Issa weighs bolting California for Texas seat as dueling redistricting wars upend 2026 map: report

Politics

Issa weighs bolting California for Texas seat as dueling redistricting wars upend 2026 map: report

Issa's California district was significantly impacted by Gov Gavin Newsom's redistricting ballot measure

Andrew Mark Miller Fox News

Published

December 2, 2025 2:26pm EST

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The redistricting effort in California is more about whether or not the Constitution and fairness to the people will be maintained, says Rep. Darrell Issa

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., weighs in on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting efforts and their fairness to Californians on The Story.

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GOP Rep. Darrell Issa is reportedly considering a run for Congress in Texas next year rather than his current district in California as major redistricting in California and Texas continues to change the political landscape for the midterm elections.

Issa could potentially head to Texas to run in the state’s 32nd Congressional District currently represented by Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson, after Texas split apart her district in the controversial GOP-friendly redistricting effort. The redistricting incited California to redraw its districts in favor of Democrats, which made the path forward more difficult for Issa, Punchbowl News reported on Monday.

Issa was significantly impacted by California’s newly redrawn maps that voters approved last month. The change transformed the landscape from a district where Trump won by 15 points to new boundaries where former VP Kamala Harris would have won by 3 points, according to the Cook Political Report.

A source familiar tells Fox News Digital that Issa did not "go looking" for the opportunity but that it came looking for him in the form of being approached by friends in Texas encouraging him to run, and he is "working through it."

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A source told Fox News Digital that friends in Texas approached Rep. Darrell Issa and encouraged him to run for Congress in Texas' 32nd Congressional District. (Getty Images)

Further complicating the situation is the fact that the redistricting in both California and Texas are facing legal challenges, and it is unclear whether they will be in effect for next year’s critical midterm election that will decide the balance of power in Congress.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide on Texas' redistricting in the next few days after a panel of federal judges blocked the state from using its redrawn congressional map, calling it "racially gerrymandered," a ruling which Republicans across the country have blasted as a "double standard."

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Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed redistricting in California which is expected to nullify any advantage Republicans would have picked up from Texas' redistricting. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

In California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom successfully backed a ballot measure to erase the new seats Republicans were likely to pick up in Texas, Trump’s Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit challenging the redistricting, arguing that race was "used as a proxy" in California to justify creating districts favorable to Democrats.

The move by Republicans in Texas to attempt to add more GOP seats has created a political firestorm across the country as lawmakers in other states have pledged to make counteracting moves as Republicans try to defend a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, where Democrats need a pickup of just three seats to win back control.

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Lawmakers in Indiana, North Carolina, Missouri, Maryland, Utah, and Virginia are exploring or moving forward with plans to change their maps.

"We must keep the Majority at all costs," Trump wrote recently.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.

Issa weighs bolting California for Texas seat as dueling redistricting wars upend 2026 map: report