California stands at a crossroads with Proposition 50, a measure that threatens to unravel the progress we’ve made toward unbiased, transparent redistricting. Californians strongly rejected partisan gerrymandering by establishing the Citizens Redistricting Commission, taking map-drawing power from self-serving Sacramento politicians, and putting it in the hands of an impartial group dedicated to fairness, not politics. The Commission has been far from perfect, but it beats the Newsom-led alternative.
Prop 50 would drag us back to the dark days of backroom deals, where political elites carved up districts to entrench their power. This isn’t reform—it’s regression, and it’s driven by one man’s ambition: Governor Gavin Newsom.
Newsom and his allies are flooding the airwaves with political ads so shockingly dishonest, they set a new low in California politics—and that’s saying something. These ads, among the most misleading I’ve ever seen, peddle a narrative so far removed from truth it is laughable. The actual truth is that Prop 50 is a brazen, self-serving anti-reform that flaunts every principle of good governance.
They claim Prop 50 is about fairness, but don’t be fooled. This is about Newsom rigging the system to bolster his presidential aspirations, nothing more.
The proposition’s absurdity is laid bare in its proposed districts. Take, for instance, the ludicrous idea of marrying rural, conservative Modoc County with leftist, suburban Marin County. These communities share nothing—geographically, culturally, or politically. The only rationale for this pairing is to dilute conservative voices and magnify Newsom’s influence and chance for the presidency.
It’s a masterclass in political cynicism, designed to rob Californians of meaningful representation while consolidating power for one man.
The entire movement behind Prop 50 is built on a lie: that President Trump is somehow orchestrating Texas’s redistricting, and California must follow suit to “counter” him. This is nonsense. Blaming Trump is a cheap tactic, but an effective one, because Democrats have become reflexively anti-Trump.
Prop 50 exploits this knee-jerk opposition, using Trump as a bogeyman to justify a power grab that has nothing to do with fairness and everything to do with Newsom’s ambitions. The Citizens Redistricting Commission is a bulwark against the kind of political underhandedness Prop 50 represents. It ensures districts reflect communities, not the whims of Sacramento insiders. By dismantling this system, Newsom and his allies are telling Californians their voices don’t matter. They’re trading representation for ambition, fairness for favoritism.
Prop 50 is a naked power grab that benefits Gavin Newsom at the expense of every Californian. It mocks the will of voters who demanded fair redistricting and sacrifices meaningful representation to one man’s presidential dreams. We rejected this kind of politics before, and we must do so again. Vote no on Prop 50, and let’s keep California’s redistricting in the hands of its people, not its politicians.
Senator Ted Gaines (Ret.) was elected to represent the Board of Equalization’s First District. He is a leading taxpayer advocate, defender of Prop. 13, and is committed to providing trustworthy and transparent representation for nearly ten million constituents in 34 counties of northern, eastern, and southern California. For more information, visit www.boe.ca.gov/Gaines.
