‘Poked the bear’ - Governor says California to change election maps to counter Texas move

California Governor Gavin Newsom. Photo / Supplied

California unveiled plans to redraw its electoral districts today, as Democrats push back on what they say is Donald Trump’s effort to rig next year’s Congressional elections to safeguard his slim Republican majority.

Governor Gavin Newsom said he would ask voters to approve new maps that would effectively neutralise changes Texas is planning that are expected to give Republicans more seats in the House of Representatives.

“Today is Liberation Day in the State of California,” Newsom told supporters at the Democracy Centre in Los Angeles.

“Donald Trump, you have poked the bear, and we will punch back,” he said, a reference to the animal that symbolises the 39-million strong state.

The move came after weeks of manoeuvring in Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott - acting at Trump’s behest - is trying to redraw electoral districts to benefit his Republican Party, a process known as gerrymandering.

Districts are usually redrawn every 10 years after the national census and are supposed to be based on its findings, so that districts accurately represent the people who live there.

The mid-decade effort to change the boundaries is seen by Democrats as a naked attempt to bolster the GOP, and to help it retain its narrow House majority in next year’s Midterms.

Dozens of Texas Democrats have fled the state in an effort to block the passage of the proposed blueprint during a special legislative session, even as Republicans have threatened to arrest them.

Newsom said a special ballot on November 4 would ask California voters to create temporary congressional districts for the next two elections, with power to set boundaries returned to an independent commission thereafter.

“We’re doing this in reaction to a President of the United States that called a sitting governor of the state of Texas and said, ‘find me five seats.’

“He is, once again, trying to rig the system. He doesn’t play by a different set of rules; he doesn’t believe in the rules.

“We have got to recognise the cards that have been dealt, and we have got to meet fire with fire.”

Newsom, who is believed to harbour Oval Office ambitions, has emerged as a leading anti-Trump voice from a Democratic Party still floundering after last year’s ballot box drubbing.

The two men have frequently locked horns, including over aggressive immigration enforcement raids the administration ordered in Los Angeles.

In June, after thousands took to the streets to protest seemingly indiscriminate arrests by masked and unidentified agents, Trump sent in the National Guard and the Marines, claiming it was necessary to restore order.

Today, masked Border Patrol agents were seen outside the Democracy Centre, part of a museum in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles, despite there being no obvious presence of their usual arrest targets.

Newsom’s press conference came after he had trolled Trump for days on social media, aping the President’s instantly recognisable style.

A series of all-caps posts from Newsom’s official account have employed Trumpian language and been sprinkled liberally - if not logically - with punctuation, as well as nicknames, boasts and silly-sounding threats.

“DONNIE J. AND KaroLYIN’ LEAVITT WILL HAVE THEIR (LITTLE) HANDS “FULL” TODAY,” read one tweet today, referring to the president and his press spokeswoman.

“I, GAVIN CHRISTOPHER NEWSOM, AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR (MANY SAY), WILL HOST THE GREATEST PRESS CONFERENCE OF ALL TIME. AFTER THAT — “THE MAPS” WILL SOON BE RELEASED. VERY MUCH ANTICIPATED.”

-Agence France-Presse