Californians have voted to approve Proposition 50, a redistricting proposal that would add as many as five Democrat-held seats in Congress.
Governor Gavin Newsom said the measure would allow the blue state to fight back against President Trump's agenda and "efforts to undermine the democratic process."
Newsom proposed the redistricting plan in response to redistricting efforts in Texas that favor Republicans. Lone Star State Republicans revised their maps mid-decade, redrawing lines in such a way that Republicans could gain five seats during next year’s midterms.
The back-and-forth over redistricting in red and blue states could have a major impact on next year’s midterms. Democrats would need to gain just three seats to take control of the House.
Prop 50 received a boost from prominent Democrats like former President Barack Obama.
"California, the whole nation is counting on you," Obama said in an ad for the redistricting measure. "Democracy is on the ballot."
Former Vice President Kamala Harris said in a post on X that she had voted in favor of the measure "because we cannot let anyone silence the will of the people."
The measure received so much financial support that Newsom told would-be donors they could stop sending money. "We have hit our budget goals and raised what we need in order to pass Proposition 50," he said.
Democrats have argued that Republicans, spurred on by President Trump, are trying to tilt the electoral map in their favor in a way that is unprecedented, despite significant Democratic gerrymanders in states like Illinois and New York.
Newsom, for his part, recently dismissed criticism of Prop 50 and said, "Spare me the moral high ground."
He went so far as to accuse Trump of “rigging” next year’s congressional election during a recent interview with NBC.
"He's changing the rules. He's rigging the game because he knows he'll lose if all things are equal," Newsom said. "He did not expect California to fight fire with fire."
The governor has also claimed the redistricting will be "temporary," noting that the independent redistricting commission will come back and review the state's districting lines in 2032. But former Republican California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger dismissed Newsom's claims that the pro-Democrat gerrymandering would be temporary.
"I think when he — when they say this is temporary, there is no such thing. I mean, the longest programs are government programs that are temporary. Okay, just remember that if this is a tax program or if it is the redistricting program, anything that is temporary with government is permanent," he said during a recent appearance on CNN's State of the Union.
"In the year 2032 when the independent redistricting commission is supposed to come back, they're going to say, 'Wait a minute. There's still gerrymandering going on in Texas. There's still gerrymandering going on in Ohio. There's still gerrymandering going on in Florida. We have to continue with gerrymandering.' This is what's going to happen. They will find an excuse. So therefore I don't think it is temporary. So that's total fantasy," Schwarzenegger said.
Meanwhile, Representative Kevin Kiley (R., Calif.), whose district would be pushed leftward under Prop 50, told ABC News partisan gerrymandering is a “plague on democracy.”
“I think it takes power away from voters, undermines the fairness of elections and degrades representative government,” said Kiley, who unsuccessfully lobbied House Speaker Mike Johnson to take up a bill banning gerrymandering.
A slew of other states are considering redistricting efforts ahead of next year’s elections, including Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and Louisiana.
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