Willie Brown, Shirley Weber support California redistricting effort

Nicole Nixon, The Sacramento Bee on Aug 26, 2025

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two of California’s top Black political leaders support Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to adopt a new congressional map in a special Nov. 4 election to benefit Democrats, though to varying degrees, they told The Bee Monday.

Former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and Secretary of State Shirley Weber said they support the mid-decade redistricting effort, which aims to give California Democrats five additional seats in response to a similar effort by Texas Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Brown proudly admitted to gerrymandering back when he led the Assembly. During that rough-and-tumble era in the Capitol, state lawmakers held statewide redistricting authority.

“I drew lines that favored my friends and relatives, all of whom were people that I supported, and they supported me,” Brown said in an interview. “It was the goal at the outset of my career.”

“It isn’t new to anybody in the world of politics. It is the foundation of how you draw lines to get you and your friends elected,” the former San Francisco mayor said, adding that he will vote for the new map in November.

For her part, Weber said she has “no choice but to support” the gerrymandered congressional map and that she prefers political lines that are drawn by an independent redistricting commission.

“If somebody’s hitting you in the face every day, do you then sit down and read about how it is wonderful to be nonviolent? You basically have to stand up and stop them from hitting you,” Weber said in an interview.

Brown and Weber made the comments before appearing on a panel celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act at the Secretary of State building Monday afternoon.

By the time voters make the final decision on the new congressional map, just 112 days will have passed from the time Gov. Gavin Newsom first floated countering Texas Republicans’ plan to gerrymander their own districts to benefit their party in the 2026 midterms.

It’s a tight timeline for any election but especially in a state with nearly 23 million registered voters and where most ballots are cast via mail.

“We have special paper that’s used. We have special envelopes that are used,” Weber said of mail-in ballots. “All those things demand a tremendous amount of effort and energy. The great thing is that we have amazing staff and every time we’ve had to do a special election or recall, they rise to the challenge.”

It’s unclear what the special election will cost, particularly on a tight timeline. The 2021 recall election against Newsom cost the state $200 million but some county elections officials have noted that certain costs have risen in the years since.

Weber said her office is working with the Department of Finance to determine an exact figure.

“I always tell people freedom is not free,” she said. “Every special election requires money.”

The two-term Secretary of State said her office will continue to organize the election despite a legal challenge filed Monday by Republican state lawmakers and additional lawsuit threats from President Donald Trump.

“It might embolden us a little bit more,” Weber said of the legal challenges. “It’s amazing to me that the Republicans will file a lawsuit against us and say nothing about Texas.”

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