Come Nov. 4, all eyes will be on California when eligible voters cast their ballots containing only one item—Proposition 50.
The measure would authorize temporary use of new state congressional district maps through 2030, directing the independent Citizens Redistricting Commission to resume its map-drafting duties in 2031.
Spearheaded by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Proposition 50 is the state Legislature’s response in the race between Democrats and Republicans to redraw congressional maps and alter the balance of power.
Proponents of the measure say the Election Rigging Response Act levels the playing field after state leaders in Texas redrew congressional district lines to gain five more Republican seats in the U.S. House of Representatives before the 2026 midterms.
Proposition 50 proposes new lines for many of California’s 52 congressional districts to favor Democrats, while aiming to neutralize the five Republican seats added by Texas.
Assemblymember Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara) described the measure as a crucial safeguard to protect fair representation in Congress—one he said wouldn’t be necessary if states like Texas assigned an independent committee to draft its congressional boundaries the way California does.
“Ideally, we would have that system in place in all states in the country,” Hart told the Sun. “California has stood as a beacon of fairness and inclusion, and our independent commission is a valuable part of the political process. But when other states change the rules during the game, if we refuse to act, that’s not being neutral.”
Hart said that proposed legislation like Proposition 50 illustrates the need for “a national redistricting process, so that all states operate with the same rules and are taking the politics out of congressional district boundary line drawing.”
Orcutt resident and Santa Barbara County Republican Party spokesperson Jim Byrne described California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission as “a gold standard for the nation to follow,” which is partly why he’s voting no on Proposition 50.
“We don’t want politicians to create these maps. We want to leave it in the hands of voters—Democrat, independent, decline to state, and Republican,” Byrne told the Sun. “The new redistricting map was created, … to basically disenfranchise Republican voters in the state, which is highly unfair. [Proposition 50] would disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters, if not hundreds of thousands of voters.”
Byrne also described the single-measure ballot special election—with a price tag of nearly $300 million—as a “gross abuse of taxpayer funds.”
“It’s punishing Californians, … especially Republican voters,” he said. “If you flip the script, … and the Democrats were on the short end of representation, they would raise issue with that as well, I’m sure.”
Voting on Proposition 50, according to Cal Poly political science professor Michael Latner, is a “horrible position” for the United States to be in.
“Congress should have long ago passed the laws that prohibit partisan gerrymandering,” he said. “We are the only democracy in the world that only seats two parties in its national legislature. It’s ridiculous, and it’s time that we move on past this arcane machinery that just incentivizes this sort of manipulation.”
Latner, the Union of Concerned Scientists’ latest Voting Rights Kendall Fellow, added that it’s a misconception that voting “yes” on Proposition 50 is a vote in favor of gerrymandering. He pointed to vocal opposition to the measure by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and multi-millionaire physicist Charles Munger Jr.
“That’s half of an argument because if your goal is free and fair representation, then you should want that for everyone,” Latner said.
Latner also described a yes on Proposition 50 as “not a comforting vote because you’re voting to suspend one of the best redistricting commissions in the United States,” he explained.
“It’s not a simple argument, but the argument I equate it to is the hypothetical argument of, ‘Would you kill baby Hitler?’ Most people would say no, that’s a horrible idea,” Latner said, “but if you talk about killing baby Hitler and avoiding the consequences that would follow, then it makes it much more appealing.”
‘Fighting fire with fire’
Retired school counselor Sandi Pardini, 79, filled and mailed out her ballot on the same day it arrived in her mailbox.
Even though she thinks redistricting should be left to an independent redistricting commission, the Arroyo Grande resident said she voted “yes” because Republican lawmakers in Texas redrew the state’s congressional map.
“What I love is they’re [California lawmakers] putting it on the ballot,” Pardini, an independent voter, said. “The others didn’t do that; their legislatures did it without asking people.”
Pardini, who said the only Republican candidate she’s ever voted for was Schwarzenegger when he ran for state governor, told the Sun she’d be critical of the Democrats too if they tried to redistrict California proactively.
“I love what Newsom is doing. Politicians have always been off and on a little sideways but never like this,” she said. “I just hope it passes.”
For 30-year-old Nipomo resident Madeleine, who declined to provide her last name, there’s no other option but voting yes.
After living in Montana, the former Republican said she planned to register to vote in California a few days before Halloween.
“Trump being president made me ask more questions and get more involved,” said Madeleine, who works in media management.
She added that she’s heard people say that Proposition 50 is unfair, “but it’s exactly what Texas did.”
“I don’t think it’s the most efficient, but it’s fighting fire with fire,” she said.
Santa Maria resident April Carr, 47, told the Sun on the Pismo Beach pier that she’s a “news junkie” who’s been learning about Proposition 50 from a variety of platforms, including twitch.tv.
With no party preference, Carr—who has mostly voted for Democrats and independent candidates—said she would be voting yes on the proposition.
“California’s laws and process for redistricting is fair in a way that is unfair nationally,” she said. “California, in order to create a representational balance within Congress as a whole, needs to compensate.”
Some voters are less certain—like Tyler Nies, a manager at a Pismo Beach restaurant, who’s now a moderate voter after leaning liberal in the past.
“I’m not for it, and I’m not against it,” the 34-year-old said. “California is a Democratic state anyway, so I’m not worried about it because the people who voted Republican will still be Republicans.”
Nies said he needed to learn more before casting his ballot. According to him, he dislikes that California lawmakers devised the proposition to be “retaliatory.”
“But I don’t think Texas redistricting to give Republicans more seats is a good thing. They’re trying to cheat the system. I’d feel the same if California were to do it first,” the Pennsylvania native said. “But 90 percent of California is rural, and I feel like those people don’t get much of a voice.”
Christopher Ledezma, who lives in Fresno County’s Reedley, told the Sun during a visit to Pismo Beach that he can’t afford to stay away from politics any longer.
“I didn’t feel the need to have an interest until now,” he said. “This is affecting the people around me, my family, my friends. Even in Reedley, which is small, you see the cultural shift, and I don’t like it.”
The 30-year-old security guard said he’s stayed away from social media for almost eight years. The little he sees about the state of the world on his girlfriend’s phone overwhelms him.
“My own conscience says I want to do everything right, but I don’t know what to believe in,” he said.
Ledezma said he hadn’t decided on how he would vote yet, but that he would definitely vote by Nov. 4.
“At this point, you have to [vote] now, otherwise people are going to speak for you,” he said.
‘It’s all corrupt’
The corner of South Broadway and Cook streets in Santa Maria bustled with hundreds of protesters near both City Hall and the Town Center Mall during the afternoon of Oct. 18, when Indivisible Santa Maria hosted its version of the nationwide No Kings rally.
“We estimate we had 1,100 people show up,” Cliff Solomon, one of the local protest’s organizers, told the Sun via email.
A registered Democrat and retired educator, Solomon said he will vote yes on Proposition 50, which he described as an aim to restore the democratic process across the country.
“We must fight the political gerrymandering that has happened in Texas and other states,” the 77-year-old Santa Maria resident said.
Among the various picket sign phrases he spotted during the No Kings rally, the short and simple “We love America,” was Solomon’s personal favorite.
Some banners highlighted specific criticisms of the Trump administration, like the sign Santa Maria resident Jessica Krelle carried during the protest.
Like Solomon, Krelle—whose No Kings poster included anti-deportation and pro-Palestine messaging—is a registered Democrat who voted yes on Proposition 50 “to hopefully counter what they did in Texas,” she told the Sun.
The 47-year-old personal assistant described Indivisible Santa Maria’s Oct. 18 rally as “really packed” compared to some previous local protests she attended this year, including the first No Kings rally held on the same block in mid-June.
The front side of Krelle’s sign read: “Undocumented humans deserve a pathway with dignity, not deportation,” while the back side simply said: “Free Palestine.”
Other protesters’ banners at the event included phrases like “Honk if you’re with us” and “Stop the presidential power grab.”
Stopping a power grab is exactly why Arroyo Grande resident Charlton Miller said he’s voting no on Proposition 50, which he described as solidifying Democrats’ power base.
“I’m adamantly opposed to Prop. 50,” the 67-year-old retiree said at the Santa Maria Town Center on Oct. 23—a few days after No Kings participants rallied outside of the mall’s walls.
“The people of California already voted on this,” the registered Republican added, referring to the California Citizens Redistricting Commission formed in 2008.
Miller said that “trying to reverse what Texas did”—Texas lawmakers revised the state’s congressional districts in August—is not a justifiable reason for California to bypass its voter-approved commission to redraw district lines. He also called the Nov. 4 special election a huge waste of taxpayer money.
Regardless of where the chips fall after ballots are tallied, Lompoc resident Deb—who declined to give the Sun her last name—said she hopes the redistricting debate turns out to be “a bad movie we’re all moving away from.”
The 74-year-old homemaker said she’s not voting on Proposition 50 because she doesn’t believe either outcome will have a positive impact on the lives of state residents.
Deb described herself as a former Democrat who’s gradually become disenchanted with the party over the past 20 years.
“What they’re saying is not really what they’re doing,” she told the Sun. “But Republicans aren’t any better. … It’s all corrupt.”
Cal Poly student Elena Carissimi said that if Texas can play with the government on the Republican side, it gives Democrats the excuse to do it as well. The 18-year-old environmental management and protection major added that she agrees with the proposition’s mission and goal, and she voted yes.
“I wish I didn’t have to register,” the registered Democrat said. “I hate the two-party system, but you can’t leave the party, you have to fight with it.”
Fellow student, registered Dem, and environmental protection and management major Ryan Graul said that the proposition and Newsom aim to stop Trump from “a lot of these policies that he’s putting in place that are taking away some of our freedoms.”
“I think it is the appropriate response, and I think that we are at a point where you need to take that level of action in order to counter some of the actions on the other side,” Graul said.
Senior Sun Staff Writer Caleb Wiseblood, New Times Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal, and New Times Intern Bella Cox contributed to this story. Send comments to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 6, 2025.
38% of Californians voted for Trump in 2024. 18% of our representatives in the House are Republican. That is unfair and disproportionate. Republican majority states are merely playing tit for tat for a long string of Democrat majority states. See IL, NY and WA for specific example of Democrat gamesmanship.