Governor Gavin Newsom takes combative stance against Trump, urges other Democratic leaders to ‘punch back’.California Governor Gavin Newsom has said that the country’s most populous state will promote a partisan redistricting scheme aimed at countering controversial Republican-led redistricting efforts in Texas ahead of the United States’ 2026 midterm elections.Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Newsom took a combative stance against US President Donald Trump and said that Democrats must respond to what he said were conservative efforts to politicise the electoral process.“Today is liberation day in the state of California,” Newsom said, appropriating a term used by Trump to refer to the imposition of tariffs on foreign countries.Newsom and Trump have frequently sparred as the US president seeks to exert pressure on Democrat-led states that have pushed back against his political agenda on issues such as immigration enforcement.During his remarks, Newsom said that masked immigration enforcement agents had gathered around the venue, which he depicted as a form of intimidation. Trump prompted outrage in California earlier in the year when he deployed the military and National Guard to Los Angeles during a round of aggressive immigration raids, and suggested at the time that Newsom should be arrested.“Donald Trump, you have poked the bear, and we will punch back,” said Newsom, who is seen as a possible Democratic contender for the presidency in 2028.Newsom said that the redistricting scheme, which would favour the Democrats and could net them five additional seats in the 2026 midterm elections, will go before voters in a special election on November 4. Advertisement The California governor said the scheme was a direct respons …
