Governor Gavin Newsom gave a fiery speech Thursday to launch his campaign for a November ballot measure to redistrict the state, just like Texas is doing for Trump. But US Border Patrol agents showed up outside the rally to bully people.

As President Donald Trump’s approval rating hits its lowest point yet in his second term, Republicans have a novel idea to avoid getting shellacked in next year’s midterm elections. They plan to simply gerrymander their Congressional district boundaries to create more Republican seats, as they are doing in Texas, so they can still win by losing. And California Governor Gavin is responding with the exact same strategy, hoping to redistrict California to create more Democratic congressional seats to counterbalance the Texas strategy.

It appears Newsom might get his way, with a plan that would redraw California’s maps to create as many as six more Democratic seats (and boot six Republicans from office). But Newsom needs California voters to approve the idea in a special election this coming November 4. And Politico reports Newsom kicked off that campaign with a Thursday rally in LA, with signs declaring that Newsom’s measure would be called the “Election Rigging Response Act.”

“Before one vote is cast in the 2026 midterm elections, here [Trump] is once again trying to rig the system. He doesn’t play by a different set of rules, he doesn’t believe in the rules,” Newsom told the rally Thursday. “It’s not good enough to just hold hands and have a candlelight vigil and talk about the way the world should be. We have got to recognize the cards that have been dealt. And we have got to meet fire with fire.”

But in an obvious attempt to stir up some shit, a gang of US Border Patrol agents showed up outside the rally, hiding behind masks of course, to just stand there and look menacing, according to the Chronicle. The Chronicle describes them as “heavily armed and carrying zip ties,” and Newsom’s office says they did arrest a few people.

In the above video, Border Patrol’s El Centro sector head Gregory Bovino tells a reporter, “We’re here making Los Angeles a safer place. Since we don’t have politicians that’ll do that, we’ll do that ourselves.”

Democratic lawmakers who rallied alongside Newsom called bullshit on that.

"There is no way this was a coincidence," LA Mayor Karen Bass said, per the Chronicle. "There was no reason in the world for them to come here. This is a complete provocation. This has nothing to do with safety. This is the exact opposite of keeping our city safe."

Politico points to some polling saying that Newsom’s measure is trailing 64%-36%. But the campaign has not started yet, and Politico says that Newsom has internal polls suggesting the measure is actually slightly ahead.

The California legislature is planning to vote on the proposed new map to put before voters next week. Under Newsom’s proposal, the maps would only be in effect for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections, after which the state would go back to its normal redistricting conducted by an independent committee.

California is among a group of states that has tried to take redistricting out of the hands of politicians, allowing it to be handled after every decennial census by a non-partisan, independent committee. But now that the Trump administration has taken the unusual move of pushing Texas legislators to create a gerrymander between censuses, ahead of a midterm election that is likely to be tough for Republicans — and while Republicans enjoy one of the slimmest majorities in the House in history — Newsom has been pushing to do something similarly partisan here.

Related: AWOL Texas Democrats Huddling With Newsom, Pelosi in Sacramento to Discuss Redistricting [SFist]

Image: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 14: California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks about the “Election Rigging Response Act” at a press conference at the Democracy Center, Japanese American National Museum on August 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Newsom spoke about a possible California referendum on redistricting to counter the legislative effort to add five Republican House seats in the state of Texas. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)