Newsom calls for a special election to introduce new US House maps
Lauren Gambino
“Today is liberation day in the state of California,” Gavin Newsom said, announcing his plans to ask voters to approve new congressional maps in response to a redistricting plan by Texas.
To critics who fear a redistricting arms race, Newsom said:
It’s not good enough to just hold hands, have a candlelight vigil and talk about the way the world should be. We have got to recognize the cards that have been dealt. And we have got to meet fire with fire.
Other blue states need to stand up.
Key events
Eric Holder, who served as attorney general in the Obama administration and now leads an organization aimed at eliminating politics from the process of drawing congressional districts, endorsed California governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to redraw his state’s map if Texas goes ahead with its plan to draw a new map this year.
Here’s how the statement from Holder, the chair of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee begins:
Nobody wins a redistricting arms race, least of all the American people. But Trump’s demand for extreme and unjustified mid-decade gerrymanders in Texas and beyond—with too many Republicans ready and willing to be complicit in his orders to predetermine the outcome of the next federal election—has brought a new, dangerous threat to free and fair elections in America. That’s why I support responsible and responsive actions—on a temporary basis—to ensure that the foundations of our democracy are not permanently eroded and to leave a basis for needed reform.
Governor Newsom’s proposal for a redraw process adheres to that vision. It stands in stark contrast to the power grab unfolding in Texas, by allowing voters a chance to weigh in and, in 2030, returning California to its long-standing commission process.
“Our democracy is under attack. We have no choice but to defend it,” Holder said, adding that congress should pass “a federal ban against partisan gerrymandering, to ensure that our nation never has to go through this again”.
Here’s a recap of the day so far
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As the federal takeover of the DC police continues, the Pentagon said today that all 800 national guard troops have been mobilised – with around 200 soldiers at a time taking turns to assist federal agents and the Metropolitan police department (MPD). Last night protesters heckled federal law enforcement officials as they reportedly stopped dozens of cars at a checkpoint along a busy street in Washington DC – chanting “get off our streets” and “go home, fascists”. The White House said that federal officers made 45 arrests on Wednesday evening.
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Meanwhile, Donald Trump repeated the baseless claim that crime in the nation’s capital is the “worst it’s ever been”, despite data from the justice department showing that DC experienced a 30-year low in violent crime in 2024. Trump also said, again without evidence, that DC officials have created fake statistics to portray the rate of violent crime declining in the city. He added that they are “under investigation”, but didn’t name anyone specifically.
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Also today, DC police chief Pamela Smith issued an executive order that allows the MPD to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents about undocumented immigrants they find during traffic stops. For his part, the president called this “a great step” while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office.
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And looking beyond Washington, the president prefaced his summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on a couple of occasions today. He said that his chief aim was to set up a second meeting with Putin, himself and Volodymyr Zelenskyy all present. “I’d like to see it happen very quickly,” he said.
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Notably, Trump was less forthright when asked if “anything less than an unconditional and immediate ceasefire” would be considered a success at tomorrow’s summit. “We’re going to find out where everybody stands … if it’s a bad meeting, it’ll end very quickly, and if it’s a good meeting, we’re going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future,” he said.
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The president also made an international cold-call last month to Norway’s finance minister – to ask about a nomination for the Nobel peace prize, according to reports today by Norwegian press.
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Finally, and closer to home, California governor Gavin Newsom announced plans to hold a special election to approve new congressional maps in response to a redistricting plan by Texas. “We have got to recognize the cards that have been dealt. And we have got to meet fire with fire,” he said today at a press conference.
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This comes as Texas Democrats said on Thursday they are prepared to return to the state under certain conditions, ending a nearly two-week-long effort to block Republicans from passing a new congressional map that would add five GOP seats.
All 800 national guard troops deployed have been activated, Pentagon says
In a statement, the Department of Defense said that all 800 national guard troops deployed this week are now mobilised.
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson underscored that troops will not be arresting people, “but they may temporarily limit the movement of an individual who has entered a restricted or secured area without permission”.
About 200 soldiers at a time will support federal law enforcement and the Metropolitan police department (MPD) in the nation’s capital. “They will remain there until law and order has been restored in the district, as determined by the president – standing as the gatekeepers of our great nation’s capital,” Wilson said.
Sam Levine
Texas Democrats said on Thursday they are prepared to return to the state under certain conditions, ending a nearly two-week-long effort to block Republicans from passing a new congressional map that would add five GOP seats.
The lawmakers said they would return as long as the legislature ends its first special session on Friday, which Republicans have said they plan to do. Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, has said he will immediately call another special session.
The Democrats also said they would return once California introduces a new congressional map that would add five Democratic seats, offsetting the gains in Texas.
Gene Wu, chair of the Texas house Democratic caucus, said in a statement that he and his colleagues “successfully mobilized the nation against Trump’s assault on minority voting rights”.
“Facing threats of arrest, lawfare, financial penalties, harassment and bomb threats, we have stood firm in our fight against a proposed Jim Crow congressional district map,” he said. “Now, as Democrats across the nation join our fight to cause these maps to fail their political purpose, we’re prepared to bring this battle back to Texas under the right conditions and to take this fight to the courts.”
Newsom calls for a special election to introduce new US House maps
Lauren Gambino
“Today is liberation day in the state of California,” Gavin Newsom said, announcing his plans to ask voters to approve new congressional maps in response to a redistricting plan by Texas.
To critics who fear a redistricting arms race, Newsom said:
It’s not good enough to just hold hands, have a candlelight vigil and talk about the way the world should be. We have got to recognize the cards that have been dealt. And we have got to meet fire with fire.
Other blue states need to stand up.
Lauren Gambino
Border patrol has showed up outside Gavin Newsom’s event at the democracy center in Los Angeles.
Local news reported that at least one man was arrested, as the governor vowed on X that Democrats would “not be intimidated”.
Inside, speakers referenced the enforcement activity. Ann Burroughs, president of the Japanese American National Museum, said the center was built on the site because it was where, in 1942, Japanese American families were forced onto buses that took them to incarceration camps for the duration of the second world war.
“What happened in 1942 is not much different from what is happening now,” she said, “as Ice is stalking the streets of our city and the terror that Ice is inflicting on our sisters and brothers in the immigrant community.”
Lauren Gambino
Democrats have gathered in Los Angeles in a show of unity in support of the Election Rigging Response Act.
Speakers have included labor leaders, a teachers union, the state’s Planned Parenthood head and a member of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission who said she believes mapmaking is best left out of the hands of politicians. But, she said, “extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures”.
Jodi Hicks of Planned Parenthood assailed the nine House Republicans from California who supported legislation rolling back reproductive rights: “You take away our freedoms, we’ll take away your seats.”
David Huerta, the president of the Service Employees International Union California, who was arrested and detained during protests over the administration’s immigration raids in June, said his state is fighting to save the country from “an authoritarian” in the White House.
“I trust California voters will save our democracy,” he said.
Trump cold-called Norwegian minister about Nobel peace prize
Donald Trump called Norway’s finance minister out of the blue last month to discuss tariffs – and to tell him that he wanted the Nobel peace prize, Norwegian business daily Dagens Næringsliv reported today.
“Out of the blue, while finance minister Jens Stoltenberg was walking down the street in Oslo, Donald Trump called,” Dagens Næringsliv reported, citing unnamed sources. “He wanted the Nobel prize – and to discuss tariffs.”
This was not the first time Trump had raised the prize in discussions with Stoltenberg, the paper noted.
In a comment to Reuters, Stoltenberg said the call was to discuss tariffs and economic cooperation before Trump’s call with Jonas Støre, the Norwegian prime minister. “I will not go into further detail about the content of the conversation,” he added.
Several White House officials, including treasury secretary Scott Bessent and trade representative Jamieson Greer, were on the call, Stoltenberg added.
Several countries including Israel, Pakistan and Cambodia have nominated Trump for brokering peace agreements or ceasefires, and the president has claimed many times that he deserves the Norwegian-bestowed accolade, which four of his White House predecessors, including Barack Obama, have received.
With hundreds of candidates nominated each year, laureates are chosen by the Norwegian Nobel committee, whose five members are appointed by Norway’s parliament according to the will of Swedish 19th-century industrialist Alfred Nobel. The announcement comes in October in Oslo.
The White House on 31 July announced a 15% tariff on imports from Norway, the same as the European Union. Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that Norway and the United States were still in talks regarding the tariffs.
Lauren Gambino
Hello from the very intentionally chosen National Center for the Preservation of Democracy at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, where Gavin Newsom has teased a “major” redistricting announcement.
Seated in the front row are several Democratic members of the California congressional delegation including representatives Maxine Waters, Pete Aguilar and Judy Chu and senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, holding signs that say “defend Democracy” and “election rigging response act”.
The California governor has vowed to retaliate against Texas’s plan to redraw its maps to give Republicans a five-seat advantage before the 2026 congressional midterms.
Beyoncé’s Texas Hold ’em just played on the loudspeaker.
Sam Levine
Sean Dunn, the Washington DC man who was charged with assault on Wednesday after throwing a sandwich at a federal law enforcement agent, worked for the justice department and has been fired, the US attorney general Pam Bondi said on Thursday.
Dunn worked in the department’s criminal division as an international affairs specialist in the office of international affairs, according to a department spokesperson.
“If you touch any law enforcement officer, we will come after you,” Bondi said in a post on X. “You will NOT work in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement.”
That statement was immediately met with ridicule online. The department currently employs Jared Wise, a former January 6 defendant, who urged rioters to kill police officers. Trump issued a blanket pardon on his first day in office to roughly 1,500 people involved in the Capitol riot, many of whom attacked law enforcement.
Second meeting is chief aim of Alaska summit with Putin, Trump says
When asked whether “anything less than an unconditional and immediate ceasefire” would be considered a success at Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin tomorrow, the president avoided the question.
“All I want to do is set the table for the next meeting, which should happen shortly. I’d like to see it happen very quickly,” Trump said. “We’re going to find out where everybody stands, and I’ll know within the first two minutes … it’s a bad meeting, it’ll end very quickly, and if it’s a good meeting, we’re going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future.”
But yesterday, the president said, unequivocally, that Russia would face “very severe consequences” if Putin does not agree a ceasefire at his initial summit with Trump in Alaska.
Trump repeats baseless claims of “phony crime stats” from DC police
The president said, once again without evidence, that DC officials have created fake statistics that show the rate of violent crime declining in the city.
He added that they are “under investigation”, but didn’t name anyone specifically.
“They’re phony crime stats, and Washington DC is at its worst point, and it will soon be at its best point,” he said.
Trump praises executive order allowing MPD to notify Ice agents about undocumented immigrants at traffic stops
The president just called an executive order – signed by DC police chief Pamela Smith – “a great step”. The action, signed today, allows the department to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents about undocumented immigrants they find during traffic stops.
Trump didn’t confirm whether he pressured the Metropolitan police department to issue the order, when asked by a reporter in the Oval Office. “I think that’s going to happen all over the country,” he added.
