From Bold to Broken: Isaiah Martin’s Praise for Newsom After the Governor Stole His Ideas

In American politics, where ideas are currency and loyalty is a commodity, a tale of intellectual larceny has unfolded between California Governor Gavin Newsom and Texas congressional hopeful Isaiah Martin.

For two months, Martin, the Democratic candidate vying for Texas’s 18th district, pounded the pavement—or rather, the pixels of X—preaching a gospel of aggressive gerrymandering in blue states as the ultimate counterpunch to Republican redistricting in Texas. His mantra? “Fight fire with fire.” But in a move of opportunism and disregard, Newsom swooped in, co-opted the phrase and the strategy, and slapped it onto his own plan to redraw California’s districts—leaving Martin looking like a doormat who can’t stop polishing the shoes that kicked him.

Let’s rewind to July 2025, when Martin first ignited his crusade. On July 22, he celebrated Maryland Democrats joining what he dubbed the “blue state gerrymandering wave,” declaring, “Trump started this war, Democrats will finish it. FIGHT 🔥 WITH 🔥.” 

By July 23, he was urging blue states to exploit their “massive population advantage” and show “NO MERCY” in gerrymandering Republicans out of existence. Martin didn’t stop there; he repeatedly hammered the theme, posting on July 24 about how Trump’s mid-decade gerrymandering in Texas demanded a ruthless response: “Blue states will now RUTHLESSLY gerrymander out Republicans… Audacity is how we’ll win this WAR!!” For weeks, his feed was a relentless barrage—calling for New York, Colorado, Illinois, and others to ditch independent commissions and “gerrymander Republicans out without an ounce of mercy or shame.” 

Enter Gavin Newsom, the Golden State governor with presidential ambitions and, apparently, a penchant for poaching. On August 14, 2025, Newsom announced his “statewide response to Trump rigging Texas elections,” proclaiming, “If Texas moves forward with their new lines, California must respond. We will ask voters to fight fire with fire.”  Sound familiar? Newsom’s Instagram reel echoed Martin’s rhetoric verbatim: “Which means we gotta fight fire with fire.” Articles piled on, with The Hill reporting Newsom’s vow to escalate the “anti-democratic war” by putting redistricting on the ballot, all under the banner of—you guessed it—“fight fire with fire.” Even the Los Angeles Times analyzed Newsom’s “decision to fight fire with fire,” noting its profound political consequences.

This wasn’t inspiration; it was outright theft. Martin had been the lone voice in the wilderness, a Texas Democrat railing against the GOP and begging blue-state governors to retaliate. As one Newsweek article captured Martin’s early push: “that’s why blue states have got to go and fight fire with fire.” Yet Newsom, with his national platform and Hollywood polish, grabbed the idea, rebranded it as his own “Election Rigging Response Act, and steamrolled ahead without so much as a nod to the Texan who originated it.

It’s a glaring display of disrespect—Newsom treating Martin like a minor-league player whose playbook is fair game for theft. Why credit a congressional candidate from a red state when you can claim the glory yourself? This move exposes Newsom’s cutthroat ambition: a leader more interested in personal branding than party solidarity, willing to pilfer from his own ranks to score points against Trump.

But if Newsom comes off as a plagiarist, Martin fares even worse—as a leader utterly devoid of backbone. Instead of calling out the theft or demanding credit, Martin doubled down on the sycophancy.

Mere hours after Newsom’s announcement on August 14, Martin gushed, “GOOD MORNING AMERICA, LET’S GO GERRYMANDER OUT SOME CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS TODAY!” He quoted Newsom directly: “‘Today is Liberation Day in America’ — Gavin Newsom. I KNOW THAT’S RIGHT. FIGHT 🔥 WITH 🔥.” 

The fawning continued unabated. On August 15, Martin cheered, “We need more blue states to do what California did today.”  By August 21, after California passed its maps, he proclaimed, “BIG NEWS: CALIFORNIA JUST PASSED THEIR BIG, BEAUTIFUL, GERRYMANDERED MAPS! … THANK YOU TO THE GREAT GAV FOR THIS!”

Even into late August, Martin was nominating Newsom for a Nobel Prize, complete with a meme: “I hearby pledge to nominate GAVIN CHRISTOPHER “COLUMBUS” NEWSOM and his BEAUTIFUL MAPS for the distinguished Nobel Prize!”

This isn’t loyalty; it’s groveling. Martin, who positioned himself as a firebrand ready to “CRUSH” Republicans, couldn’t muster a whisper of protest when his own ideas were hijacked. His continued glazing—revealing a man more eager for crumbs of attention than standing up for himself. As one Instagram reel captured Martin’s earlier fire: “It’s time to fight fire with fire so good. I want to make these Republicans regret trying us. That’s the kind of spine that I’m running [on].” 

Where’s that spine now? Buried under layers of adulation for the very man who undercut him. Martin’s weakness not only diminishes his candidacy but sends a chilling message to aspiring Democrats: Innovate at your own risk, because the big dogs will steal your thunder and expect thanks in return.

This saga is a microcosm of Democratic dysfunction—ambitious elites like Newsom plundering from the ranks, while figures like Martin roll over in hopes of future favors. It drives a wedge between the party’s coastal power brokers and heartland hopefuls, breeding resentment and division. If Democrats want to “fight fire with fire” against Republicans, they should start by extinguishing the flames of internal betrayal. Otherwise, this gerrymander heist could redraw the map of party unity itself—straight into oblivion.