Prop. 50 wasn’t about Texas. It was about cheating no matter what | Opinion
The Democrats in the California Legislature, when drafting this summer how to gerrymander congressional seats in California if Texas and Florida were to make good on their threats to do likewise, had the foresight to craft a ballot measure that wouldn’t be implemented if the plans elsewhere didn’t move forward.
And then the Democrats got greedy. They stripped this trigger clause from the bill. Via Proposition 50, they wanted California to cheat by drawing more Democrat-leading districts no matter what.
This wildly undemocratic sleight of hand now looms large. A federal court in Texas has nullified the gerrymandered maps approved by its legislature. And while plans proceed in Florida to cook up some more Republican-leaning districts, a court could kill that idea likewise because of a state initiative that clearly bans such partisan gamesmanship.
That would leave California in the 2026 midterm election as the biggest cheater of them all.
“I have been saddened all the way through this process,” said Patricia Sinay, a member of California’s independent redistricting commission. Its meticulously fair and impartial maps that took effect in 2022 will now sit on a shelf.
Our legislature flirted with being fair when it was initially drafting Prop. 50 this summer. For a matter of days, Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 8 had the failsafe language to stand down and keep the fair maps drawn by Sinay and other commissioners if cooler heads prevailed in other states. It read:
“This measure would make the congressional districts reflected in AB 604 operative only if Texas, Florida, or another state adopts a new congressional district map that takes effect after Aug. 1, 2025, and before Jan. 1, 2031, and such redistricting is not required by a federal court order.”
But when the bill came to a final vote, this passage was deleted.
Prop. 50 was about Texas, until it wasn’t
The official legislative digest made it crystal clear why the Democrats were passing ACA 8: “In response to redistricting in Texas in 2025…”
Technically, a diehard proponent of Prop. 50 could point to gerrymandering that is still moving forward in states like Missouri and Utah.
But time and again, Newsom said he was “fighting fire with fire” to counteract the Lone Star state of Texas.
Why the Legislature took the trigger clause out of Prop. 50 isn’t immediately clear. Sinay had heard at the time it was due to Texas gerrymandering seeming to be a foregone conclusion. Even if that proved true, what was the harm of California vowing to stand down if gerrymandering here wasn’t necessary? Isn’t that the democratic thing to do?
“Whatever party is in charge does not support independent redistricting,” said Sinay, a former board member of the Encinitas Union School District. “I think pulling out the trigger clause was kind of proof of that.”
Newsom on Tuesday seemed downright proud of out-cheating Texas. “Trump and (Texas Governor) Greg Abbott played with fire, got burned — and democracy won,” he said in a statement. “This ruling is a win for Texas, and for every American who fights for free and fair elections.”
There is a sane solution
The best idea still standing is one by Roseville Congressman Kevin Kiley, a Republican who has been drawn into a Democrat-leaning district and doesn’t know where he will run come 2026. He has a bill before Congress that would outlaw redistricting in the middle of a decade (the redrawing normally happens after the once-a-decade national census update).
“It is clearer than ever that there are no ‘winners’ in this foolish redistricting war,” Rep. Kiley said in a statement Tuesday. “It is not too late for Speaker Johnson to do the right thing by supporting my bill to end this madness.”
Speaker Mike Johnson has been ignoring Kiley’s bill in deference to the president’s attempt to redistrict in as many Republican-leaning states as possible. It would be an ironic day if Trump were to change his mind and direct Congress to call off all this remapping madness.
This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 3:03 PM.