The strategy has fueled a stark fundraising advantage and polling lead that Democrats hope will help deliver a concrete rebuttal to the president’s redistricting agenda.

Newsom and his Illinois counterpart, Gov. JB Pritzker, have warned that Trump’s attempts to send the U.S. military into their states’ most populous cities — Los Angeles and Chicago — are precursors to deploying the military or federal agents to polling places in Democratic-leaning cities next year.

ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl immediately cast doubt on Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom after he claimed he gets along “extraordinarily well” with President Donald Trump during an interview.

Republicans in Texas and North Carolina are moving ahead to gerrymander and pick up GOP seats. Under pressure from Trump, Republicans in Indiana tried to pass mid-cycle redistricting but appear to not have enough votes to pass it. The California measure was Democrats’ response to the Texas redistricting plan that Gov. Greg Abbott signed in August.

New rules finalized Thursday give the Education Department expanded power to ban organizations from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The Trump administration said it’s necessary to block taxpayer money from lawbreakers. Critics say it turns the program into a tool of political retribution.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) of Friday announced it would send observers to monitor polling sites in six counties, five in California and one in New Jersey, when elections take place next month, sparking condemnation from the office of California Governor Gavin Newsom.