MSNBC host Antonia Hylton and Rep. Kevin Kiley

One House Republican at risk of losing his seat in Congress recently told House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) that he had to step up in order to prevent the ongoing mid-decade redistricting conversation from spiraling out of control.

During a Thursday interview on MSNBC, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) lamented to host Antonia Hylton that California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) was rolling out a proposal to redraw congressional districts in the Golden State in the middle of the decade, and halt the work of the state's independent redistricting committee. Hylton pushed back, reminding Kiley that Newsom emphasized his actions were a direct response to Texas' efforts to redraw congressional boundaries in the Lone Star State in order to satisfy Trump's wishes to have five more GOP-controlled House seats. She also played a clip of Trump calling for five new seats in Texas, and additional seats in other red states.

"The president there wasn't even really trying to hide what this is about," Hylton said. "So should your anger be directed at him for starting this entire fight?"

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Kiley demurred from criticizing Trump and instead pivoted back to Newsom, saying that his concerns were confined to his home state. However, he did acknowledge that he spoke to Speaker Johnson numerous times about the issue, and asked him and his Democratic counterpart to use their influence to call off all mid-decade redistricting efforts.

"I have talked to the speaker on multiple occasions. And I've been very clear that i think that he and the Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, need to show some leadership here to step up and say enough is enough, that if we continue down this path, it's just going to be this arms race, this redistricting war, mutually assured destruction," Kiley said. "It's going to be bad for voters. It's going to be bad for representation. It's certainly going to be bad for our country. And, you know, at the end of the day, the whole thing might be a wash anyway. So what is really the point?"

Kiley has a particular interest in nixing the new proposed maps in California, according to a Thursday report in Politico. The outlet reported that leaked maps show that his Eastern California district goes from "safe Republican to safe Democratic." Three other California Republicans — Reps. Doug LaMalfa,, Ken Calvert and Darrell Issa — are also at risk of losing their seats under the new proposed maps. The proposed new boundaries of the other five Republican-held districts in California remain unknown.

Newsom has proposed a ballot initiative in November asking California voters to approve the new maps, which he stressed would be in place temporarily until 2030, when the next Census is conducted and Trump is out of office.

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Watch Kiley's segment below, or by clicking this link.

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