One thing California Republicans can agree on is that they want to derail Gov. Gavin Newsom’s bid to redistrict California to gain more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives; however they are sharply divided on how to go about doing it.
Reacting to how Texas pushed through a remap of the state in a bid to pick up an estimated five seats in the belief it would allow the GOP to keep majority control of the House in the 2026 midterms, the California Democratic governor responded in kind, by getting his party to pass a bill, which he signed, that will let voters decide if they want to make Republican lawmakers representing the state in Congress even rarer.
That has led to the creation of two conservative groups in California, quickly raising funds to stop the initiative, but they are not on the same page about the approach.
The bone of contention? Donald Trump’s involvement.
According to Politico’s Emily Schultheis and Will McCarthy, “Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is raising money for a Stop Sacramento’s Power Grab committee, while former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has backed donor Charles Munger Jr.’s Protect Voters First.”
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What they can agree on is they want to stop Newsom, but they are split on whether Trump entering the fray will be helpful or whether the president, who is widely unpopular in the state, will become an anchor that with drag their efforts down.
Calling their differences a “core divide” the report notes, “Those divergent arguments are also a far cry from what Californians are hearing from many national Republicans, who are currently cheerleading red states to engage in the same type of partisan gerrymandering that Newsom says provoked Prop 50.”
“Neither side seems eager to publicly embrace Trump, but it will probably grow more difficult for either of them to keep him out of the race,” the report added.
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