Prop 50: Californians vote on redistricting to counter redrawn Texas maps | California

Californians will go to the polls Tuesday to decide on Proposition 50, a ballot measure of national significance that could play a key role in determining which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2026 midterm elections.

If voters approve the proposal, the state would halt the work of its independent redistricting commission and allow the legislature to reshuffle congressional districts to create five more Democratic congressional seats. This effort is a direct attempt to neutralize Texas’ partisan gerrymander to create several new safe Republican districts at Donald Trump’s request.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said Proposition 50 would allow the state to fight back against Trump’s agenda and “efforts to undermine the democratic process.”

Prominent Democrats such as former president Barack Obama have urged voters to support the measure.

“California, the entire nation is counting on you,” Obama said. he said in an ad For Proposition 50: “Democracy is on the ballot.”

The proposal appears popular and ready to be accepted. A survey from: CBS News 62% of likely voters said they would vote yes on the proposal. Emerson College survey He noted that 57% of likely voters in California support it.

The campaign against the measure has been far outpaced by pro-Prop 50 groups. Last week, Newsom told his supporters they could stop donating: “We met our budget goals and raised the amount we need to pass Proposition 50.”

The measure, which advocates portrayed as a way to push back against the president, benefited from how unpopular Trump and his agenda are in the state. Kamala Harris won nearly 60% of the vote in 2024, and the state is overwhelmingly Democratic except for its hinterland and far north.

The president’s targeting of the state with both Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, leaving communities across California in fear and the deployment of the military in Los Angeles, has increased opposition to Trump. A survey conducted by Public Policy Institute of California It was revealed earlier this month that only 26 percent of adults and 33 percent of likely voters approve of Trump’s performance as president.

Ahead of Tuesday’s election, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would send federal election observers to counties across the state, including Los Angeles, Kern, Riverside, Orange and Fresno, to “ensure transparency, voting security and compliance with federal law.”

Days later, Trump, who said little about Proposition 50, repeated false claims of fraud in the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden, and touted “how dishonest” the vote on the proposal would be. Trump also said there should be no mail-in voting or early voting.