| As Texas Republicans seek to redraw their congressional maps in favor of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, Gov. Gavin Newsom has a power play of his own: redraw California's congressional districts to favor Democrats. |
| With a new special election campaign, Newsom is proposing to temporarily scrap California's independently-drawn congressional lines in favor of districts that support Democrats. |
| Could this political gerrymandering be the thing that saves democracy from Trump's increasingly authoritarian impulses? |
| It's a boundary-pushing gamble that will undoubtedly supercharge Newsom's political star in the short-term, my colleague Julia Wick writes. |
| But a ballot-box flop would be brutal for both the California governor and the Democrats. |
Paving the path forward |
| The "Election Rigging Response Act," as Newsom has named his ballot measure, would temporarily scrap the congressional districts enacted by the state's voter-approved independent redistricting commission. |
| Under the proposal, Democrats could pick up five seats currently held by Republicans while bolstering vulnerable Democratic incumbent Reps. Adam Gray, Josh Harder, George Whitesides, Derek Tran and Dave Min, which would save the party millions of dollars in costly reelection fights. |
| But first the Democratic-led state Legislature must vote to place the measure on the Nov. 4 ballot and then it must be approved by voters. |
| If passed, the initiative would have a "trigger," meaning the redrawn map would not take effect unless Texas or another GOP-led state moved forward with its own gerrymandering effort. |
Shelving independent redistricting |
| For Democrats like Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), who appeared alongside Newsom to kick off the special election campaign, there is "some heartbreak" to temporarily shelving their commitment to independent redistricting. |
| California voters have twice rallied for independent redistricting at the ballot box in the last two decades and many may struggle to abandon those beliefs. |
| A POLITICO-Citrin Center-Possibility Lab poll found that voters prefer keeping an independent panel in place to draw district lines by a nearly two-to-one margin, and that independent redistricting is broadly popular in the state. |
| Still, Friedman told the Times she was hearing overwhelmingly positive reactions to the proposal from all kinds of Democratic groups on the ground. "The response that I get is, 'Finally, we're fighting. We have a way to fight back that's tangible.'" |
Fighting fire with fire |
| Newsom isn't using political gerrymandering as his only method of combating Trump and the Republicans. His digital team has resorted to trolling Trump on X, mimicking the president's own social media vernacular. Think petty insults and hyperbole with a heavy reliance on the "caps lock" key. |
| "DONALD IS FINISHED — HE IS NO LONGER 'HOT.' FIRST THE HANDS (SO TINY) AND NOW ME — GAVIN C. NEWSOM — HAVE TAKEN AWAY HIS 'STEP,' " one of the posts read last week. |
| Newsom's actions are notably different from how he spent the first months of the new administration. In an attempt to reshape the California-vs.-Trump narrative, the governor hosted MAGA leaders on his podcast and contradicted the Democratic orthodoxy on the participation of transgender athletes in women's sports. |
| But after the president sent California National Guard troops into Los Angeles amid immigration sweeps and ensuing protests in June, Newsom's MAGA conciliation ended. |
| Now he's making a big gamble with his new special election campaign, the kind of big play that could redefine how voters across the country see him. |
| Read the full story here. |
Today's top stories |
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| Jose Antonio Rodriguez, 44, of Corona, right, embraces his mother Juana Contreras Sanchez after 24 years apart at Federacion de Clubes Zacatecanos del Sur de California. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times) |
Separated by a border for decades, parents and children are reunited at last |
- Officials in Mexico's Zacatecas state obtained temporary visas to allow elderly parents of undocumented workers to enter the United States to reunite with children they had not seen in decades.
- A full third of people born in Zacatecas live in the U.S. Migration is so common, the state has an agency tasked with attending to the needs of Zacatecanos living abroad.
- The state tried to get 25 people visas this year. But the U.S., now led by a president who has vilified immigrants, approved only six.
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3 days. 65 miles. An epic horseback ride honors legendary Mexican outlaw Joaquin Murrieta |
- For three days and 65 miles, Mexican American horseback riders will travel through the heat and dust of the Central Valley to honor a man from the Gold Rush era who, depending on the point of view, was either a freedom fighter or a ruthless criminal.
- But this year immigration raids are keeping some people at home.
- The Times spoke with two riders who are citizens but have still felt their lives shift as the Trump administration's immigration crackdown spreads fear through Latino communities.
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Foul play is a possibility in the case of a missing Yucaipa infant |
- Seven-month-old Emmanuel Haro has been missing since Thursday after his mother said she was assaulted by an unknown man while changing her son's diaper, police said.
- Deputies were not able to locate the baby in a search of the area.
- The department said that when investigators confronted Haro about inconsistencies in her initial statement, she "declined to continue with the interview."
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Short-term home rentals are dropping in L.A. |
- Home sharing registrations in Los Angeles have dropped over the last year.
- Last July, there were 4,228 active Home Sharing registrations in the city of L.A., according to the Planning Department. This July, there were 3,972 — a 6% decrease.
- One factor is that homeowners fear fines and stepped-up enforcement of the city's 2018 Home Sharing Ordinance.
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What else is going on |
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Commentary and opinions |
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This morning's must reads |
| | | LAPD Internal Affairs Det. Joseph Lloyd has been assigned to investigate many of the department's biggest scandals. He's also become a lightning rod of controversy. | | | |
Other must reads |
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| Keep up with California | Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times. | | | | | |
For your downtime |
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| A spread of dishes including: fresh baked breads (Lahmajo and Megrelakan, Avelouk, Ostri, Fish Khashlama and Omelet with Basturma and tan at Tun Lahmajo in Burbank.) (Ron De Angelis / For The Times) |
Going out |
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Staying in |
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And finally ... your photo of the day |
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| Vigil attendees laid flowers at a memorial outside a Home Depot in Monrovia near where Carlos Roberto Montoya was killed after running onto the freeway to flee Immigration Customs and Enforcement. (Annie Goodykoontz/Los Angeles Times) |
| Today's great photo is from Times intern Annie Goodykoontz at a vigil honoring a man who died while fleeing an immigration raid at a SoCal Home Depot. |
Have a great day, from the Essential California team |
| Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, Sunday writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
Jim Rainey, staff writer
Diamy Wang, homepage intern
Izzy Nunes, audience intern |
| How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com. |
