A good government group that had previously been opposed to mid-cycle redistricting said in a new policy statement on Tuesday it will not condemn California’s redistricting effort, which it called a “counterbalancing measure” to President Donald Trump’s push to draw several new Republican-leaning seats in Texas and around the country.
Common Cause — a group historically opposed to gerrymandering and partisan redistricting — said on Tuesday it will not actively oppose any actions taken by Democratic states against Trump’s “calculated, asymmetric strategy” to boost House Republicans’ chances of maintaining control of the House, so long as the proposed maps matched “fairness criteria.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signaled his intent to move forward with his own mid-cycle redistricting effort, hoping the state’s voters will do away with maps drawn by California’s independent redistricting body.
In the statement, Common Cause said it will not endorse partisan gerrymandering in any case, but is deciding now to not condemn actions taken by states like California given the context of Trump’s efforts to “lock in unaccountable power and silence voters.”
“In this grave moment, we understand why some states, including California, are considering counterbalancing measures in response,” the statement said. “We will not endorse partisan gerrymandering even when its motive is to offset more extreme gerrymandering by a different party.”
“But a blanket condemnation in this moment would amount to a call for unilateral political disarmament in the face of authoritarian efforts to undermine fair representation and people-powered democracy,” the statement continued.
As recently as last week, Common Cause’s website featured a pop-up fundraising appeal equating Texas Republicans’ redistricting push to Newsom, who they said is “attempting to copy the GOP’s playbook to boost his profile.” And a July 24 edition of Common Cause’s “Watchdog” newsletter said Newsom and other Democrats who “claimed Democrats should fire back, gerrymandering in states they can” are “wrong” and that “all of it is anti-democratic.”
A spokesperson for Newsom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Common Cause is a decades-old watchdog group that has advocated for good governance reform like independent redistricting and campaign finance limits. It was on the losing side of the 2019 Supreme Court case Rucho v. Common Cause, where the organization sued in an effort to block a gerrymandered North Carolina congressional map.
A conservative majority of justices ruled that federal courts could not police partisan gerrymandering.
California has yet to officially propose any new lines, but new maps could yield Democrats five additional friendly districts in the state.
If approved, California’s new maps could offset the nationwide push by Trump and Republican allies to draw new maps in states beyond Texas. The Texas map could yield as many as five red seats, and the White House has spoken to Republicans in Indiana, Florida and Missouri as part of their push.
Common Cause said any partisan mid-cycle redistricting proposal must meet a set of criteria to ensure they are as fair as possible to avoid their condemnation. New redistricting efforts must be “proportional to the threat posed by mid-decade gerrymanders in other states,” approved by voters, and expire once the 2030 census takes effect.
The group said it will condemn any proposals that dilutes voting power for non-white voters, and is calling on leaders to endorse independent redistricting and other voting rights measures first passed by House Democrats after the 2018 midterms and then unsuccessfully brought back up again during the Biden administration.
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