Editorial: To curb Trump, vote yes on Prop 50

Fed up after nearly nine months of Trump 2.0, we endorse Proposition 50 in the California statewide special election November 4. Ballots began arriving in voters’ mailboxes last week for this important check on President Donald Trump’s power.

We are disgusted with Trump, and we expect many of our readers are too. The constant bullying of transgender people, drag artists, immigrants, and anyone with whom Trump disagrees, is mind-bending and exhausting. The economy is suffering; grocery and other consumer prices have not decreased, far from it – Trump’s tariffs have led to cost increases. U.S. soybean farmers risk going under, yet Trump is proposing to lend $20 billion to bail out Argentina. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again mantra is based on faulty research, his own biases against vaccines, and long-standing scientific research that have led to drastic funding cuts, putting people’s lives at risk.

The Department of Justice has been weaponized against Trump’s perceived enemies, at the expense of democracy. Many federal workers have been treated with disrespect, fired under Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or, if they are still working, fear for their jobs. Now, with the federal government shutdown in its eighth day, Trump has talked about not paying furloughed workers their back pay after the government reopens. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are rounding up adults and children at stores, on the streets, even in their own homes, often without any due process or checking to see that they are, in fact, U.S. citizens, which many are. Even the arts have not been immune, with Trump taking over the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. and firing the board.

In short, this is no way to run a country. Everyone knows it, especially Republicans, who have always asked “How high” when Trump tells them to “Jump.” The lies spewed by Trump to the press– and Trump repeatedly belittling reporters he “doesn’t like” – only add to the caustic atmosphere that pervades U.S. politics today and often prevents Americans from getting accurate information. We continue to be dismayed at the level of deceit that permeates all levels of this administration and among Republicans in Congress.

Trump is also keenly aware – even as he lies about it – that his dismal approval rating, at 43% as of October 7, according to the New York Times tracker, does not bode well for keeping Congress, particularly the House of Representatives, under Republican control in the 2026 midterm elections. So earlier this year he did what he always does – worked to game the system. Starting with Texas, he shamelessly urged the Lone Star State to do a rare mid-decade partisan redraw of congressional districts so that five more Republican-leaning seats could be found. Republican Governor Greg Abbott had no problem with the resulting gerrymander the Legislature passed.

That led Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom to propose a similar move – to have the Legislature redraw congressional districts mid-cycle to make five of them more Democratic-leaning. The problem is that California has an independent redistricting commission that voters approved years ago. Any change in how districts are drawn would need to first be approved by voters.

And that’s why there is a special statewide election November 4 on Prop 50, dubbed the “Election Rigging Response Act,” which the Legislature approved in August. Prop 50’s passage is the next step before new congressional districts in California can be drawn. We urge a yes vote because it is one way – possibly the only way – to curb Trump by seeing Democrats take back control of the House. If that happens, House Democrats will chair the committees and can initiate congressional investigations, as well as convene hearings where they are in charge. Through a Democratic-controlled House, the American people can finally begin to hold this administration to account. It is maddening that Democrats have no power in Washington at the moment. That must change.

Legislative and congressional districts are typically redrawn once every decade, after the U.S. census is completed. But Trump’s pressure campaign on state lawmakers in Texas and other GOP-controlled statehouses has thrown that decennial pattern in the waste bin due to concerns Republicans could lose their House majority come next November, as we previously noted.

“We’re putting the maps in front of the voters,” Newsom said at an August 21 news conference where he signed the legislation putting Prop 50 on the ballot as he was surrounded by Democratic lawmakers.

When Newsom first floated the idea this summer, we were skeptical. We like the independent commission and feel it has done a good job redrawing districts every decade that reflect shifts in population and keep communities together as much as possible. However, as it became clear that Texas would go ahead with its gerrymandering – and other red states seem poised to redraw their congressional districts to try and pick up GOP-leaning seats – we realized that Prop 50 is California’s chance to try and insert a guardrail against Trump. Prop 50 is temporary, and congressional districts would go back to being determined by the independent commission in 2030. It’s also important to note that Prop 50 only applies to congressional districts; state legislative districts would not be affected.

“Donald Trump asked for five seats in Texas,” Newsom said at the signing ceremony. “Texas fired the first shot. Donald Trump said he’s ‘entitled’ to those seats. That should put chills up your spine.”

Of course, nothing is guaranteed if Prop 50 passes and California’s congressional districts are redrawn. It will be up to voters next November to determine whether these newly drawn seats result in Democratic candidates winning. The Bay Area’s districts aren’t expected to change, most of the action will be in Southern California, where already, several out candidates are interested in taking on Congressmember Darrell Issa (R-Vista) as his new district would include the LGBTQ mecca of Palm Springs. The same is true in Texas and other states. But historically, the party in power in the White House loses seats in the midterm. That’s what we’re certainly hoping for and what Trump is dreading.

The yes on Prop 50 ads have included Newsom, Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-California), who was famously detained and pushed to the ground by federal agents as he attended a news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles in June. That, of course, was unjustified but par for the course with this administration. 

It's critically important that Golden State voters vote yes on Prop 50 and return their ballots by November 4. As Newsom said, “Open your eyes to what’s going on in the U.S. in 2025.”

Ending the Trump nightmare won’t be easy. His bullying has resulted in major capitulations by universities, businesses, and even the federal government itself. But Californians can send a strong message by passing Prop 50 so that in next year’s midterms, Democrats can have a fighting chance at retaking the House of Representatives. Fair representation is a fundamental concept of democracy. And if red states are gerrymandering, the only choice for Californians is to fight back with our own plan to level the playing field.