“It’s time to stand down,” California Governor Gavin Newsom cautioned President Donald Trump. “It’s time to, dare I say, do the right thing.”
Newsom is known for frequently clashing with Trump, especially as the former has emerged as a prominent figure for the Democratic presidential nomination for 2028—a race that Trump has expressed interest in despite constitutional term limits and one in which he nonetheless remains a factor.
But the 2026 midterm elections are currently the primary point of contention. As Trump and Republicans have pursued a strategy to enhance the party’s prospects of retaining its narrow House majority, Democrats have threatened to retaliate in kind.
“It’s time to make another phone call to [Texas Gov.] Greg Abbott—this time instead of calling them and telling him you’re ‘entitled’ to five congressional seats, it’s time to tell him to stand down,” Newsom warned Trump in a video posted Monday on X. “If you don’t, California will neutralize anything you do in the state of Texas.”
“We will fight fire with fire,” Newsom stated.
Newsom also dispatched a letter to Trump carrying the same threat. “You are playing with fire, risking the destabilization of our democracy, while knowing that California can neutralize any gains you hope to make,” he wrote. “If you will not stand down, I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states. But if the other states call off their redistricting efforts, we will happily do the same. And American democracy will be better for it.”
Newsom’s press office announced at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time on Monday that Trump had “24 hours” to respond to the letter. “IF HE DOES NOT STAND DOWN, THERE WILL BE A VERY IMPORTANT PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH A MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER,” the press office stated, mimicking Trump’s social media posting style, phrasings, and capitalization.
Trump did not immediately publicly respond to Newsom, and the White House did not provide a comment to TIME’s request Monday night.
How California plans to ‘neutralize’ any Republican gains
State legislatures typically redraw their congressional district maps every 10 years to account for population changes. These maps can be redrawn to politically benefit the party currently in power.
But in California, where three-quarters of the state legislature is Democratic, an independent commission composed of equal numbers of Democrats, Republicans, and independents is tasked with redistricting—a shift overwhelmingly supported by California voters in 2010.
Newsom, however, indicated he would, in retaliation to Republican redistricting efforts, seek to discard the commission’s maps and instead utilize maps drawn by state Democrats. He would need to act swiftly to get state lawmakers to approve a special election later this month in November for Californians to vote on the use of the maps for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections.
Not the only redistricting threat
Newsom joins other Democratic governors who have issued similar threats to pursue congressional redistricting if the effort in Texas succeeds.
“If Republicans are willing to rewrite these rules to give themselves an advantage, then they’re leaving us no choice, we must do the same,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul stated.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said he is considering “all options” as the state’s House Majority Leader David Moon is drafting trigger legislation that would initiate Maryland’s redistricting if Texas approves new districts.
Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois, where many Democrats have succeeded in efforts to block their state from moving forward with Republican-led redistricting, told Politico last week that a similar effort to what Newsom has proposed in California “was possible” in his state. Pritzker added: “Everything is on the table. Look, we’ve got to fight fire with fire.”
Texas unfazed
All these threats, however, do not seem to deter Texas Governor Abbott, who has issued his own threats to Democrats. “All of those big blue states, they’ve already gerrymandered,” Abbott told Fox News Monday.
Abbott also believes that his state possesses a greater ability to counter any tit-for-tat redistricting efforts. “If California tries to gerrymander five more districts—listen, Texas has the ability to eliminate 10 Democrats in our states. We can play that game more than they can because they have fewer Republican districts in their states.” Texas is currently represented by 25 Republicans and 12 Democrats in the U.S. House, while California has 43 Democrats and only 9 Republicans.