California Governor Gavin Newsom has encountered a serious obstacle in his attempt to redraw the state’s Congressional map, aimed at countering Texas’s redistricting maneuvers.
Currently, that authority is granted to an independent commission, separate from the authority of both the governor and the state legislature. Voters in 2008 passed Proposition 11, establishing the California Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC), which would draw the lines for state legislative districts. In 2010, they expanded the CRC's authority to cover Congressional districts as well.
For Newsom to wrest control of redistricting from the independent commission back to the legislature, he would need a constitutional amendment, requiring a two-thirds majority in both the State Assembly and Senate, and final approval from voters in a statewide referendum. The only issue is, the move is not at all popular among Californians.
According to a new poll, 64 percent of Californians prefer to keep the commission independent.
A new POLITICO poll shows California voters prefer keeping an independent line-drawing panel to determine the state’s House seats “by nearly a two-to-one margin” (64%) while only “36% of respondents back returning congressional redistricting authority to state lawmakers pic.twitter.com/O8QOzzcHib
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) August 14, 2025
If the poll holds, Newsom’s gerrymandering threats are effectively empty. Lacking majority support, he would be pushed toward far less democratic methods to reshape California’s districts, a risky gambit for a would-be 2028 presidential contender who likely doesn’t possess the political capital for such actions.
