{"id":74762,"date":"2025-08-15T12:13:43","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T19:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=74762"},"modified":"2025-08-15T12:13:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T19:13:43","slug":"this-is-a-break-the-glass-moment-for-our-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=74762","title":{"rendered":"\u2018This is a Break the Glass Moment for Our Democracy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Sunita Sohrabji<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Several California state leaders and Governor Gavin Newsom Aug. 14 announced a proposal to draw new redistricting lines, in response to a similar action by the Texas state Legislature.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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California Governor Gavin Newsom introduces a new proposal to redraw the state\u2019s Congressional districts ahead of the 2026 mid-terms. (YouTube screen grab from Aug. 14 press conference)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Surrounded by community leaders and Democratic politicians, California Governor Gavin Newsom Aug. 14 announced the \u2018Election Rigging Response Act,\u2019 which would allow legislators in the state to redraw Congressional district maps, bypassing the independent Citizens\u2019 Redistricting Commission.<\/p>\n

Newsom has proposed a special election Nov. 4 that would allow voters to approve the new maps, which aim to get 5 more Democratic Congressional seats. 43 of 52 Congress members for the state are currently Democratic.<\/p>\n

ICE enforcement agents were positioned outside the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, where Newsom\u2019s press conference was held. LA Mayor Karen Bass denounced the action and several speakers called it a further sign of authoritarianism now governing America.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0@MayorOfLA<\/a>\u00a0shows up to Little Tokyo and reacts to the 100 agent ICE\/BP raid during\u00a0@CAgovernor<\/a>\u00a0\u2018s press conference about redistricting.\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/do9ITQoG2u<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 L.A. TACO\"\ud83c\udf34\"\"\ud83c\udf2e\"\u00a0(@LATACO)\u00a0August 14, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Redistricting maps are typically drawn after every Census. Currently, Republicans have a slim majority in the House, by a margin of 219-212. Newsom stated that Trump \u201cknows he is a failed president,\u201d with policies that have wrecked the economy, the labor market, health care, and social structure, but needs to keep his majority in the House to continue his draconian agenda.<\/p>\n

Texas Battle<\/h2>\n

The move comes as the Texas state Legislature attempts to gerrymander its Congressional district maps to gain 5 more Republican seats before the 2026 mid-term elections. Backed by President Donald Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, the measure handily passed the Texas Senate on a 19-2 vote. The proposal then moved to the House. 50 Texas House Democrats fled the state two weeks ago to block a quorum in the House, but announced Aug. 14 they would return next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they\u2019re trying to do is rewrite the rules in the middle of the game because they know that they\u2019re going to lose,\u201d said Texas state Rep. Gene Wu earlier in the day at a press briefing organized by American Community Media\/Houston Ethnic Media. \u201cAnd they know they\u2019re going to lose because everything that\u2019s happening is so incredibly unpopular, not just what President Trump is doing, but also what Republicans are doing in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s big, beautiful bill, it makes massive cuts to communities all across Texas, not just in liberal cities, but also in rural communities. It also affects farmers, also affects workers, affects everybody. And people are starting to wake up to that and they know this. Republicans know this and they know that people are gonna blame them for going along with Trump. And so they\u2019re trying to cut it off preemptively,\u201d said Wu.<\/p>\n

\u201dThis is a \u2018break the glass\u2019 moment for our democracy,\u201d said Newsom. \u201cIf he manages to rig the mid-terms, we\u2019ll have an authoritarian president running for a third term.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposed \u201ctrigger maps\u201d will take effect if any Republican-majority state attempts to gerrymander its maps. Florida, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio are also considering gerrymandered maps. Newsom said the state Legislature would convene next week to draft a series of bills related to redistricting.<\/p>\n

\u2018Chaos\u2019<\/h2>\n

Several state leaders noted the President had tried the move before, as he lost the 2020 election, by calling Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffsenperger to \u201cfind 11,780 votes,\u201d and overturn that state\u2019s election results. Raffsenperger, a Republican, did not capitulate.<\/p>\n

Veteran Congresswoman Maxine Waters, a Democrat from Los Angeles, stated that Trump\u2019s aim is to \u201cshut down the voices of Black and Brown people who he hates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waters noted the presence of the National Guard and the US Marines who were ordered to her city earlier this year. \u201cThe nation is upset about this chaos. ICE cannot continue to come into our grocery stores, schools, places of work and worship to try to identify people who should be deported.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Trump announced the deployment of the National Guard to patrol streets in Washington, DC, a move \u2014 he said \u2014 was to combat a wave of violent crime.<\/p>\n

\u2018Horror in Our Streets\u2019<\/h2>\n

Trade union leader David Huerta, President of the Service Employees International Union California, echoed Waters\u2019 remarks. \u201cThere is horror on our streets. ICE agents are picking up fathers, mothers, aunts, and uncles.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201dWe must defend our democracy. We cannot allow voters to be disenfranchised. California voters are at the frontlines of a fight against authoritarianism,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The three-part measure announced by Newsom:<\/p>\n

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  • Retains California\u2019s Citizens Redistricting Commission and declares state policy supporting the use of fair, nonpartisan redistricting commissions nationwide.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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    • Temporarily adopts new California congressional districts for use in congressional elections through 2030.<\/li>\n
    • Preserves California\u2019s current congressional maps if Texas or other states also keep their original maps.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Newsom told reporters he is confident that he has the votes in the state Legislature to get the measures passed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      BySunita Sohrabji Aug 14, 2025 Several...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74763,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74762\/revisions\/74763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}