(The Center Square) – Opponents of California’s congressional redistricting argued their case in ads that voters received in their mail immediately before or after the Legislature approved a constitutional amendment and map for a Nov. 4 special election.
Opponents are spending up to $100 million to defeat Proposition 50, said Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who led the effort to redistrict after Texas decided to do so to gain five Republican seats in the U.S. House. Newsom and other top Democrats in California are seeking to redraw congressional districts so that the Democratic Party will gain five seats to counter Texas' move. The Texas Legislature passed its redistricting map Saturday.
Historically, the party in power in the White House loses at least one of the chambers of Congress in the first midterm election. Republicans currently hold a razor-thin majority in the House and are vulnerable in the 2026 election.
Proposition 50 is the ballot measure known as the Election Rigging Response Act. With Democrats holding supermajorities in both houses, there was no doubt that legislation advancing the measure to the Nov. 4 election would pass Thursday. Opponents apparently realized that, getting anti-Proposition 50 ads printed and mailed last week to residents throughout California.
“Vote no in the special election,” said the four-page ad printed and mailed by the Protect Voters First coalition. It's sponsored by Hold Politicians Accountable Ad Committee and its top funder, Charles T. Munger, Jr.
Munger, who was a key figure starting the bipartisan California Citizens Redistricting Commission, has contributed million of dollars to fight redistricting.
The Voters First Act in 2008 created the commission. Another measure two years later expanded the commission's efforts to include congressional districts.
“California – Democrats, Republicans and independents – should stand against any attempt to politicize our redistricting process,” said Jeanne Raya, former chair of the bipartisan California Citizens Redistricting Commission, in the ad from the Protect the Voters First Act coalition.
"Stop the Sacramento power grab," the coalition said on its website, votersfirstact.org.
"California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission was created by voters to take the power of drawing political districts out of the hands of politicians and put it where it belongs — with the people," the coalition said.
Another organization, Right Path California, printed and mailed a two-page ad accusing Newsom and other Democrats of “unconstitutional gerrymandering” and a “political power grab.” The organization said Democrats are trying to remove protections against “political maps designed to favor incumbents or political parties."
"This November, voters will decide the fate of Sacramento politicians’ scheme to destroy California’s independent redistricting process, ignoring the will of the voters and stripping constitutional protections that ensure voters choose their elected officials, not the other way around," Right Path California said on its website, protectfairelections.org
Others campaigning against redistricting include former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a movie star and Republican who supported the creation of the citizens' commission. Former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Bakersfield Republican who served in Congress until his resignation in 2023, and former California Republican Chair Jessica Millan Patterson are leading a committee to defeat Proposition 50,Politicoreported.
Republican legislative leaders told The Center Square that redistricting would erode voters' trust and take away representation.
The California Democratic Party, meanwhile, voted Saturday to endorse Proposition 50.
"[President Donald] Trump and Texas Republicans are making an unprecedented power grab by manipulating district boundaries to steal congressional seats before voting even begins," the party said in a press release. "Other GOP-controlled states are preparing to follow suit. California won’t sit on the sidelines while Republicans try to rig the system — we’re fighting back to protect our democracy."
“Trump knows he can’t win fair and square so he wants to stack the deck. But we refuse to play a rigged game of Texas Hold ‘Em here in California,” said California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks.
The party's website is cadem.org, which begins immediately with a request for donations to support Proposition 50.
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