A day before voting ends for Proposition 50, California voters appear poised to approve Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to gerrymander the state’s congressional districts in Democrats’ favor.
Recent opinion polls show strong support for the Yes side. Newsom’s campaign is flooding the airwaves with star-studded advertisements and drowning out its opponents’ faint final pitch to voters. And the governor has even asked supporters to back off on donations, as the influx of contributions was crashing the state’s campaign finance website.
“You can stop donating now. Thank you,” proclaimed the subject line of an email from Newsom’s campaign to supporters last week. “We have hit our budget goals and raised what we need in order to pass Proposition 50.”
If approved, the measure would temporarily suspend California’s current congressional maps, which were drawn by an independent citizens commission, and replace them through 2030 with districts drawn by Democratic insiders.
Newsom and his allies say California must counter mid-decade gerrymandering efforts in Republican controlled states such as Texas, Missouri and North Carolina in order to give Democrats a fair chance to win back the U.S. House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections. Mail-in voting has already been underway for more than four weeks.
Some of Prop. 50’s major opponents are also privately resigned to the reality that the measure will pass, despite putting on a defiant game face.
“I don’t run away from a fight,” insisted Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Republican from Oroville whose district would be dramatically altered under the new maps, at a recent No on 50 press conference.
