California voters head to the polls to decide anti-Trump, pro-Democrat ballot measure

Californians head to the polls on Tuesday to vote on Democrats’ efforts to thwart President Trump’s agenda by increasing their party’s numbers in Congress after the 2026 elections.

Proposition 50, a ballot measure to redraw the state’s congressional districts, was crafted by Democrats after Trump called on Texas and other GOP-led states to change their congressional maps to favor members of their party; This was a move designed to keep the U.S. House of Representatives under Republican control for his final two years in office.

Proposition 50 is the only item on the statewide special election ballot Tuesday. Supporters hope the ballot measure will turn into a referendum on Trump, who is deeply unpopular in California, while opponents call Proposition 50 an underhanded power grab by Democrats.

So far, those who support the proposal have an advantage. They have vastly outperformed their opponents, and Proposition 50 is leading in the polls.

Nationwide elections are being held on Tuesday; The Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races, the New York City mayoral race and Proposition 50 are the most prominent.

For weeks, California voters were inundated with television ads, mailers and social media posts about risky elections, according to a recent UC Berkeley poll co-sponsored by The Times; so much so that only 2% of voters were undecided.

“There’s generally always been a rule of thumb, look at the undecideds in recent polls and assume the majority will vote no,” said director Mark DiCamillo. Survey conducted by the UC Berkeley Institute of Government Studies. “But this survey shows there are very few of them.”

Polls open at 7 a.m. on Tuesday and close at 8 p.m., but all voters in line at that time are allowed to vote. The state allows same-day voter registration on Election Day, allowing Californians to cast conditional ballots that will be counted if their eligibility is verified.

Californians have been voting for weeks. Registered voters received ballots in the mail about a month ago, and early voting centers recently opened across the state.

About 6.7 million Californians had cast ballots as of Monday — 29% of the state’s 23 million registered voters, according to a voting tracker run by Paul Mitchell, the Democratic redistricting expert who drew the proposed districts on the ballot. Democrats are outpacing Republicans, but GOP voters are expected to be more likely to vote in person on Tuesday.

The gap in early voting alarmed GOP leaders and strategists.

“We already know they capitulated in California,” said Steve Bannon, who served as Trump’s chief strategist for several months during his first term in office. he said on his podcast throughout the weekend. “Huntington Beach, California… this is pure MAGA, one of the most important parts of Southern California, yet with a massive 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 out of Proposition 50, I don’t know, we’re going to be blown away.”

Congressional districts are traditionally drawn every ten years following the U.S. Census. In California, borders are determined by an independent commission created by voters in 2010.

But after Trump called on Texas Republicans to change House boundaries to increase the number of GOP members in Congress, Gov. Gavin Newsom and other California Democrats countered by proposing new districts that would add five Democrats to the state’s 52-member delegation.

The high-stakes elections attracted tens of millions of dollars and a carousel of prominent politicians, including former President Obama and opposition former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who appeared in ads on the ballot measure, including those that aired during the World Series, which the Dodgers won.

Democrats, who have previously advocated for independent redistricting to remove partisan politics from the process, argue they must put that political ideal on hold to prevent the president from advancing his agenda during his final two years in the White House.

Citing public opposition to immigration crackdowns that began in Los Angeles in June, the deployment of the military in American cities and cuts to nutrition assistance programs for low-income families and health programs for the elderly and disabled, Democrats argue that winning control of Congress in next year’s elections is critical to stopping the president’s agenda.

“Republicans want to rig the next election and steal enough seats in Congress to have two more years of unchecked power.” Obama says in an ad: This includes footage of ICE raids. “You can stop Republicans in their tracks with Proposition 50. Proposition 50 puts our elections back on a level playing field, preserves independent redistricting for the long term, and lets the people decide. Return your ballot today.”

Republicans opposed to the effort countered that Proposition 50 was an insult to voters who voted to create an independent redistricting commission.

“They want to take us backwards. That’s why it’s important that you vote no on Proposition 50,” Schwarzenegger says in an ad shot at the time. He spoke to USC students. “The Constitution doesn’t start with ‘We, the politicians’. It starts with ‘We, the people.’ … Democracy; we have to protect it and we have to go and fight for it.”

More than $193 million was donated to committees supporting and opposing Proposition 50, making it one of the costliest voting methods in state history.

According to recent polls, the proposal seems likely to be approved by voters. But even if the ballot measure wins, it’s unclear whether potential Democratic gains in California’s congressional delegation will be enough to offset the number of Republicans elected by gerrymandering in GOP-led states.