Thousands gathered in cities across the country on Saturday to protest President Trump’s plan to keep control of Congress after the 2026 midterms by pushing Republican-led states to redraw their congressional maps in favor of Republicans.

The president’s push for the rare and aggressively partisan redistricting, while centered on Texas so far, has set off a furious response among many Democratic state leaders and party activists. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Friday that he was moving forward with a plan to redraw his state’s lines, and allow voters to approve it in November.

On Saturday, progressive activists, labor groups and pro-democracy organizations put together more than 300 political events and rallies, looking to galvanize voters who may be angry at the Trump administration but may view the process of redrawing district lines as opaque and unrelated to their concerns.

“We need to have as many protests in this country as possible,” said Cheryl Merzel, 72, a retired public health professor who attended a rally outside a Trump hotel in Manhattan.