California voters pass Gavin Newsom’s scheme to fight back against Trump’s gerrymandering
California voters handed Democrats yet another victory on an already action-packed election night, passing Proposition 50.
The ballot measure, passed and championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, is a response to President Donald Trump's push for GOP-controlled states to rig their congressional district maps to give themselves extra seats and eliminate Democratic representatives — plans which have already been passed in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina.
Under Proposition 50, the state's nonpartisan redistricting commission is temporarily suspended until the next Census, and a map is passed that seeks to eliminate five Republican congressional districts in California.
The measure was supported by a number of lawmakers and groups that generally oppose partisan gerrymandering, as an emergency measure to prevent Republicans from being able to block voters from voting out their majority in next year's midterm elections.
