S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. On today's show , voters spoke on prop 50 and California will redraw its congressional maps. The message being sent to the nation. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. In case you haven't heard , prompt 50 passed last night by a lot. The measure will redraw the state's congressional districts to hand more seats to Democrats and counter Republican moves in Texas. California Governor Gavin Newsom called the victory a win not just for Democrats , but for the United States.
S2: We're proud. We're proud here in California to be part of this narrative this evening. We're proud of the work that the people of the state of California did tonight to send a powerful message to an historic president. Donald Trump is an historic president. He is the most historically unpopular president in modern history in every critical category. Donald Trump is under water.
S1: Well , reactions are pouring in from Democrats and California Republicans who filed a federal lawsuit this morning. Joining me now is Scott Shafer. He's senior editor with the Politics and Government Desk at KQED in San Francisco. Scott , welcome.
S3: Thanks for asking me. Happy to be here.
S1: Glad to have you here. A big night for you , I'm sure.
S3: He had a resounding victory and taking his victory laps and his , you know , his national star is clearly on the rise. Exactly.
S1: Exactly. Well , you know , I guess I want to start with those election results that have him on his high at least. Break down the numbers for me.
S3: It was about a 64% yes vote. The Associated Press called the race almost immediately after the polls closed. And if you look at , you know , the county results down your way in San Diego , it was a 61% yes vote. Orange County , which is often kind of a bellwether county for California. Fairly purple , 55%. Yes. Even Riverside County , where , you know , they have a pretty conservative sheriff , for example , Chad Bianco , who's running for governor. 56% , yes. And then , of course , the the the big county like LA , which has about a quarter of the voters , 73%. Yes. So , you know , it broke down very much the way you kind of thought it would if you were a Democrat. In other words , you know , the counties where Trump is least popular were the biggest. Yes , vote for proposition 50. But anyway , you slice it , it's really a very resounding victory. And I should say , you know , when this was first put on the ballot by the legislature and the governor , it was not at all clear that this was going to pass. Um , it was a it's a complicated kind of an issue , but they were able to boil it down to simply trump. If you want to stop Trump , if you want to , you know , to kind of throw some sand in his gears , this is the way to do it. And that message really resonated.
S1: Yeah , it sounds like it was that message across the board.
S3: So we won't know probably until I don't know at the end of the week. Uh , but , you know , it was pretty healthy. There were , I think , over 7 million people voting. Now , that's not as high as a presidential election , but for a single issue on the ballot , uh , there was incredibly high awareness. You know , pre-election polling showed that , uh , you know , upwards of 80% of Californians were paying attention and thought it was an important issue , no matter how they voted. And that's really unusual to have just one thing on the ballot. It's it's , you know , sort of like the recall of Gavin Newsom a few years ago where that was the only thing on the ballot. And , you know , the turnout there was also pretty high because voters were engaged on the on both sides of that question. So , you know , I think for an off year election that no one really saw coming. Four months ago , the turnout was quite good. Right.
S1: Right. And for an issue rather than a person , there was no name on the ballot. But but this issue was so that's interesting.
S4: Yeah I yeah I think it's you know , it was the first.
S3: I mean Trump of course is deeply unpopular in California. And this was the first opportunity that Democrats and others nonpolitical party preference voters had to really register in a big way in a national voice kind of way , their displeasure with the Trump administration's agenda. We've seen some big rallies , the No Kings rallies earlier in the year , but I think that this is the first time voters have been able to go cast a ballot and register their discontent with the direction of the country.
S1: Well , yesterday we spoke briefly about election monitors in several California counties.
S3: I mean , there were counter monitors , you know , so that the , you know , the Department of Justice federal monitors were there. But , you know , there.
S4: I think there was.
S3: A lot of bluster behind that from the president. But , you know.
S4: They don't.
S3: Really have the authority to go into , you know , a vote center or a registrar's office and look at things , you know , they can do what any other citizen can do , which is keep an eye on things , kind of , you know , look and see whether , you know , voters are being prevented from voting or intimidated from voting. But , you know , there was nothing really in the way of , uh , you know , challenging anybody on the spot that they could do. And so I think that , uh , you know , it was maybe a bit of an intimidation tactic , especially for Latino voters who have been so concerned about Ice raids and deportations to sort of send a message like , hey , if you go to the polls and vote , you know , you could be subject to arrest or detention , some kind of thing. But clearly that didn't work. And it wasn't just people voting by mail. I mean , there were long lines at polling places as the polls were closing last night around 8:00 , even in Los Angeles. So people clearly wanted their voice to be heard. Right.
S1: Right. Well , I want to talk about some of the reactions from major political figures. As we just heard , Newsom called on other states to redraw their districts , too.
S3: You know , oftentimes when a politician is celebrating a victory , you'll have a big crowd. There'll be confetti , there'll be signs , there'll be music. There was none of that. He was standing in the backyard of the California Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento. I think only journalists were present. There was no cheering. So it was a pretty somber message , and I think one that was geared toward a national audience , which , of course , you know , as he celebrated the victory , it just reinforced the notion that he is a leading candidate for president in 2028. Unofficially , he hasn't announced yet , but I think that was really where the message was coming from , that California is weighing in on this national issue , expressing displeasure with the Trump administration , and we're going to do what we can to kind of stymie his agenda in the 2026 midterm elections by trying to flip , you know , as many as five congressional seats , from red to blue. Here in California.
S1: A boost , though for for his political future nonetheless.
S3: Oh no question. I mean , even before last night , you know , Democrats have been frustrated. The Democratic brand is not having a great season. Um , until last night , you know , there was a lot of displeasure with , um , you know , the way some of the national leaders , like Senate Leader Chuck Schumer from New York or Hakeem Jeffries , the minority leader in the House , that they weren't they were too timid. You know , even looking at , say , the New York City mayor's race , where the Democratic nominee , Zoran Mamdani , wasn't endorsed by Schumer until the very last minute. I think Hakeem Jeffries never endorsed him. And so I think that there is a fervor among Democrats to see fight , you know , to see , uh , candidates , uh , really take or elected officials take it to Trump and certainly , uh , Gavin Newsom , uh , since June , when Trump federalized the National Guard and sent some troops , along with Marines , down to LA. He has really been at the tip of the spear and a leading voice , along with some other governors. But he's just , you know , been able through prop 50 to really elevate that voice.
S1:
S3: You know , again , I think there's a lot of bluster there. Although the Republican Party in California today did file a lawsuit in federal district court in the Central District of California , alleging that these districts were drawn to favor one race over another , violations , they claim of the US Constitution , the 14th and 15th amendments , you know , so that will play out in court. Uh , whether there is any other additional federal action along these lines. We'll have to wait and see.
S1: It'll be interesting to watch for sure. Uh , here in San Diego , Republican Congressman Darrell Issa called the new law a partisan campaign to gerrymander the state. But Democratic San Diego Council Councilmember , rather Marni von Wilbert , who is campaigning to replace him , said the new maps will help preserve democracy.
S3: You know , in general , the Citizens Commission , which voters passed over a decade ago , was pretty popular. Um , it led to districts that in many cases were competitive , which I think is good for democracy. So I think even people who voted yes yesterday , uh , you know , had some mixed feelings about it , whether or not it's really good. Ultimately , down the road , it might be a good way to counter what Trump is doing in Texas and other states. Um , there is a bit of irony , I think , for Republicans , but maybe crocodile tears to be complaining about gerrymandering. Obviously , this was a reaction to what happened in Texas. You know , at the push after a push by President Trump to , in his words , you know , get five more seats that he's entitled to in his words. So I think it does reflect both of those comments from those elected officials reflect how their respective parties are feeling about this. Darrell Issa , of course , is one of the most endangered Republicans. His seat now is much more up in the air , much more purple. So it remains to be seen what he'll do if he'll he'll choose to run , if he'll retire or , you know , just maybe run in a different district , which I don't think he'll do. Although Ken Calvert , the Republican from the Inland Empire , Riverside County , is now going to switch and run against young Kim , a pretty popular Republican congressmember from the LA Orange County area. So , you know , you're going to see some Democrat or some Republican on Republican fights or incumbents or , you know , trying to , you know , extend their careers in Congress by running against each other. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , you know , I mean , this is being touted as a a big win for Democrats , you know , not just here in California , but in other places like new Jersey , Virginia , New York.
S3: I mean , if you look at the governor's race in Virginia , I mean , no state I think is more affected by the Doge cuts that Elon Musk , uh , carried out as well as the government shutdown. There's a lot of , you know , federal employees who live in Virginia. Um , you know , and it could have gone the other way. I mean , people voters might have looked at all of that and thought , well , it's the Democrats fault. I mean , that's what the Republicans have been saying. But clearly they didn't buy that. Abigail Spanberger , a member of Congress who , you know , has a CIA background , national security credentials , very good in the state , like Virginia , you know , won by about 15 points. And then in new Jersey , you know , Mikey Sherrill , who also the , you know , former veteran , a Navy pilot , helicopter pilot , um , you know , exceeded expectations last night. She won by about 13 percentage points over Jack Shirley , who has run before. So I think , you know , clearly we're seeing those those kind of moderate voices being elevated in those states , even as Zoran Mamdani , who is a democratic socialist , uh , winning , you know , over former Democrat Andrew Cuomo. So I think what you're seeing is different kinds of candidates winning last night in different states , candidates who were tailored to the moment in their particular state or city.
S1:
S3: Um , you know , I don't think anyone really saw Mamdani coming. You know , he was the 34 year old assemblyman. Uh , not really somebody who was on most people's radar , but he his message , he was a charismatic , charismatic candidate whose message resonated with young people and with people of color. People that the Democratic Party had a hard time getting to the polls on behalf of Kamala Harris last year. So I think that , you know , that really is critical. Who gets recruited to run for these seats that the Democrats need to flip in the midterm elections ? It really it really does matter. Um , and I'm sure that the party and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is busy recruiting people now. Some have already come forward to say that they're running , and that's going to lead to some pretty interesting primaries , for example , up in Maine , where you've got a 77 year old popular Democratic governor running against a 40 something year old oyster farmer. Uh , you know , so I think that question of generational change is going to loom large in the midterm elections , both in the primaries and also in the general. Come November of 2026.
S1: Well , here in California , one person who's not running is Senator Alex Padilla. He said he's not going to run for governor in next year's race to succeed Gavin Newsom. Quickly.
S3: You know , what I've heard is that , you know , he uprooted his family from LA and moved them to Washington. And he's got three relatively young children who are apparently pretty happy living back there. And I was I think he probably got the message that he wanted to stay put. He's still pretty young , 52 years old , so he can keep his options open.
S1: I've been speaking with Scott Shafer. He is senior editor with the Politics and Government Desk at KQED in San Francisco. Scott , it's always great to talk to you. Thank you for your insight. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. Happy to do it.
S1: That's our show for today.
S5: I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
