Governor pokes at Trump, takes victory lap in Texas over Prop. 50

Newsom thanks Democrats in Lone Star State for fighting GOP redistricting.

- BY PHIL WILLON

"YOU PUT a stake in the ground," Gov. Gavin Newsom told Texas Democrats.

(KAREN WARREN Associated Press)

Gov. Gavin Newsom spent the first weekend after his Proposition 50 victory soaking in the adulation of Texas Democrats at a Houston rally and castigating President Trump on a nationwide CNN interview that aired Sunday morning.

Newsom possessed the air of a politician running for president, a possibility the California governor says he is considering - and the location he chose was not happenstance.

At the Houston rally, Newsom accused Trump of pressuring Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to rejigger the state's congressional districts with the goal of sending more Republicans to Congress, an action that triggered California's Proposition 50. Newsom successfully pushed for a special election on the ballot measure to counter the efforts in Texas, which the governor said was an attempt by Trump and the Republicans to "rig" the 2026 midterm election.

Cheers erupted from the friendly union-hall crowd when Newsom belittled.

Trump as an "invasive species" and a "historically unpopular president." "On every issue, on the economy, on terrorists, on immigration, on healthcare, [he's a] historically unpopular president, and he knows it," Newsom said.

KAREN WARREN Associated Press THE RALLY Saturday for Harris County Democrats drew a friendly crowd.