On Saturday, August 23, at about 12:30 a.m., the Texas Senate passed the redistricting bill, HB 4.
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On August 16, the Service Employees International Union held a California gubernatorial debate in Sacramento. It was not broadcast, except internally to various SEIU meeting halls. Seven candidates participated, including Butch Ware, the Green Party candidate. The other participants were all Democrats: Toni Atkins, Xavier Becerra, Stephen Cloobeck, Katie Porter, Tony Thurmond, and Betty Yee.
The SEIU invited certain other candidates, but they declined. One of the candidates who declined is Steve Hilton, the Republican who is near the top of polls. Another who declined is Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa.
On August 18, some of the plaintiffs in an ongoing Texas lawsuit over redistricting asked the judges to set aside time for a hearing in early September over the new expected U.S. House districts. Here is the filing in League of United Latin American Citizens v Abbott, w.d., 3:21cv-259.
The bill for new U.S. House districts has passed the House and the Senate Elections Committee, but not the full Senate. When the Senate takes up the bill on Friday, August 22, in the late afternoon, Senator Carol Alvarado, a Democrat, plans to conduct a filibuster.
The original case was filed in 2021 and challenges the old U.S. House district lines as well as the legislative district lines.
On August 21, the New Jersey Green Party submitted 2,434 signatures on its substitute gubernatorial petition. New Jersey is the only state that requires an entire new petition when the group that had submitted the original petition needs to replace the original candidate. The requirement is 2,000 signatures for statewide office. The Green Party original gubernatorial candidate dropped out because of health reasons.
The California legislature passed three bills on August 21, a package to ask voters if they wish to approve new U.S. House districts. Governor Gavin Newsom then signed the two bills that needed his signature.
The Texas legislature will almost certainly pass redistricting bills for U.S. House in the evening of August 21.