After a federal district court panel blocked MAGA-aligned Texas Governor Greg Abbott‘s proposed new congressional map (which likely would have given the GOP five more seats in the House of Representatives) and California Governor Gavin Newsom‘s Prop. 50 (which could give Democrats five seats) passed easily last week, U.S. Representative Kevin Kiley (R-CA) is promoting a bill (HR 4889) he introduced in August.
Kiley’s HR 4889 would “prohibit States from carrying out more than one Congressional redistricting after a decennial census and apportionment.”
Kiley, one of the California Republicans likely to lose their seats next year, wrote on Wednesday: “Congress could have blocked Newsom’s Prop. 50 scheme but failed to act. Apparently it was more important to let Texas gerrymander than to stop Newsom. And now, ironically, the new Texas map has been struck down. My legislation, HR 4889, could still restore California’s old map.”
Congress could have blocked Newsom’s Prop. 50 scheme but failed to act. Apparently it was more important to let Texas gerrymander than to stop Newsom. And now, ironically, the new Texas map has been struck down.
My legislation, HR 4889, could still restore California’s old map. pic.twitter.com/gxM0k8q9hv
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) November 19, 2025
Newsmax reported Kiley saying this week that “it’s time to call a truce for both sides,” and characterized the Republican as “lamenting the current situation, arguing this is all a foolish game.”
The Congressman has called on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to bring his bill to the floor, which he says would stop both sides “from being able to [do] a mid-decade rewrite of the congressional maps in their respective states.”
Note: Kiley knocked Johnson for not speaking out against redistricting efforts earlier this year and avoiding Democratic responses like California’s Prop 50. Kiley said: “It was a total failure of leadership to let this happen in a way that is going to be bad for our own members, bad for the House, bad for representation across the country.”
The idea of both sides agreeing to a truce seems far fetched: while Republican Texas legislators are defending their map and bringing a petition up to the Supreme Court, California’s Prop. 50 map is also being challenged, with a hearing set for Wednesday, December 3.
Kiley, who earned his JD from Yale Law School, added: “I just read DOJ’s complaint challenging Prop. 50 as unconstitutional. Honestly, it’s stronger than I expected. I’m still proceeding on the assumption that the new map will be used next year, but I’ll be watching the Dec. 3 court hearing with some interest.”