(KGTV) — “Where there's a redistricting plan, there's almost always a lawsuit following it, and that doesn't necessarily mean that anything was illegal about the redistricting process,” said Thad Kousser, Political Science Professor at UCSD.
Political experts are calling the white house’s move “expected.”
President Trump said on Monday that he is quote, “going to be filing a lawsuit pretty soon” in response to Newsom’s redistricting battle.
The mid-decade push was originally made by republicans in the Lone Star State to gain five more seats
Now, as the Golden State drew up new maps to do the same, the number of republicans could be cut down from nine representatives to five.
But not without pushback from the top.
“When the Department of Justice sues, that brings a lot of resources with it. It brings a lot of lawyers in Washington D.C,” said Kousser.
But the grounds to sue were not made clear just yet.
“It would be more surprising, but perhaps there could be a voting rights aspect of the trump administration's suit against California. This is being embraced by many Californians who see it as a way to finally fight back against the trump administration, and I think this lawsuit by the trump administration, if it's ultimately unsuccessful, it feeds that narrative,” said Kousser.
According to ABC 10News's Survey USA poll, 52% of the registered voters polled supported the state’s plan to redistrict.
49% said they would vote yes if the special election to override the independent commission was held today.
“Well, this special election is really moving from a theoretical question about how districts should be drawn in California, to what the right way is to do redistricting? It's moving from that to California versus Donald Trump. Gavin Newsom versus Donald Trump,” said Kousser.
If the maps are approved, they’ll be in effect for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 congressional elections.
After that, map-drawing power would return to the independent redistricting commission.
