California Democrats may have successfully muscled a new congressional map through the state legislature this week, but the redistricting fight in the Golden State is only just beginning.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic state lawmakers moved quickly to create new districts that could help their party flip five congressional seats. Their plan still requires voter approval.

Moves by Texas Republicans and California Democrats to redraw their U.S. House districts could disrupt a rare partisan balance in American politics.

A ballot measure to temporarily change California’s U.S. Congressional districts before the 2026 midterm election will go to voters this November after the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newson

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an attempt by Republican legislators to delay Democrats from gerrymandering the state’s congressional districts. The justices said the emergency petition, filed earlier this week, “failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief at this time under” the California Constitution.

Texas lawmakers approved a new congressional map this week at the behest of President Donald Trump, seeking to preserve his Republican Party's slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the November 2026 midterm elections.

The election will determine whether the state will adopt new Democrat-leaning congressional districts in response to Texas’ Republican-favored redistricting.

California is officially entering the nationwide redistricting battle. The California Legislature officially passed a proposal Thursday to redraw the state’s congressional district boundaries in a way that would give Democrats an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections.