California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is obsessed with politics, to the point that he is gerrymandering the state’s congressional districts — a waste of time, money, and effort that would be better spent helping fire victims.
Newsom wants to undo Caliornia’s independent redistricting commission, created by voters in 2008, “taking the job out of the hands of the California Legislature and transferring it to the citizens,” as the commission’s website says.
It is an effort that could cost $250 million, according to Assemblyman Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego). It may also be illegal: Newsom claims a loophole allows mid-decade changes, but that is dubious.
The governor is doing this, he says, to counteract an effort in Texas to redraw congressional districts in a way that would add five majority-Republican districts, boosting the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the U.S. House.
Even if one accepts, for the sake of argument, that what is happening in Texas is wrong, the issue is a matter for the courts to decide. The right thing to do is let the Democratic Party sue — not to retaliate in other states.
It is not even clear where California’s new Democratic seats would come from, given the fact that there are only nine Republican seats in the 52-seat delegation.
That means Republicans only hold 17% of the seats — despite the fact that roughly 40% of the state’s voters chose a Republican candidate in 2024. (The disparity partly results from the fact that Democrats manipulate the “independent” commission to their advantage.)
However, Newsom has bigger political ambitions, eyeing a presidential run in 2024, and is trying to show Democratic Party primary voters that he can lead the fight against the opposition.
Clearly, he believes that Democratic voters are unconcerned about the actual records of the potential candidates for the nomination, because he is treating his own state as an afterthought.
But there are glaring, and urgent, needs at home.
Tens of thousands of people are still displaced after the Palisades and Eaton fires. Many are still fighting insurance companies for the payouts they are owed, and which they need if they are to rebuild.
The debris has largely been removed, thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. But many residents may be forced to sell, and of the few issues that led to the disaster have been addressed.
Newsom’s only contribution — other than taking credit for work the federal government has done — has been to flip-flop on his own bad policies.
This week, for example, he stopped an urban densification law in the fire zones — just days after allocating $101 million for low-income housing there.
He is now in the habit of pre-deploying firefighters before big wind events — something that was not done adequately before the disaster.
Much of this is too little, too late.
Newsom demanded an investigation into why the local reservoir was almost empty during the fire on January 7. Months later, it is finally operational — with few residents around, and nothing left to burn.
Newsom is finally paying attention to brush clearance in forests — not to remove it on state land, but to complain that the Trump administration is not removing enough of it on federal lands.
The state’s insurance commissioner is finally investigating State Farm — months after the fire, and after many residents lost their insurance, thanks to the state’s policy of capping rate increases, which restricted access.
One would think California Attorney General Rob Bonta would enjoy the target-rich environment: utility companies that neglected their infrastructure; insurance companies that dumped their customers; local officials whose negligence cost billions of dollars in damage and dozens of lives.
Instead, Bonta is focused on suing the Trump administration — and on finding the loophole Newsom needs for his gerrymander scheme.
Fire victims feel betrayed by almost everyone. There is a lack of leadership, a need for someone to guide the rebuilding effort.
Instead, Newsom is redrawing congressional districts. It’s another betrayal, and a waste.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
