Prop 50 Vote Near, Cheating, Wealthy Donors Out in Force

Early voting is underway in California's special election for Proposition 50, Governor Gavin Newsom's effort to redraw the state's congressional districts in the Democrats' favor. If Newsom achieves his goal, the state's new congressional boundaries could boost Democratic representation in the House, stymie President Trump's final two years in office, and propel the California governor into the leading position for his party's presidential nomination—an end result he lusts for. Newsom acted in response to Texas' redistricting effort that is poised to add five new GOP seats. Prop 50 would suspend the voter-approved congressional map drawn by a nonpartisan commission in 2021 in exchange for one gerrymandered specifically to give Democrats an advantage.

Mail-in voting that started a month before the polls officially open is both an invitation to cheat and allows plenty of time to attract major donors. Both fundraising and cheating are off to a fast start. As California voters receive mail ballots for the November special election, which could upend the state's congressional boundaries and determine control of the U.S. House of Representatives, billionaire hedge-fund founder Tom Steyer committed to spend $12 million to back Democrats' efforts to redraw districts to boost their party's ranks in the legislative body. The maps, historically drawn in secrecy by nameless operatives in smoke-filled backrooms, protected incumbents and created bizarrely shaped districts, such as the California coast's infamous Ribbon of Shame. Former congresswoman Lois Capps’ (D) brainchild, the Ribbon of Shame violated every single principle of what a district is supposed to look like, including being compact, binding together communities, and using established boundaries, such as city limits, as a dividing line between one district and another. Under Prop 50, California’s Modoc County on the Oregon Border, which has two people per square mile living on its ranches and farms, will be joined together in the same district as irredeemably left, densely urban San Francisco six hours away. If Prop 50 passes, Modoc’s 8,700 residents will have no meaningful representation.

Steyer sees only advantages to Prop 50. "We must stop Trump's election-rigging power grab," Steyer said in a statement. "The defining fight through Nov. 4 is passing Prop 50. To compete and win, Democrats can't keep playing by the same old rules. This is how we fight back and stick it to Trump." Steyer's financial commitment makes him the biggest funder of pro-Prop 50 efforts, surpassing billionaire financier George Soros, who has contributed $10 million to the cause. Steyer has spent hundreds of millions of dollars supporting Democratic candidates, climate change causes, and more than $300 million on his unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign.

The Prop 50 campaign has put California and the nation's most powerful current and prominent former elected officials front and center. Featuring Newsom and Sen. Alex Padilla in its opening advertising salvo and having former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi join them as the official supporters of the Yes ballot argument are central to their campaign. Former President Barack Obama, insisting that democracy is at stake, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, urging "power to the people," also endorsed Prop 50, although the effect of these predictable validations from overly familiar faces is questionable.

Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, offering his most extensive remarks yet on California’s escalating redistricting battle, rejected Democrats’ justification for a mid-decade redrawing as a countermove to Trump, dismissing the argument as merely “excuses” for a gambit to increase Democrats political power.

“They want to dismantle this independent commission [the California Citizens Redistricting Commission] that voters established. They want to get rid of it under the auspices [that] we have to fight Trump,” he said. “They are trying to fight for democracy by getting rid of the democratic principles of California … It is insane to let that happen,” he added. Firmly in the No camp, Schwarzenegger is still influential; he has a political institute at the University of Southern California.

The No voters are, as usual, climbing uphill against media bias. An open letter from the California News Publishers Association addressed to Newsom and published in Sunday's Los Angeles Times sought advertising revenue exclusively from the Yes campaign, which has compiled $77 million to date. But the No side has a $35 million war chest and print advertising would help it reach the same voters that the Democrats seek. It looks like favoritism to deny the No supporters to access print journalism.

Democrat-style cheating is well underway. On the ballot measure's page to fill in and return by mail, the circle to indicate a No lines up with a hole on the outside of the envelope. By simply holding the return envelope in the poll worker's hand, the No vote is clearly visible and could easily be tossed aside or ignored.

Steve Hilton (R), the leading 2026 California gubernatorial candidate in either party, demanded that the November 4 vote be immediately cancelled, and he labeled the affair a shocking breach of ballot secrecy that potentially affected millions of Californians. Hilton called the transparent envelopes "another example of the corruption and incompetence rigging California's elections."

With Nov. 4 fast approaching and the political temperature rising, the election's outcome is uncertain. But what can be predicted with strong assurance is that whichever way it goes, Newsom will not get his party's presidential nomination. The DNC does not want a repeat of the 2024 disaster wherein left-wing radical Kamala Harris got swamped in the public and Electoral College vote. Newsom is smoother than Harris, but he’s ruined California and voters who don’t want him to wreck America, know it.

Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org