LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday entered the national battle over U.S. House control, urging voters to reject a California ballot proposal to rejigger districts that he said would erode democratic principles and allow politicians to \u201ctake the power away from the people.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is insane,\u201d the former Republican governor and action-movie star said of Democratic-backed Proposition 50, a November ballot initiative intended to add five Democratic U.S. House seats<\/a> in California to offset President Donald Trump\u2019s moves in Texas<\/a> to gain five Republican districts before the 2026 midterm elections.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make any sense to me that because we have to fight Trump, to become Trump,\u201d Schwarzenegger said. \u201cTwo wrongs don\u2019t make a right.\u201d<\/p>\n The proposal championed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom would temporarily set aside districts crafted by an independent state commission and replace them with dramatically reshaped districts drafted by Democrats and designed to benefit the party\u2019s candidates.<\/p>\n If approved, it\u2019s possible the new political maps could slash<\/a> five Republican-held House seats in the liberal-leaning state while bolstering Democratic incumbents in other battleground districts in the 2026 midterm elections. That could boost the Democratic margin to 48 of California\u2019s 52 congressional seats, up from the 43 seats the party now holds. <\/p>\n Speaking at the University of Southern California, Schwarzenegger repeatedly stressed the proposal would set aside maps drawn in a public process by an independent commission he promoted as governor, and replace it with partisan maps shaped behind closed doors and blessed by \u201cthe politicians.\u201d He never directly criticized Newsom or the Legislature\u2019s Democratic majority, which endorsed the proposal.<\/p>\n Schwarzenegger signaled last month he would actively oppose the ballot proposal, posting a photo of himself lifting weights on the social platform X while in a T-shirt imprinted with the slogan, \u201cTerminate Gerrymandering\u201d and a partially obscured obscenity aimed at \u201cthe politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m getting ready for the gerrymandering battle,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not yet clear how involved the wealthy former governor and one-time bodybuilding champion will be in the campaign, in which he could finance advertising and use his global celebrity to influence voters. Schwarzenegger, a centrist, is a longtime critic of Trump who has argued the parties need to move away from the extremes to break Washington gridlock. <\/p>\n Still, he\u2019s remains a formidable political presence 15 years after he left office.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think you want to run against Arnold Schwarzenegger,\u201d said Bill Whalen, a fellow at Stanford University\u2019s right-leaning Hoover Institution.<\/p>\n California and Texas \u2014 the nation\u2019s two most populous states \u2014 have emerged as the center of a partisan turf war in the House that is spiraling into other states<\/a> as well as the courts in what amounts to a proxy war ahead of the 2026 elections.<\/p>\n Newsom has cast the contest as a showdown<\/a> with Trump, as Republicans seek to maintain the party\u2019s slim House majority.<\/p>\n