Riverside County Votes Yes On Prop. 50, Early Tallies Show

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A majority of Riverside County voters joined the rest of California on Tuesday to approve Proposition 50, the statewide congressional redistricting measure.

With all Riverside County precincts reporting, 238,494 ballots, or 56.9%, were cast in favor of the measure, compared to 180,956, or 43.1%, against, according to election tallies from the California Secretary of State.

Election results will change, however, throughout the ballot-counting canvass period as vote-by-mail ballots, provisional ballots (including conditional voter registration provisional ballots), and other ballots are tallied.

The county election results are tighter than the statewide tally.

As of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, 64.1% of statewide ballots cast were in favor of Prop. 50, compared to 35.9% against. Statewide counting is continuing.

Proposition 50 will establish new congressional district maps for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections. Democrats currently hold a 43-9 advantage in the state's U.S. House delegation, but Prop. 50 is expected to shake up five of the nine Republican-held congressional districts.

The GOP congressmen in those at-risk areas — Reps. Ken Calvert (Corona), Darrell Issa (Vista), Kevin Kiley (Rocklin), David Valadao (Bakersfield) and Doug LaMalfa (Richvale) — will see right-leaning voters reduced and left-leaning voters boosted in their respective districts in a shift that would make it likely a Democratic candidate would prevail in each race.

Issa issued a defiant statement, saying: “I'm not going anywhere. I'll continue to represent the people of California regardless of their party or where they live."

Calvert said Gov. Gavin Newsom engineered a “power grab” while housing costs, gas prices and taxes continue to strain family budgets. "I am determined to keep fighting for the families I represent," he said in an email.

The measure, otherwise known as Congressional Redistricting or the Election Rigging Response Act, was spearheaded by Newsom. In August, he signed the legislative package that gave Californians a voice as to whether they wanted to push back against what Democrats characterize as President Donald Trump’s power grab in Texas and other Republican-led states.

With the 2026 midterm elections just a year away, the redrawing of congressional maps to favor Republicans is a Trump strategy to maintain GOP control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The president publicly instigated the gerrymandering, but Democrats in California and other states have seen an opportunity to counterpunch.

Newsom gave a live speech late Tuesday night on X, thanking voters and rallying Democratic leaders and voters nationwide ahead of the 2026 midterm battle.

"And let me make this crystal clear. We can de facto end Donald Trump’s presidency as we know it the minute Speaker [Hakeem] Jeffries gets sworn in as Speaker of the House of Representatives," Newsom said. "It is all on the line, a bright line in 2026. And so I want to thank everybody that stood up not just for our democracy, for those that feel bullied and intimidated, stood up for this notion of co-equal branches of government and a system of checks and balances."

Related:

• 'This Is The Only Way, To Fight Fire With Fire': Reactions To Prop. 50 Passage In CA
• Prop. 50 Passes In California: Rebuke Of Trump, Victory For Newsom