By Matt Underwood More than half of California voters back Newsom redistricting plan: Poll – so, here’s the deal. It looks like a majority of California voters are on board with Governor Newsom’s plan to reshape the state’s congressional districts. And honestly, you can see why.
Texas has already gone down the gerrymandering rabbit hole, and frankly, it feels like letting the other side cheat without a response is just not an option. The proposed measure in California is explicitly a response to that, and it’s even framed as temporary. You can support it while still despising the whole concept of gerrymandering. Plus, and this is key, it’s way more democratic than what Texas has done because the voters get the final say, not just the politicians. I can’t help but think, “Go get ’em, Gavin!” It’s time for California to lead the charge again. Let’s hope the voters agree at the ballot box in November. I am a California voter, and I’ll be voting yes on this proposition. We need fighters, not people who are going to back down.
The argument of “two wrongs don’t make a right” feels weak. Newsom isn’t even pretending he’s trying to “make something right” here; he’s playing the game by the rules his opponents created. Everyone needs to vote; we need to end this ASAP. It’s funny (or not) how the California Republicans are already putting out ads trying to convince people to vote “no” on the proposition, claiming they’re trying to preserve “fairness.” Talk about clowns.
Fight back, even if you’re a conservative in California. MAGA has made it clear they’ll cripple California if they get a chance. I even saw a Republican ad on YouTube that was trying to sell a “No on Prop 50,” and it basically boiled down to, “Only let Republicans rig congressional districts.” It’s pretty ridiculous.
You’ve got people like Arnold Schwarzenegger chiming in, warning Democratic leaders not to “become Trump” in their pushback on redistricting. Where was that energy in Texas, Arnold? We have to do better. Our democracy is really at stake, and it’s time to act. There’s no point in playing by a rule book that the other side is completely disregarding. When they go low, you go lower. They’ll play the victim no matter what, so you might as well give them a taste of their own medicine.
The question of whether it’s enough to counter what’s already been done in the red states is a good one. And, where are the polls? I live in California and haven’t been asked, but I’d definitely vote in favor. The truth is that people are already making assumptions about the future, like, “He’ll be making his presidential run announcement around this time next year.” And some are saying, “That’s so sad.” It is a callous exercise in him improving his 2028 position, and nothing else. He has no answer for when the party of domestic terrorism adds seats in the midterms and Californians are stripped of their hard-won redistricting commission because, no doubt, a new emergency redistricting will have to happen because…redistricting.
Newsom wants to swing five seats, and there are eight Republican districts in California. That’s not going to be enough, but, given the House GOP majority is by six seats, it’s nothing to sneeze at. It’s going to be very interesting.
He’s not even billing it as trying to make something right; he was clear that it was only going to be pursued to counter the Republicans’ gerrymandering in other states. And then they did it, and he’s following through. It’s a national fight, and trying to guilt red states into following a beacon is a failed effort. There are no rules anymore. Republicans keep breaking them, so why should Democrats be expected to follow any rule the Republicans don’t follow? Otherwise, the game is rigged.
Time to get in the mud. We need to go further than that to win, though. This is a street brawl now, get them down, then we can clean things up. Hopefully, California doesn’t disappoint us this time and falls for these horrible promises. We all really need this. When we’re not under fascism, we can go back to banning gerrymandering federally, like the Democrats wanted in 2022, which was filibustered by Republicans.
Letting one side cheat without offering up a response is braindead. However, my understanding is that Republicans can reshape more Democratic districts to be Republican than Democrats can reshape Republican districts to be more Democrat.
It will be interesting to see if the Republicans have the support they think they do, and how skilled they are at gerrymandering. If they get it wrong, it could backfire spectacularly, spreading the votes too thin, and any shift in support could become a loss.
Being from California is exactly what is potentially disqualifying for him. California is pretty lukewarm about him, and he’s less popular outside of California. He’s been gaining lately for sure, and I appreciate what he’s been doing, but I just don’t quite buy that it will lead to election results. He is not Trump in any way good or bad; he is pure establishment.