Texas, California Gerrymandering Battle Will Make It Harder For Independent Reforms
Fair Maps Coalition members hope to establish politically independent process in Wisconsin.
Attendees hold signs at the Rally for Fair Maps on Monday, May 17, 2021, in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Advocates pushing to create an independent redistricting process in Wisconsin say they’re alarmed by a partisan push in other states to lock in control of Congress through targeted redistricting.
At President Donald Trump’s request, Republican Texas state lawmakers are trying to pass new maps that would net the GOP five more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The maps passed the state Senate but can’t yet clear the Texas House of Representatives because more than 50 Democrats left the state to deny a quorum in that chamber.
Last week, Trump said Republicans are “entitled to five more seats.” On Tuesday, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, announced Democrats in his state will retaliate by drawing new maps that will flip the majority in Congress back to Democratic control. Because California’s state legislative and congressional maps are drawn by an independent commission, Democrats there need to call a special election and convince voters to give mapmaking power back to the state’s Legislature.
DONALD “TACO” TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, “MISSED” THE DEADLINE!!! CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE “BEAUTIFUL MAPS,” THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!). BIG PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH POWERFUL DEMS AND GAVIN NEWSOM — YOUR…
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) August 12, 2025
Wisconsin League of Women Voters Executive Director Debra Cronmiller told WPR the escalating battle between Texas and California “is so anti-democratic.”
“I just hate it at it’s core,” Cronmiller said. “It is what politics has disintegrated to at this moment in time. And I do think that (it is as) clear an indication that … we are in a constitutional crisis, frankly. I don’t know what the right response is.”
The league is a member of the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition, which calls for the creation of an independent redistricting commission to draw voting maps for the state, instead of legislators doing it. That proposal, she said, is partly modeled after California’s process.
“Would it have occurred to me that a state like California would be willing to throw away what has been the model for independent redistricting commissions around the nation?” Cronmiller asked. “I’ve got to tell you, that was not on my radar. So, I am horrified to see this happening, but it never occurred to me that we would have an administration say we’re entitled to five more seats.”
In late 2023, the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority declared state Assembly and Senate maps unconstitutional, which pushed lawmakers to approve new ones that have resulted in smaller Republican majorities in both chambers. Lawsuits filed by liberal leaning law firms are currently attempting to strike down Wisconsin’s eight congressional districts, which are largely based on maps drawn by Republicans 14 years ago.
Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition Organizing Director Iuscely Flores told WPR the gerrymandering battle between Texas and California will only make it more difficult to enact reforms in states like Wisconsin.
“We can’t save democracy by suppressing voters, and this has to be an opportunity to think about a new process and standards, especially in Wisconsin, and we need to get creative,” Flores said. “We need better systems in place. We need systems in place to make sure that politicians don’t choose their voters.”
That happens, she said, at the grassroots level through education and advocacy. The coalition has proposed draft legislation to create a randomly selected, nine-person independent redistricting commission with strict rules on who could serve. Maps proposed by members would have to be approved by three-quarters of the board.
The coalition’s website lists several bills and joint resolutions to change Wisconsin’s redistricting process between 2009 and 2022, none of which have come close to passing the Legislature.
Polling conducted by the Marquette University Law School in 2019, 2020 and 2021 shows strong majorities of registered voters favor having a nonpartisan commission redraw Wisconsin’s voting maps rather than state lawmakers.
Redistricting reform advocates alarmed by escalating gerrymandering battle was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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