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Monday marked another escalation in the mid-cycle redistricting fight between Republicans in Texas and Democrats in California – with one in another special session to add 5 more GOP seats, and the other maneuvering to counter this with 5 new Democratic seats.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott wasted no time in escalating the state’s redistricting battle. Within two hours of the previous special session ending on August 15, Abbott called lawmakers back to Austin with instructions to deliver a new map.

On August 12, Republican California Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (San Diego) sent a letter to the Director of California's Legislative Counsel, Cara Jenkins, requesting a legal opinion on what he calls an “unconstitutional effort for mid-cycle redistricting.”

The America Party was announced in the middle of a public breakup between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. The two parted ways at the end of May. Musk criticized Trump’s signature tax cut and his “Big Beautiful Bill,” which tied immigration crackdowns to massive new spending. 

The Wall Street Journal and CNN reported August 8 that President Donald Trump said privately at a fundraiser that he was open to reclassifying cannabis under federal law, a move that could have far-reaching implications for the legal industry, the illicit market, national drug policy, and electoral politics in the 2026 cycle. 

Less than a year after 10 million Californians voted to lengthen prison sentences and crack down on retail theft and fentanyl dealing, Governor Gavin Newsom is shutting down yet another state prison.

The nation’s attention is currently on the ongoing redistricting fight between Republicans and Democrats. The conversation is being framed: “Donald Trump is doing this.” “Gavin Newsom is doing that.” However, what voters are missing is the context of how we got here.

Gerrymandering wasn’t invented by Trump. It predates most states in the union. It’s named after Elbridge Gerry, who sliced up Massachusetts in 1812 to help his party, leaving behind a district so distorted it looked like a salamander.

Responding to pressure from President Trump, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Republican-controlled legislature are moving forward with a plan to redraw their district lines in advance of the 2026 midterms. Democrats are contemplating how to fight back and blunt any gains the GOP makes in Texas by conducting their own gerrymanders in New York, Illinois, and California.  

In a sharply worded letter released this week, more than 2,300 members of the Writers Guild of America accused President Donald Trump and his allies of launching an organized campaign to suppress independent media. The letter, which was signed by a wide range of television and film writers, from high-profile showrunners to political satirists and screenwriters, calls recent events an “unprecedented, authoritarian assault” on the First Amendment.