Voting for Proposition 50 is underway. The ballot measure would allow California to temporarily redraw congressional district maps. If it passes, the new legislative map drawn by members of Congress would be used in the 2026, 2028, and 2030 U.S. House elections in California, and after the 2030 census the independent Citizens Redistricting Commission would resume drawing new maps, starting in 2031.
The initiative is a direct response to Texas, which redrew its congressional map this summer at the request of President Donald Trump. Combined, sides for and against the proposition have spent more than $200 million to influence voters.
Supporters, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and several California lawmakers, say the measure is necessary to counter redistricting efforts in Texas and other Republican-led states that could weaken the representation of California’s diverse voters.
Polling suggests that Black voters have expressed concern over whether the new congressional map, if approved by California voters, would dilute the impact of their vote while others say they do not know enough about Prop 50 to make an educated vote.
Newsom frames Prop 50 as a critical defense of democracy and a response to attacks on voting rights across the country. The governor referenced the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision and the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back protections. “This idea is pretty self-evident to anyone that’s paying attention, that the Trump administration wants to put America in reverse,” Newsom said. “He wants to bring us back to a pre-1960s world. And you’re seeing it across the spectrum, not just on voting rights and civil rights, but you’re seeing it on LGBTQ rights. You’re seeing it across the spectrum as it relates to women’s rights … not just access to abortion, but even basic access to medical care. And it’s a remarkable and sobering time in U.S. history.”
Newsom also described the unprecedented nature of Trump’s interference in Texas, which began with a phone call made to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, directing him to have Texas redraw congressional maps.
“We did not choose to be here. This was not the fight we wanted to fight this November,” Newsom told the Black Press at a digital briefing. “The president of the United States has never made a phone call to a sitting governor to direct that governor to do a mid-decade redistricting. So unprecedented that Greg Abbott himself was initially reticent. Even Greg Abbott recognized the nature and the consequences of what the president was demanding.”
Newsom voiced great concern about Trump’s claim that he is “entitled” to five seats. “And if that doesn’t put a chill up your spine, I don’t know what else does,” Newsom said.
Newsom stressed that Prop 50 is temporary and transparent.
“Again, it’s in response to [Trump], and so we’re maintaining the Independent Redistricting Commission. I want to make that crystal clear. Any assertion that we’re not is simply wrong.”
State Sen. Akilah Weber-Pierson, chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, emphasized the stakes for Black Californians. She highlighted the Trump administration’s attacks on Black communities, health care, housing, education, and economic opportunity.
Weber-Pierson stressed the importance of voting in favor of the proposition. “Proposition 50 ensures that when Black voters go to the poll, our voice counts and our voices are heard,” she said. “Our elders and our ancestors fought too long and too hard for representation to be taken away now.”
“Right now, California is the firewall protecting our communities from the worst of Trump’s attacks. This is our moment to stand up and fight back, and Proposition 50 is our weapon.”
She warned that if redistricting led to a Republican midterm victory, “we will lose access to medical care, our hospitals in our communities will close, labor and delivery units will become unreachable, and the health disparities that impact the Black community will worsen.”
“As a practicing physician, I cannot underscore the harm that will come as a result of what Trump has done and is doing to our Medi-Cal system,” Weber-Pierson said.
Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles, and whip of the Congressional Black Caucus, noted that Trump and his administration have been “uber-aggressive” toward Black Americans, particularly Black women, targeting DEI programs, erasing contributions from history, and cutting programs such as Medi-Cal, Medicaid, Medicare, WIC, and SNAP.
Kamlager-Dove framed Prop 50 as both a defensive and offensive measure. “We are fighting fire with fire,” she said.
Oakland Rep. Lateefah Simon emphasized the historical context, highlighting past efforts to suppress Black political representation and the importance of California leading the fight now.
The Protect Voters First Coalition is a California-based group that opposes Proposition 50. It’s primarily funded by Charles T. Munger Jr., a physicist and prominent donor from Palo Alto.
The group argues that the measure was written by politicians to benefit themselves and contends that it would dismantle existing safeguards for fair elections, remove requirements to keep communities together, and eliminate protections that prevent maps from being drawn to favor political parties.
Coalition leader Jeanne Raya, an executive for an insurance agency in San Gabriel and former chair of California’s first Citizens Redistricting Commission, said the campaign for a “yes” vote is misleading.
“It’s misleading to the people who think that it’s temporary and that politicians are not going to see the value in holding on to the power that they are going to have for the next five years,” she said.
Fabian Valdez Jr., an information strategist who’s also a coalition member, added, “The ‘yes’ side has not done any presentation about maps. They just say that it’s about Trump. I understand that, but they are not talking about what the maps are doing and how they are splitting communities.”
Bishop Dwight Earl Williams of Stockton, founder and president of New Genesis Outreach, expressed concern the initiative could divide communities and weaken representation. Williams thinks the proposed map could divide San Joaquin County into as many as five congressional districts from its current two.
“Our concern is quite frankly this, here in the San Joaquin County area, where we are based, we have built a strong consensus across many stakeholders throughout the area,” Williams told California Black Media.
The proposed map does not divide San Joaquin County into five districts. The county would mostly lie within District 9 with a small portion in District 13.
Proposed congressional map shows two districts covering San Joaquin County. Some Prop 50 opponents believe the county would be divided into as many as five districts. Redistricting Partners
Paul Mitchell, owner of Redistricting Partners and a data consultant based in Sacramento, said his firm was brought in and created the proposed map for Prop 50.
He said his team prioritized protecting the core interests of Black communities, which were for the most part, he said, “kept intact from the commission process.”
Mitchell said preserving three Black districts, two in L.A. and one in Oakland, was foremost. “Keeping those three seats completely untouched was goal number one, and that’s probably 90% of what was important for the Black community was preserving those districts,” he said. “I think all the communities benefit from the outcome of the plan.”
Under Proposition 50’s proposed redistricting, Sacramento’s three congressional districts would be reshaped in ways that could change who holds political power — and how Black communities are represented.
District 3 would pull in more of the suburbs, including Arden and Rancho Cordova, while shedding some of its rural foothill areas. Mitchell said this would make the district more competitive, describing it as “a 10-point Kamala Harris district” that leans Democratic but includes a mix of city and mountain voters. Former state Sen. Richard Pan, a Democrat and longtime Sacramento physician, already has announced his campaign for the new District 3 seat, signaling an early contest for what could become a key swing district.
The 6th District would focus more tightly on the city of Sacramento, uniting many urban neighborhoods and strengthening its Democratic base. The 7th District would stretch farther south into Elk Grove and east toward Amador County, combining suburban and rural communities.
Mitchell noted that Black neighborhoods would remain divided between districts, just along new lines. The Oak Park/UC Davis Medical Center area would stay in one district, while Fruitridge would be joined with Arden.
For many Black voters, the new boundaries could mean that while representation may still be split, the political influence of Sacramento’s core neighborhoods could grow — helping ensure that whoever wins will need to speak to the priorities of the city’s historic Black communities. “So the district will elect somebody who’s the candidate of choice from the Sacramento footprint, even though the district goes way out there,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell also addressed concerns that the measure could become permanent. The ballot measure temporarily overrides the sections of the state constitution establishing the Independent Redistricting Commission for 2026, 2028, and 2030, but the commission will return in the 2031 .
“The only way to have this happen in 2032 would be a brand new ballot measure,” he said. Creating another constitutional amendment would require a massive campaign effort and expense. “You’d have to spend another $100 million on a campaign,” Mitchell added, noting that the difficulty and cost serve as a disincentive to repeat the process. He also said polling shows voters continue to strongly favor the independent commission.
The Public Policy Institute of California evaluated Proposition 50’s proposed map by examining its impact on racial and geographic representation. The California Citizens Redistricting Commission’s current congressional plan had to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act, which includes drawing districts for voters of color in which they would have enough to form a majority in a single area. Latinos are currently the only group meeting that threshold in California, with 16 majority-Latino districts — unchanged under the Prop 50 plan. Neither Black nor Asian Californians have a majority district in either plan.
The Prop 50 map largely mirrors the redistricting commission’s existing plan when it comes to districts where racial and ethnic groups can exert electoral influence. Using 30% as the threshold for influence, the current plan includes six Asian American, two Black, and seven Latino districts; Prop 50 would add one more Latino-influence district but otherwise replicates the status quo.
The institute’s analysts noted that Prop 50’s primary objective is to create more Democratic seats, but on the dimensions that the redistricting commission is required to consider — racial representation, influence of communities of color, and geographic integrity — the proposed plan closely mirrors the existing map.
Sacramento State Professor Christopher Towler said recent national polling suggests Black voters may not be fully aware of the measure. “There is this thought that this is something that everyone knows about, but the data out there, even this national sample suggests that it’s relatively unknown.”
He explained that just 18% of Black respondents supported redistricting, compared with 24% of white respondents, while most said they didn’t know enough to form an opinion.
Towler said a UC Berkeley poll found that Black Californians’ opinions on Prop 50 remain fluid. Forty-three percent said they would vote in favor, 27% said “no,” and 28% were undecided. For white Californians, 52% said they supported Prop 50, 37% were against, and only 11% were undecided.
“There’s still a segment of the Black population that just either doesn’t know or hasn’t made up their mind yet,” Towler said. “So the story that’s being told is going to be really important going forward.
Regarding claims that redistricting will break up Black districts and dilute Black voting power, Towler hasn’t looked at the lines but said, “It is kind of ironic that concern is coming from a political movement that’s shown little interest in Black voters before. It seems a little suspect that all of a sudden they are concerned about Black voting power being diluted.”
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