California’s governor, Democrat Gavin Newsom, a Trump foe with reported presidential ambitions, championed Prop 50. He is now pushing Democrats to follow his lead and fight fire with fire – something he argues the party hasn’t been willing to do in the past.
“These folks don’t play by the rules,” he has said of Republicans. “If they can’t win playing the game with the existing set of rules, they’ll change the rules. That’s what Donald Trump has done.”
High-profile Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, Rep Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Kamala Harris helped fundraise and generate support for the measure across the country.
Campaigns in support of the measure and against it received $200m total, but Democrats far outraised Republicans, with Newsom telling donors last week that they could stop sending in money.
If other states do not join in, though, the proposition and its momentum may not lead to a significant change in the House.
While it could help score five seats for Democrats, more and more Republican-led states are also changing their maps.
North Carolina, Missouri and Ohio have all passed new maps that give Republicans a new edge. Utah has also passed a new map, which would give Democrats an advantage in one district, but it is under legal review.
Each state decides its voting districts differently and many Republican-led states have had an easier time changing their maps, due to their state laws, election deadlines, current districts or political leadership.
Texas, for instance, created its new districts through the state legislature.
California, though, needed voter support to change its political maps.
Under a state law intended to halt political gerrymandering, an independent commission usually sets California’s voting districts once a decade. To deviate from that, the state had to call a special election, where Prop 50 was the only thing on the ballot, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $200m. The new Prop 50 maps will only be in use until 2030 when the commission will again redraw the districts.
As leaders in both liberal and conservative-leaning states look into redistricting, another factor is looming on the horizon, threatening to make an impact on the 2026 midterms: The Supreme Court is currently reviewing a case that – depending on the ruling – could drastically reshape how districts are drawn.
