Texas gerryander

NBC News -   Two can play at the redistricting game: Democrats in America’s biggest blue states are hatching plans to counter a move by Texas Republicans to draw a new House map in their own favor.

Retaliation threats have come from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who have both vowed to eliminate GOP-held seats in their states. But the changes are easier said than done.

Democrats have legal hurdles to jump through in California and New York, which have restrictions on partisan gerrymandering — something liberal advocates pushed for in previous years in the name of good government. Texas has no such limits, so GOP Gov. Greg Abbott has called a special session to draw a new map.

Newsom hopes to get around his state’s independent redistricting commission by working with the Democratic-dominated Legislature to set up a special election for a statewide ballot measure on Nov. 4. The measure would include a trigger that says a pre-drawn new House map expected to boost Democrats would take effect if Texas implemented a new map, a source close to the governor told NBC News.

“We’re not going to roll over. And we’re going to fight fire with fire,” Newsom said. “Whatever they are doing will be neutered here in the state of California.”

Hochul also seeks a tit-for-tat response to Texas and has to use a constitutional amendment process to overcome New York’s independent commission. Her new proposal would transfer the commission’s power of redrawing congressional districts to the Legislature, but only if another state engaged in mid-decade redistricting first. But the change still has to pass multiple rounds of approval, and any new maps possibly created wouldn’t be in effect until at least the 2028 elections.  More