Posted on 10/07/2025 8:49:37 AM PDT by Red Badger
(Patriot TV)—California voters are hitting the polls right now in a special election that’s set to shake up the balance of power in Congress. Ballots started going out this week for Proposition 50, a measure pushed hard by Democrats to hand redistricting authority back to the state legislature in Sacramento. If it passes, the Democrat-controlled body could redraw congressional lines mid-decade, potentially adding up to five seats favorable to their side. This comes as a direct response to moves in Republican strongholds like Texas, where new maps are poised to bolster GOP representation.
Governor Gavin Newsom, who’s already eyeing a White House run in 2028, has thrown his full weight behind the proposition. He’s framing it as a critical firewall against Republican gains.
“If we lose here, we are going to have total Republican control in the House, the Senate and the White House for at least two more years,” Newsom warned during a recent rally.
With President Donald Trump back in office and Republicans holding slim majorities in Congress, Newsom’s push aims to flip the script on redistricting battles that have heated up since the 2024 elections. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed off on new maps in August that could deliver five additional right-leaning districts, and Missouri followed suit last month with changes likely to net the GOP another seat.
“If we win here, we can put a check on Trump for his final two years,” Newsom said in a statement last week.
Democrats see this as a way to counter what they call aggressive gerrymandering by Republicans, but critics argue it’s just the pot calling the kettle black. The proposition would sideline California’s nonpartisan redistricting commission—a system put in place over a decade ago to keep politicians’ hands off the maps. That commission was born from reforms championed by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the last Republican to hold the office.
Schwarzenegger has jumped back into the fray, urging voters to reject the measure. “That’s what they want to do is take us backwards — this is why it is important for you to vote no on Prop 50. Democracy — we’ve got to protect it, and we’ve got to fight for it,” he declared in a video message.
His involvement recalls the 2008 and 2010 ballot initiatives that stripped lawmakers of redistricting power, aiming to end partisan gamesmanship. Today, opposition groups like “Stop Sacramento’s Power Grab” are flooding the airwaves with ads, and the fight has drawn massive funding—over $215 million raised by both sides as of early October.
This isn’t just a California story. Redistricting fever is spreading. Ohio is redrawing under court order, which could favor Republicans in a state that’s trended rightward. Indiana and Florida are considering similar steps, while Democrats in Maryland and Illinois mull their own adjustments. Even red states like Kansas and Nebraska are in the mix, and a recent court ruling in Utah mandates new maps after lawmakers bypassed a voter-approved independent commission.
On the flip side, a federal panel in Texas is scrutinizing the new GOP maps there, and Newsom has hinted that California might back off if other states do the same—though that’s not baked into Prop 50’s language.
For Republicans, these efforts are about shoring up their House edge ahead of the 2026 midterms, where history shows the president’s party often takes hits. Trump and his allies remember 2018 all too well, when Democrats snatched the majority during his first term. Passing Prop 50 would be a blow to those plans, giving Democrats a shot at offsetting gains elsewhere.
Newsom summed up the urgency for his party: “Heaven help us if we lose. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for Democrats.”
As votes roll in, the outcome could tip the scales not just for California’s 52 House seats but for control of Congress in the years ahead.
Why mail in ballots?
This sounds like the makings of fraud to me.
We should go vote on it in person at a precinct.
Wonder what the response will be. If ten libs are all that vote, it wins right.
Oh please, like this is in doubt? They will manufacture whatever they need to win, like they always do.
We know how Democrats deal with their political enemies:
The Kalifornia voting apparatus is so corrupted, the democrats always get the win for measures that gives those in the State House more power. And they just keep getting more power. Prop 50 will pass, they’ll see to it.
> Why mail in ballots?<
Send a couple hundred. I mail em in.
EC
Amazon is fine.
EC
THE ENTIRE WORLD NEEDS A FIREWALL AGAINST NEWSOM
IN 2024-—it is estimated that over 200,000 people left CALIF.
HOW ARE THEY GOING TO ADD 5 SEATS?
MAKING MORE DISTRICTS???
REMOVE ALL THE ILLEGALS & THEIR VOTING REGISTRATIONS AND EVERYTHING GETS EVEN SMALLER-—NOT LARGER
Just an off hand observation. I don’t believe that heaven will help pass the bill.
They have a lot of dead people there..............
because the DEmonrats votes and newscum, approved mail in ballots only after the 2020 election and got rid of a lot of voting precincts in the state
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