LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Certain local voices are speaking out as the battle over congressional seats continues to wage.

“Politics should not be used as a weapon,” El Dorado County District V Supervisor, Brooke Laine, said. “Politics affects real people’s lives and the tit for tat approach is not beneficial to the people that we serve.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed three bills Thursday, Aug. 21, in an attempt to counter Texas’s Republican-led redistricting efforts. These California bills pave the way for a special election in November for voters to decide whether to allow the state to bypass the independent nonpartisan panel that draws the state’s congressional maps.

Texas’s redraw attempts to cinch five republican seats, which California’s efforts hope to neutralize with five democratic seats.

The Nevada County Republican Party has expressed strong opposition to Gov. Newsom’s redistricting campaign, calling it an unconstitutional overreach that undermines California’s independent redistricting process.

If passed in November, those nonpartisan drawn lines will be swapped with democratic leaning maps that are expected to add those five democratic congressional seats.

“California voters established the Independent Redistricting Commission to prevent exactly this kind of political interference,” said Mac Young, Chairman of the Nevada County Republican Party. “By rushing through a special election and overriding constitutional safeguards, the Governor and legislative leaders are attempting to manipulate district lines for partisan advantage at the expense of voters.”

The Nevada County Republican Party is launching a committee, called Get Out The Vote (GOTV), to inform and engage Nevada County residents throughout the special election process.

While Newsom’s bill originally would only kick in if Texas or other republican states gave final approval to redistrict, changes to the bill Thursday morning removed that trigger language after Texas’s Wednesday House redistricting approval. The Texas Senate is expected to pass the redistricting bill today, sending it to the state’s governor.

California District 3 Congressman, republican Kevin Kiley, whose district includes Lake Tahoe and would likely turn blue with the new map, continues to be outspoken against Newsom’s redistricting.

“California voters are overwhelmingly opposed to Newsom’s plan to sideline our state’s Citizens Redistricting Commission,” Rep. Kiley said. “Yet the Supermajority Legislature chose to ignore this and will now spend $250 million trying to convince voters to reverse themselves and return power to politicians. The political leadership of California has never been more out of touch with the people of California.”

He’s introduced a bill to prohibit Mid-Decade Redistricting nationwide.

Other states are considering joining the redistricting chess match, including Indiana, New York, Maryland, Missouri and Florida.

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