The cost of putting California’s partisan redistricting ballot measure before voters this fall is expected to run the state $282.6 million, eclipsing the final bill of the last statewide special election.
As Gov. Gavin Newsom and his allies signed off on Proposition 50 last month — a plan to counteract an effort by Texas Republicans to gerrymander the state’s congressional maps and pick up GOP seats in the U.S. House — the governor vowed to reimburse counties for the hefty costs of an unexpected election.
Only 17 of the 58 counties in California had previously made plans to hold local special elections on Nov. 4, and with less than three months until Election Day, counties implored state leaders to bear the costs.
“Counties don’t have a dime to spare as we work to keep local services afloat in the face of federal and state budget cuts,” Luis Alejo, a Monterey County supervisor and the second vice president of the California State Association of Counties, said following lawmakers’ decision to fund the special election.
A Sept. 5 letter from the Department of Finance obtained by this news organization offers the first glimpse into just how much Prop. 50 is expected to cost. In the letter, Erika Li, the chief deputy director of the agency, asks Controller Malia Cohen to allocate $251.3 million across the 58 counties. The costs for each county vary from just $24,000 for Alpine County to up to $67 million for Los Angeles County.
In the Bay Area, the state will send $11.4 million to Alameda County, $17.2 million to Santa Clara County, $4.1 million to San Mateo County, $6.5 million to Contra Costa County and $4.5 million to San Francisco.
H.D. Palmer, a spokesperson for the Department of Finance, said the figures are based on each county’s estimates.
“In the event that a county or counties incur additional costs above the estimates they’ve already reported, we will work with them once any additional costs are determined,” Palmer said in an email. “And on the other side of that coin, the legislation setting the special election contains a provision that if a county’s costs come in lower than their reported estimate, they will be able to retain those funds locally, but with the requirement that they be held for use in the event that a future special election is called in that county.”
Palmer said that the Secretary of State’s office has also estimated that it will cost $31.3 million to administer the special election.
Newsom’s press office referred questions about the cost of the election to the Department of Finance. But at a recent rally for the measure, the governor told reporters “there’s no price tag for democracy.”
California established an independent redistricting commission in 2010, placing the job of drawing state legislative and congressional maps in the hands of a bipartisan group that effectively ended gerrymandering in the state. But a decision by Texas Republicans to redraw its congressional districts to favor the party in the upcoming 2026 midterms has spurred California Democrats to try and replace the independent maps — at least temporarily.
Prop. 50 targets five district currently represented by Republicans that have be redrawn to favor Democrats. If the measure passes, the maps will go into effect until after the 2030 Census.
The plan has been decried by Republicans in the state legislature, who make up the minority party in both the Assembly and Senate. Last month, the California Assembly Republican Caucus released its own estimate for the special election — $235.5 million — based on the cost of the 2021 gubernatorial recall election, which Newsom overwhelmingly defeated.
The recall cost the state just over $200 million — less than the $278 million the state legislature had set aside for the special election.
The Republican Caucus said that its litigation estimate was “likely underestimated” since “this more contentious issue will garner more interest in additional litigation challenging the legitimacy of the proposal.” Lawsuits have already been filed to try and halt the measure.
When asked about the state’s newly-released estimate, George Andrews, the spokesperson for the California Assembly Republican Caucus, said in a statement that “this level of state spending puts added pressure on counties at a time when local budgets are already stretched. It’s a major public expense, and counties are now expected to carry out a large-scale process on a very short timeline.”
California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks, though, sees the cost as a necessity. In a statement, he said that “Trump is threatening to yank billions from California” by slashing cancer research, health care, education and other funding.
“If we can’t fight back in Congress in 2026, we will pay the price,” he said. “Trump doesn’t want a fair fight in 2026 — he knows he will lose. Prop. 50 is how we hold the line.”