California leaders to ask voters to authorize midterm congressional redistricting to counter Republican gerrymandering

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gavin Newsom and a coalition of California elected officials, labor leaders and advocacy groups announced at the Japanese American National Museum’s Democracy Center that they will seek voter approval to allow the state to redraw congressional districts in midterm years to respond to what they called partisan redistricting elsewhere.

The proposal, as described at the rally, would place a measure on a special election ballot on Nov. 4 asking voters to authorize temporary congressional redistricting in 2026, 2028 and 2030; the leaders said the plan also will require two-thirds legislative consent before appearing on the ballot and that the state would return to use of its independent citizens redistricting commission after the 2030 census.

Why it matters: Speakers said Republican-led redistricting in states such as Texas and other actions by the federal administration pose a national threat to equal representation, and they argued California — with the country’s largest congressional delegation and the nation’s fourth-largest economy — must…