S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. On today's show , we hear from State Senator Akilah Weber and political scientist Thad Kausar about the latest on California's redistricting effort and the national implications. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. In November , California voters will get to weigh in on Governor Gavin Newsom's plan to redraw U.S. House districts. The goal is to give Democrats a better chance at winning additional seats in next year's midterm elections. The move would counter a Trump backed Republican effort in Texas to redraw district maps there. So how are our local lawmakers feeling about the redistricting effort here ? Joining me now is state Senator Akilah Weber Pearson. She represents California's 39th State Senate district , and she's also chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus. Senator Weber , welcome.
S2: Thank you so much for having me today.
S1: So glad to have you here. So California relies on an independent redistricting commission to draw district lines across the state.
S2: This proposition does not get rid of that. But what we are recognizing is that what is happening in Washington is having a significant negative impact on the residents of California. Um , lives are not becoming more affordable. We are in a situation where we're doing dealing with tariffs , where we're dealing with higher prices. Inflation is just ridiculously high. Um , we , you know , they just passed that bill , H.R. one , which is going to have a significant , devastating effect on our health care system , um , on people being able to get food and jobs and everything. And so , you know , traditionally , what happens is you have , um , legislators and they pass laws and voters get an opportunity to weigh in on whether or not those laws and those new policies are positively or negatively impacting their lives when they go to the voting polls. Um , and so what we were seeing is that in instead of that happening this time , Trump was rigging this system to increase his chances of of staying in power and not necessarily allowing the voters to truly be able to say how they're feeling if his current policies are working. And so , considering the extremely damaging impacts that some of his policies are having and will be having on the state of California , we needed to make sure that we were doing all that we could to ensure that our voters would have an opportunity to say whether or not we wanted to have more of a representation to ensure that we have more power to push back on some of those policies , those very harmful policies coming out of Washington , DC. So we're not getting rid of the Citizens Redistricting Commission that is still in place. This is just something that would happen right now to help us with the midterm elections in 2026.
S1: So you mentioned some of the the policies. So Senator , ultimately what's at stake here.
S2: Well , I think , you know , people are seeing what is at stake. Um , you go to the grocery stores and the prices are still high. Um , kids are just starting school and the cost of school supplies have been higher than before. Um , you know , everyone has heard about the big , beautiful bill. However , these the , the impacts , um , California is going to be losing billions of dollars. About 3.4 million people are at risk of losing their insurance , their health care insurance. Our hospitals are going to be extremely harmed. People aren't going to be unable to get different assistance programs that they normally have had. And , you know , from a health care perspective , you know , saying that I am a physician as well , I'm very concerned about the overall short term and long term impacts of these policies. And , you know , we as constituents , we as Californians , we as , as members of , of this great country need to have our ability to have our voices heard and our voices are heard through our votes. And when you come through and you change the system and you say , you know , as president Texas , go and change this and get me more Republican seats. Um , that then does not allow for him to be held accountable for the policies that his administration has put forward.
S1: So what can you tell us about the ballot measure then going before voters this fall ? What do they need to know ? Yeah.
S2: So , you know , we in California , we are unlike Texas. Um , this is not unlike what Texas has done. Texas has a history of gerrymandering. They are the most frequently sued state for gerrymandering since the The Voter Rights Act. Um , we have gone through and we have , um , the people who did the map. They actually worked. Our leadership worked with people who have an interest in this area , who know California. They watched the old hearings of the Redistricting Citizens Redistricting Commission. Um , to see where could these lines be drawn ? Um , to make Congress a little bit more favorable for California and California values. And we're not pushing this on the voters. We're giving the voters the opportunity to say yes. Number one , we want to do redistricting at this time. And two , these are the maps that we want. If the voters choose not to do it , then California doesn't do it. But that's what prop 50 is , unlike Texas that just drew the maps and their constituents just have to deal with it. We are giving our voters the option to say whether or not they want to have their voices more strongly heard when it goes to Washington , D.C. , or if they don't want to get themselves involved in this at all right now. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , you know , and a lot of people are calling what's happening in Texas gerrymandering. Um , how do you respond to concerns that this effort here in California is in itself gerrymandering. Right.
S2: Right. Well , when you look at the way that Texas did its map , um , they literally went through communities of interest and just completely devastated them. Chop them up in interesting ways. Um , that definitely violate the Voting Rights Act. And that is something that is , unfortunately , a part of Texas history. That's why I said they're the most frequently sued state for gerrymandering and for violating the civil rights , the voter's civil rights Act. We , um , did not do that. When you look at the maps. Um , there is no violation of any specific components of the Voting Rights Act. It's not the same as what they did in Texas , which was to specifically say , okay , here's a group of , you know , Latinos in this area. We're going to chop this group up in four different ways to dilute their voting power. That is not what , um , those who created this map did.
S1: And , you know , what concerns do you have about changing California districts in such a short time ? Yeah.
S2: So , you know , I , um , honestly , in all honesty , when I initially heard about all of this that was going on , my heart sunk. Um , I see so many things that are happening recently , um , over this year , which seems like , gosh , a lifetime , um , that are really rolling back. A lot of what I consider to be just foundational American values. And one of those is we have , you know , since it's every ten years and redistricting every ten years. Um , but unfortunately , these are not normal times. And California , um , along with the rest of the nation. But California is really , um , taking a beating from this administration , and we have to at least allow our voters the opportunity to stand up and do all that we can do now. Yes , we are just one state. Um , but my job as a representative of the state is to look out for the residents of Senate District 39 and the residents of California , and a part of looking out for them is giving them this opportunity.
S1: Um , well , you'll we'll I'll hear from voters in November.
S2: Um , you're right. We'll hear from the from the voters in November. But for those constituents that were aware of what was happening when I was home for summer break , they were thanking me and they were saying , we stand with you. We support this effort because they understand what has happened and they understand what is at stake if if our country continues down this current path. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. Well you know , okay. So there are some folks out there who are criticizing California Democrats for this effort and saying , you know , hey , two wrongs don't make a right.
S2: Two wrongs don't make a right. Um , and I'm not necessarily saying that in this situation that this is wrong. Um , we have to do what we can to ensure the overall health and well-being of our of our country , of our nation , but also of our state. And a part of that is allowing for yourself to be held accountable for the things that occur under your watch. And when you , um , change the system when you change the rules of the game. It would be irresponsible of those of us in California to not allow for residents of California to be able to have their voices , and how we should respond as a state to that. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Well , you know , earlier this week , President Trump said the Department of Justice plans to sue California for its effort.
S2: So whether it's , uh , suing over this , suing over the way in which we vote in California , uh , trying to , um , you know , get $1 billion out of our , you know , UCLA. I mean , they destroying our , you know , education department. I would say that this is just , um , another thing in the long list that this administration has been doing in California , to be quite honest with you.
S1: Well , this is these are certainly unprecedented times. And this is not the last , of course , that we'll be hearing of this. I've been speaking with State Senator Akilah Weber Pearson. She represents California's 39th district. She's also chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus. Senator , thank you so very much for joining us.
S2: Thank you for having me. Have a great day.
S1: You , too. Still to come , political scientist Thad Kooser continues our discussion with a focus on how redistricting will impact San Diego County. KPBS Midday Edition is back after the break. Welcome back to KPBS midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. You know , we've been talking about California Democrats push to redraw districts in order to counter a power grab from the white House and Texas Republicans. Well , now we want to zoom in on what this could mean for San Diego voters. Joining me with that part of this , this discussion is Thad Coser. He's a professor of political science at UC San Diego. Professor , welcome.
S3: Thanks for having me , Jade.
S1: So glad to have you here. So we just heard from state Senator Akilah Weber.
S3: So that's what really what they're focusing on , rather than , hey , these districts are better , this process is better. They're saying Donald Trump is fighting dirty and we need to fight back. Make this November vote a referendum on him. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Now , proposition 50 heads to the ballot this November. As you mentioned , it would allow Californians to adopt a new congressional map.
S3: And and in this redistricting map , it would be no different. So California is a blue state by about a 6040 margin. So there's still millions upon millions of Republicans across the state and many in California. But because of the way that districts are drawn now in San Diego , four out of our five congressional seats are very friendly to , uh , to Democrats or battlegrounds where Democrats have earned those victories in places like Mike Levin's district. That's been a constant source of contention. What this new map would do is really give Democrats a fighting chance to take that East County district. Right now , the 48th district currently held by Darrell Issa. These new maps essentially trade Poway fairly strongly Republican area. Take that out of the district and add Palm Springs , a Democratic leaning area. And that would move this district from one where Republicans have a really substantial about a 15 or so percent points edge in the vote to one that's pretty evenly matched , or even Democrats have as much as a 3% edge. So that would take San Diego's lone remaining congressional district and and make it vulnerable , make it up for grabs and give us a it would make San Diego , potentially in a unanimously Democratic district , even though there are many , many thousands of thousands of Republicans here. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , you know , not long after this , um , after this , you know , Democrat Amar campaigned. Aja made public his intent to run for the 48th district seat , which he previously ran for back in 2020.
S3: He ran very close elections in 2020. He lost , but I think about 7 or 8 percentage points to Darrell Issa. And and he had lost just narrowly to , um , to Duncan Hunter when he was under a cloud of investigations in 2018. Uh , those were times when this was a pretty deeply read district and a more competent Jha. You know , as a candidate who had , you know , links to , uh , links to the district , uh , a charismatic appeal he was able to run ahead of where other Democratic candidates were running in those district boundaries. His hope now is that , well , with a fair fight , he could beat Darrell Issa , uh , one on one. And and he'll clearly have a lot of money to do that. He's been a prodigious fundraiser himself , but also able to attract money from national groups like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. That's the push behind his campaign.
S1:
S3: It was Republican Health for a long time. Well , Rollins ran really strongly , and there's been some speculation that he would hop into this district. Although the bulk of this district is really San Diego , and it's much more a more competent home turf. And and I'm thinking that there's often when you have two prominent candidates , there's often some some leadership intervention and behind the scenes discussion. I don't know anything about this , but but the fact that Omar Competent Jha got in first to this race may be an attempt to really try to clear the field of other strong candidates.
S1: All right.
S3: So 1970 and 1990s , we had the legislature and the governor deadlock on partisan grounds through that , through redistricting up to a courts. Then we've had two redistricting , 1980.
S4: And 2000 , where lines were drawn by the legislature , with both parties.
S3: Negotiating with the. Show.
S1: Show. For today , I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on. Purpose.
S4: Purpose. If.
S3: If.
S4: You name it , we've tried it in California. This should be a return to the cost of legislatively drawn justice. One important thing to note about all of this congressional is calculating behind every citizen for which it was created originally by by voters. This is like the government groups in 2008. It's not included congressional the commission , the prop 11 who created the commission only said that it would draw state legislative and board of equalization lines.
S3: And that's precisely for this reason , right ? When every other when all other states are doing partisan gerrymander. People didn't want to unilaterally disarm California. It was only an additional initiative past two years later , backed by a major Republican donor , Charles Munger , that expanded its realm to Congress. That's been its purview , and it's drawn state and congressional lines in 2010 and 2020. This proposition , prop 50 , would take away that congressional power.
S1:
S3: Let's do all or nothing , right ? Other either every state has an independent citizen commission , which is something that Democrats have pushed and advanced in some of their highest priority legislation when they've had control of Congress recently , or if every other state is going to do a partisan gerrymander , let's give California the ability to do that , to rebalance and and even a playing field. That was the pitch that you heard Senator Weber make. That's the pitch that that Gavin Newsom has made. Right. Either we disarm everyone by putting districts in the hands of citizens , or we empower California to fight fire with fire by by having lawmakers draw maps that counterbalance what they see as a Republican partisan gerrymander in Texas and other red states. Right.
S1: Right. So so that in mind , um , you know , there are a lot more states than just California and Texas.
S3: With Republicans pursuing this not just in Texas , where they have , but they've created a committee in Florida , and they're looking at it in in a number of other red states. Missouri , Ohio , perhaps. Indiana. Uh , Democrats have a few states. Uh , Illinois , New York , where they might be able to redraw districts in this way. And really pushing to this arms race means that even if the number of Democratic gerrymander is perfectly counterbalanced , the number of Republican gerrymandering , and we are left with the map that we have today , which is a set of pretty even districts unbiased at the national level. Even if we're able to do that , there's still a loss by those Republicans in California who don't have a voice by those Democrats in Texas who don't have someone reflecting their interests. Uh , overall , in this arms race , uh , voters and , and , and American democracy would lose. But Democrats are making the pitch that they didn't start this arms race , but they need to pursue it to create fair districts in the aggregate at the national level.
S1:
S3: And all the polling suggests that President Trump's policies and many of his personal actions have been quite unpopular and would be pointing towards a mid-term loss by the Republican Party if they had these districts today , there looked to be more opportunities for Republican line drivers across the state to give themselves advantages than Democrats. But if we see a big partisan , a big shift among the public , the kind of shift that brought like a hundred seat shift in Congress against Barack Obama in 2010 , or also a major , major shift against Donald Trump in his first midterm in 2018. If voters move by that much , There's not , uh , these battles along the edges that will control a dozen or so districts would would be overwhelmed , potentially by by the public sentiment. But if we see another narrow , close election like we have the last few congressional contests , these lines could make the difference. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. All right. Well , California Republicans have now filed their second lawsuit to block the redistricting plan. The California Supreme Court rejected their first attempt to block the plan. But now , President Trump also said a federal lawsuit may be in the works.
S3: Just as nearly every time you have a redistricting plan , you have a lawsuit , right ? There's a lawsuit against the Democrats brought against Texas's redistricting plan that's based on voting rights. This , as I understand it. Well , President Trump didn't specify the grounds of the federal investigation. The state one is based on that. This initiative would would affect multiple subjects. Those grounds don't look tremendously promising for that lawsuit , but we're going to go through that process. That's part of the checks and balances of American democracy. Uh , but but it's not a surprise to see a lawsuit. It would be a surprise if it knocked this initiative off the ballot. We'll have to see.
S1:
S3: Right. There are a lot of other important values and a lot of other important things to think about with this initiative. But I think right now , we're at a point in American politics where Donald Trump and his policies are still the animating force. They are dramatically unpopular in California among both Democrats and independents , where about more than twice as many independents disapprove of him as as approve of him. And everyone's looking for a chance to fight back if they're on the left. And so by giving voters that chance to cast a vote , a ballot against Donald Trump in November for prop 50 , that's going to be a compelling message that Democrats can give and and give them a good shot at this win.
S1: All right. I've been speaking with Thad Cassar. He's a professor of political science at UC San Diego. Uh , professor , thank you so much. As always , I appreciate your insight.
S3: Thanks for having me.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
