California Democrats are facing a Friday deadline to greenlight a plan for a special election to redraw the state's congressional maps. This comes after the redistricting push in Texas. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) joins Chris Jansing to explain more on his party's strategy ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Former President Barack Obama has expressed support for California Governor Gavin Newsom's approach to redistricting.

The new, partisan maps come on the heels of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s launch of California’s redistricting campaign on Thursday, an effort he touted as meant to favor Democrats in California in the upcoming midterm elections as a counter to similar efforts in Republican-led states elsewhere in the country.

Rep. George Whitesides, a prime GOP target, would be in a bluer district as other Dems pick up more Republican voters.

A California legislative hearing turned into a shouting match Tuesday as a Republican lawmaker clashed with Democrats over a partisan plan to rewrite U.S. House maps to win Democrats more seats.

One of the pieces of legislation involved in the process, AB 604, states that the detailed maps have been prepared by the Assembly Committee on Elections and the Senate Committee on Elections. But neither leader of the committees would confirm Tuesday that those committees are drawing the maps.

Proposed new congressional maps in California could help Democrats flip five Republican seats and bolster around five Democratic incumbents in toss-up districts.

Mark E. Potts is the senior editor for video at the Los Angeles Times. A native of Enid, Okla., Potts graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a master’s degree in broadcast journalism. He has created and edited video for DreamWorks, YouTube, Microsoft, Sony and BET.

Republican lawmakers in California filed a lawsuit on Tuesday asking the state Supreme Court to step in and stop Democrats from moving forward with a plan to redraw congressional districts by delaying key votes at the state Capitol this week.