Schwarzenegger taunts Newsom with message targeting Dem redistricting push

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Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pumping up for a new fight.

The longtime Hollywood action star, the last Republican governor in Democrat-dominated California, says he's mobilizing to oppose the push by current Gov. Gavin Newsom to temporarily scrap the state's nonpartisan redistricting commission.

"I’m getting ready for the gerrymandering battle," Schwarzenegger wrote in a social media post Friday, which included a photo of the former professional bodybuilding champion lifting weights.

Schwarzenegger, who rose to worldwide fame as the star of the film "The Terminator" four decades ago, wore a T-shirt in the photo that said "terminate gerrymandering."

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Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) and current Gov. Gavin Newsom are on opposite sides in the push for mid-decade congressional redistricting. (Getty/AP)

The social media post by Schwarzenegger comes as Democratic leaders in the Democrat-dominated California legislature are moving forward with new proposed congressional district maps that would create up to five more blue-leaning U.S. House seats in the nation's most populous state.

Newsom on Thursday teamed up in Los Angeles with congressional Democrats and legislative leaders in the heavily blue state to unveil their redistricting playbook.

REDISTRICTING BATTLE: NEWSOM VOWS TO FIGHT ‘FIRE WITH FIRE’

Newsom and the Democrats are aiming to counter the ongoing effort by President Donald Trump and Republicans to create up to five GOP-friendly congressional districts in red state Texas at the expense of Democrat-controlled seats. 

"Today is liberation day in the state of California," Newsom said. "Donald Trump, you have poked the bear, and we will punch back."

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California speaks during a congressional redistricting event Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, in Los Angeles.  (AP Newsroom)

Newsom vowed to "meet fire with fire" with his push for a rare — but not unheard of — mid-decade redistricting.

The Republican push in Texas, which comes at Trump's urging, is part of a broader effort by the GOP across the country to pad its razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

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Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats stormed back to grab the House majority in the 2018 midterms. 

While the Republican push in Texas to upend the current congressional maps doesn't face constitutional constraints, Newsom's path in California is much more complicated.

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The governor is pushing to hold a special election this year to get voter approval to undo the constitutional amendments that created the nonpartisan redistricting commission. 

A two-thirds majority vote in the Democrat-dominated California legislature as early as next week would be needed to hold the referendum. Democratic Party leaders are confident they'll have the votes to push the constitutional amendment and the new proposed congressional maps through the legislature.

"Here we are in open and plain sight before one vote is cast in the 2026 midterm election, and here [Trump] is once again trying to rig the system," Newsom charged.

Newsom said his plan is "not complicated. We’re doing this in reaction to a president of the United States that called a sitting governor in the state of Texas and said, ‘Find me five seats.’ We’re doing it in reaction to that act."

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California speaks during a congressional redistricting event Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, in Los Angeles.  (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) said "Newsom’s made it clear: he’ll shred California’s Constitution and trample over democracy — running a cynical, self-serving playbook where Californians are an afterthought, and power is the only priority."

But Newsom defended his actions, saying "we’re working through a very transparent, temporary and public process. We’re putting the maps on the ballot and putting the power to the people."

Thursday's appearance by Newsom, considered a likely contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, also served as a fundraising kickoff to raise massive amounts of campaign cash needed to sell the redistricting push statewide in California. 

SCHWARZENEGGER'S NEW STARRING ROLE: PUSHING BACK AGAINST NEWSOM'S REDISTRICTING DRIVE

The nonpartisan redistricting commission, created over 15 years ago, remains popular among most Californians, according to public opinion polling.

That's why Newsom and California Democratic lawmakers are promising not to scrap the commission entirely, but rather replace it temporarily by the legislature for the next three election cycles.

"We will affirm our commitment to the state independent redistricting after the 2030 census, but we are asking the voters for their consent to do midterm redistricting," Newsom said.

Their efforts are opposed by a number of people supportive of the nonpartisan commission.

Among the most visible members is likely to be Schwarzenegger.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, at an awards ceremony in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 17, 2024, opposes moves in his home state of California and in Texas to implement mid-decade congressional redistricting. (Tristar Media/WireImage)

"He calls gerrymandering evil, and he means that. He thinks it’s truly evil for politicians to take power from people," Schwarzenegger spokesperson Daniel Ketchell told Politico earlier this month.

"He’s opposed to what Texas is doing, and he’s opposed to the idea that California would race to the bottom to do the same thing."

Schwarzenegger, during his tenure as governor, had a starring role in the passage of constitutional amendments in California in 2008 and 2010 that took the power to draw state legislative and congressional districts away from politicians and placed it in the hands of an independent commission.

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"Most people don't really think about an independent commission much, one way or another. And that's both an opportunity and a challenge for Newsom," Jack Pitney, an American politics professor at California's Claremont McKenna College, told Fox News.

"It's going to take a lot of effort and money to energize Democrats and motivate them to show up at the polls," Pitney said, adding Newsom's effort "is all about motivating people who don't like Trump."

Fox News' Lee Ross contributed to this report