Newsom’s redistricting goes to California voters. What’s next?

California will hold a special election on Nov. 4 after the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom passed a legislation package Thursday greenlighting a mid-cycle redistricting effort ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, report CalMatters’ Maya C. Miller and Jeanne Kuang.

What started as a terse warning in July — Newsom floated the idea of retaliating against the Texas GOP’s plans to redistrict in a way that would help Republicans add seats in the U.S. House of Representatives — has culminated in a mad dash by Democrats to redraw California’s congressional map to do the same for their own party.

It’ll be up to California voters then to decide whether to suspend the state’s existing electoral boundaries, which were drawn by an independent redistricting commission, and replace them with maps that would benefit Democrats. If passed, the state would return to the commission’s authority after the 2030 census.

Read more here.

Throughout his redistricting campaign, Newsom has once again thrown himself in the national spotlight by positioning himself as a chief antagonist to President Donald Trump, writes CalMatters’ Alexei Koseff.

During his visit to South Carolina last month — a longtime early primary state — Newsom provided a blueprint of sorts for Democrats, according to the chairperson of the Democratic Party in South Carolina, who are concerned that Trump will also pressure their red state into gerrymandering, as his advisers did with Texas.

But Newsom’s gambit is no sure bet: California voters could end up rejecting the ballot measure, which would leave a lasting stain on his gubernatorial tenure. Republicans, who are already seizing the redistricting plan as an illegal power grab by Democrats, would also likely frame the potential failure of the measure as a referendum on Newsom himself.

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What about Texas?: CalMatters’ Jeanne and Maya reached out to several California Republicans in Congress and the state Legislature to see what they had to say about Texas’ redistricting plan in the face of their opposition to California’s.

While some demurred when asked if they would call on Trump directly to backtrack on redistricting in Texas, some have expressed something similar to the adage of “two wrongs don’t make a right” — without openly disapproving of Trump.

• Assemblymember Carl DeMaio of San Diego: “Gerrymandering is wrong no matter who’s doing it, whether it’s done by a red state or a blue state.”

Read more here.

Months after Trump’s return to the White House, there are now 1.4 million fewer immigrants living in the U.S., writes CalMatters’ Wendy Fry.

For the first time since the 1960s, the number of immigrants living in the country is shrinking, according to a report published Thursday by the Pew Research Center. In January 2025 there were 53.5 million immigrants in the U.S., and as of June there were 51.9 million — a 2.6% drop.

With roughly 11.3 million immigrants in 2023, California is home to the largest share of immigrants in the nation — about 28.4% of the national total. 

There are several reasons that may be contributing to the decline, said the research center’s director of race and ethnicity. One is likely federal policy and enforcement changes between January and June. Between those months, Trump issued several executive actions that aimed to block the arrival of new migrants at the border; strip protections for those who entered legally; and deport unauthorized immigrants.

Read more here.

From CalMatters climate reporter Alejandro Lazo:

California defunded a program in June that paid households to send power from home battery storage units back to the grid. But lawmakers now may bring it back as part of a negotiation over cap and trade.

The Demand Side Grid Support Program aims to reduce the risk of blackouts during extreme events. Essentially, homes and businesses together serve as one virtual power plant. Investor-owned utilities — and clean energy companies like Sunrun and Tesla — argue the program’s just beginning to prove its value: It delivered more than 500 megawatts of energy over two hours on a July evening, enough to cover more than half of San Francisco’s peak demand.

The draft proposal, by Democratic Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin of Thousand Oaks, could offer the program a lifeline if it’s approved. The trouble: Many interests are competing for cap and trade cash as lawmakers wind down their work.

In a blow to gun control advocates, a federal appeals court in July struck down California’s voter-approved law requiring background checks for ammunition purchases. CalMatters’ Nigel Duara and Robert Meeks have a video segment on the ruling as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.