Hi, everyone. It is 4 o'clock here in New York. I'm Alicia Menendez. In today for Nicole Wallace.

Desperate times, desperate measures for Democrats this afternoon. From California to New York and everywhere in between.

Just moments ago, the California State Assembly approved a ballot measure, allowing for a vote on a new congressional map on November 4th.

They'll head to the Senate, then presumably the governor's desk for signing.

It is an in-kind response to what happened late last night in Texas when Republicans there in transparently

political fashion forged and passed a new district map mid-decade that stands to pad the

party's majority in Washington. For California, though, today is a sort of break glass in case

of emergency moment in time, a retaliation for what Democrats, their view as an act

of political warfare. Here is California Governor Gavin Newsom on the battle lines drawn in Texas.

This is radical rigging of a midterm election, radical rigging of an election, destroying, vandalizing this democracy, the rule of law.

So I'm sorry, I know some people's sensibilities. I respect and appreciate that.

But right now, with all due respect, we're walking down a damn different path. We're fighting fire with

fire. I'm going to punch these sons of bitches in the mouth. It is an aggressive position to take,

but Newsom evidently has the support of his party's most popular figure. From President Obama today,

quote, over the long term, we shouldn't have political gerrymandering in America, just a fair fight between Democrats and Republicans based on who's got better ideas.

But since Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House and gerrymandering in the middle of a decade to try and maintain the House despite their unpopular policies, I have tremendous respect for how Governor Newsom has approached this.

He's put forward a smart, measured approach in California, designed to address a very particular

problem at a very particular moment in time. The question now, how far does this conflict spread?

A number of states red and blue are at least considering new maps at this moment.

And this morning, Democrat Nicole Collier, the Texas state representative, developed a national

profile for her resistance to GOP gerrymandering efforts, told our colleague Ali Vitale

the conversations with Democrats in other states are ongoing.

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