President Donald Trump has threatened to sue the state of California over the redistricting plan it adopted last week, which Democratic lawmakers there said was a response to a similar plan in Texas, that the president called on his Republican allies to initiate.
“Well think I’m going to be filing a lawsuit pretty soon,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “And I think we’re going to be very successful in it.”
The president added the suit would come from the Department of Justice.
“BRING IT,” California Governor Gavin Newsom, a frequent legal and political adversary of the president, wrote on X following the announcement.
A White House official declined to answer further questions about the nature of the lawsuit and directed inquiries to the Department of Justice.
The Independent has contacted the Department of Justice for comment.
It is unclear under what basis the Trump administration plans to use to challenge the California map plan.
The California legislation asks voters to approve a new series of congressional maps in a November special election that could add as many as five Democratic seats to Congress.
Newsom described the bill as a way to counteract an effort to carve as many as five new GOP congressional seats in Texas which also passed last week.
“We’re neutralizing what occurred and we’re giving the American people a fair chance,” Newsom said on Thursday. “Because when all things are equal and we’re all playing by the same set of rules, there’s no question the Republican party will be the minority party in the House of Representatives.”
The Texas plan, which does not require voter approval, came after Trump encouraged Republicans in the Lone Star state this summer to find him more seats, arguing he was “entitled” to them after his success in the 2024 election.
“Texas will be the biggest one,” Trump said at the time. “And that’ll be five.”
Texas’s effort has set off a national redistricting war, bucking the usual trend of drawing new maps once per decade after the Census.
At least half a dozen states are threatening to redraw their maps, in an effort to wrest control of the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a seven seat advantage, while four seats remain vacant.
Republicans ultimately have the potential to add more seats than Democrats, given it controls more state legislatures.
