California Governor Gavin Newsom said he will place a measure on the November 2025 ballot that would temporarily redraw the state’s congressional map and, according to Democratic leaders, add about five seats to their party’s House tally. Newsom framed the plan as a direct response to Republican-controlled Texas, which is moving ahead with a mid-decade remap that could yield a similar gain for the GOP. Draft California districts based on earlier work by the state’s independent commission are expected to be released for public review this week. Texas Republicans added redistricting to a special legislative session after the U.S. Justice Department warned that four existing districts in Houston and Dallas were illegally configured on racial lines. Governor Greg Abbott argues the new map is needed before the 2026 midterms and has vowed to keep lawmakers in session until it passes. More than 50 Texas Democratic representatives left the state on 3 August, largely relocating to Illinois, to deny the House a quorum and block the vote. The standoff has escalated into litigation and financial penalties. Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked the Texas Supreme Court to declare the seats of 13 absent Democrats vacant, citing ‘abandonment of office’; House leadership has docked office budgets by 30 percent and imposed daily fines of $500. Separately, a Tarrant County judge issued a temporary restraining order barring former Representative Beto O’Rourke from raising money for the lawmakers, calling the effort potentially deceptive. Abbott has directed state police, and says the FBI is assisting, to detain the lawmakers should they re-enter Texas. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, labeling the Texans “heroes,” has pledged that state law enforcement will not honor arrest requests, saying “Texas law does not apply in Illinois.” With partisan control of the narrowly divided U.S. House at stake, Democrats in New York and Illinois have hinted at their own mid-decade mapping efforts, prompting Republican Representative Kevin Kiley to introduce federal legislation that would bar redistricting outside the normal 10-year cycle. Both parties now acknowledge the prospect of a national tit-for-tat remap unless Congress intervenes.