extraordinary session to have the new cards adopted.
“We cannot stay crossing and watch this democracy disappear district after district throughout the country,” said Mr. Newsom, joined by eminent union leaders and democratic politicians.
Californian legislators must officially declare a special election, which they plan to do next week after voting on new electoral cards.
Democrats have the majority of qualified in both chambers, and Mr. Newsom said he was not worried about obtaining the required support for the legislators to advance the cards.
The Democrats said that they intended to carry out a campaign that would not be limited to electoral cards, by explicitly linking it to the fate of American democracy and presenting it as an opportunity for voters to reject Trump’s policies.
“Donald Trump, you have provoked the bear and we will fight back,” said Newsom, considered a potential presidential candidate in 2028, at a press conference with other Democrats.
