Is gerrymandering wrong?
Is it wrong for political operatives from one party to draw congressional lines?
Is it wrong to suspend congressional district maps painstakingly drawn by an independent commission in favor of maps preferred by politicians?
If you answered “yes” to any of these, it’s clear how you should vote on Proposition 50.
Prop. 50 tosses aside the congressional maps drawn by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission in favor of maps drawn by and for the benefit of politicians. In a healthy democracy, you want voters to be the ones choosing their politicians. With Prop. 50, you have politicians choosing their voters.
In August, KCRA 3’s Ashley Zavala reported, “Three sources close to the situation told KCRA 3 the Democratic leader of the California Senate, Mike McGuire, had one of the new, targeted districts drawn specifically for him in exchange for his support of the redistricting plan. District 1, an inland rural district in the North State represented by Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa, has been reshaped to stretch closer to the coast.”
Does that sound fair to you?
It smacks of exactly the sort of corrupt activity California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission was intended to remedy.
Prop. 50 is a cynical attack on fair elections in California. It deliberately reduces political competition across the state’s 52 congressional districts with the sole purpose of shrinking the number of seats a Republican candidate is likely to win.
Even under the existing, more fairly drawn maps, there is already a skew in representation from the Golden State in favor of the Democrats.
Despite 38% of Californians voting for the Trump-Vance ticket in 2024, only nine Republicans, or 17% of the total delegation, currently represent California districts in Congress. But at least that skew came about in large part thanks to the competitive nature of many of California’s current congressional districts.
Prop. 50 will distort congressional representation and undermine fair elections for years to come.
Supporters of Prop. 50 say California must do it because Texas did it. But do two wrongs make a right? Since when is the answer to political corruption to become politically corrupt yourself?
To be clear, this editorial board has consistently opposed gerrymandering. Yes, even when Texas was doing it.
In July, we wrote, “Gerrymandering is a longstanding political art form. But mid-term redistricting efforts move our system in the wrong direction. Republicans are the real hypocrites here. If they’re serious about protecting independent redistricting efforts, they should publicly oppose changing the rules in Democratic California and Republican states, too.”
In August, we reiterated this and voiced our support for Rep. Kevin Kiley’s proposal to ban mid-decade redistricting across the country. “That type of measure is the key to restoring some of those reasonable ground rules that will enable our democracy to thrive,” we said.
Alas, Kiley’s proposal hasn’t gotten anywhere in Congress. Instead, with California’s move, other Republican states are now moving to gerrymander further. It’s a race to the bottom that we shouldn’t participate in.
Supporters of Prop. 50 claim it’s necessary to improve the odds of Republicans losing the House next year.
This is a fallacy as well. If voters are so unhappy with Trump next year, they can vote out representatives favorable to Trump and support representatives who will stand up to him.
Recall that in 2018, the “blue wave” saw the Democrats flip over 40 seats. They did that through persuasion and activism, not rigging elections like Prop. 50 will do.
If you value fair elections, political competition, and true representation, vote no on Proposition 50.