More elected officials in Orange County are publicly weighing in on a statewide redistricting proposal that aims to make it easier for Democrats running in five of California’s 52 congressional seats to win their election.
At the upcoming Nov. 4 special election, voters across the state will decide on Proposition 50 – whether or not to temporarily adopt a congressional voting district map that would give Democrats an advantage in future elections in five House of Representatives seats.
To view the proposed map, click here.
Supporters mainly argue the proposition is needed to ensure a level playing field in the 2026 midterm elections and aimed at offsetting a push in Texas to redraw Congressional boundaries to gain more Republican seats in the House of Representatives.
Proponents of the proposition include Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Democratic Party, OC Action, California Teachers Association and the California Labor Federation.
Jonathan Paik, the executive director of OC Action, said the measure is about Californians fighting back against President Donald Trump’s cuts to healthcare and his immigration crackdown.
“We continue to see an attempt from the administration to be able to rig the elections,” he said.
“Prop. 50 is a step to be able to defend ourselves from what the federal administration is trying to do and we see that this is a necessary step for us to be able to defend California and in turn, defend the country.”
Critics like the California Republican Party, the OC GOP, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and a couple of California Citizens Redistricting Commissioners argue the proposition eliminates public input and transparency from the redistricting process and have called it gerrymandering.
The independent redistricting commission itself hasn’t taken a position on Prop. 50.
Last week, Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner unsuccessfully pushed a resolution against the ballot measure arguing the proposition was a ploy to pull the power away from voters and give it to politicians in Sacramento.
He also said the governor shouldn’t follow Texas “down a rabbit hole.”
“Texas may arguably be doing something stupid or wrong. I have no idea why in the world. That means California should go and do something stupid and or or wrong as well,” Wagner said at the Sept. 23 supervisors meeting.
“You want to respond to Texas. Let’s respond to what Texas is doing right and try to do it ourselves.”
Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento said he wasn’t thrilled about the temporarily proposed congressional district lines, but officials can’t ignore what triggered the proposition.
“Oligarchs at the federal level are really dictating where we are today,” he said at the Sept. 23 meeting.
“I think a resolution would be better directed to Congress and the Texas Legislature to rescind its efforts and if that happened, we could go ahead and go back to where we were and make sure that we did respect, you know, the will of the people.”
Last week, LAist reported that over $136 million dollars have been raised in the debate over whether to redistrict the state’s congressional lines – with most of that money raised in support of Prop. 50.
Orange County Weighs in on Prop. 50.
While a majority of Orange County Supervisors voted down Wagner’s resolution, elected officials in Orange, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Westminster adopted separate resolutions last month against Prop. 50.
[Read: Orange County Sounds Off on California Redistricting Push]
Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns said Prop. 50 is political posturing.
“This is about as stupid as it gets. It’s based on something that Gavin Newsom says was completely wrong and inappropriate in another state so his answer is to do something that he believes is wrong and inappropriate,” he said at the Sept. 16 city council meeting.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
Elected officials in other cities like Irvine, Stanton and Cypress also debated taking a stand against the proposition, but ultimately did not adopt resolutions against Prop. 50.
Stanton Mayor David Shawver said approval of Prop. 50 would detrimentally impact one of OC’s smallest cities.
“I’m very concerned about the fact that proposition 50 is going to take our three and a half square mile city and divide it right down the middle,” he said at the Sept. 23 city council meeting.
“I just want Stanton to be in one congressional district where we can deal with one congressional representative who can take care of the needs of our community.”
Councilman John Warren called Prop. 50 gerrymandering.
“It’s gerrymandering in response to gerrymandering,” he said at the Sept. 23 meeting. “I do not support the idea of gerrymandering, whether that be on a local level, state level or national level.”
Councilmembers Donald Torres and Gary Taylor said more congressional representation would be beneficial to the city in that it may lead to them getting more federal grants.
“The truth is that we have a president who’s scared of losing his majority in the midterms, so he asked a Republican state to go ahead and gerrymander their districts,” Torres said at the Sept. 23 meeting.
“We’re going to have another congressman. I don’t see how this is an issue. This genuinely is going to help our city. We’re going to be able to have more opportunities to have grants.”
Prop. 50 & Congressional Redistricting in California
Redistricting usually happens shortly after the end of a decade when a new U.S. Census count is completed.
Before 2010, state legislators drew up the congressional districts in California.
That changed after California voters approved Prop. 20 in 2010 which yanked the responsibility of redistricting from the legislature and gave it to an independent commission that was created by a separate proposition.
Since then, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission – made up of five Democrats, five Republicans and four members who aren’t registered with either of those political parties – have drawn the maps.
The commission put out a news release in August saying they had no affiliation with any groups opposing or supporting Prop. 50 and their commission as a whole have not taken a stand on the proposition.
They also defended the current election map.
“The fact that the Commission’s maps have been in place for two election cycles with no legal challenges attests to the care and consideration that the commissioners gave to the input from the people of California and to the nonpartisan rules that guided the process,” reads the news release.
“We stand behind our maps as a fair representation of the wishes of the people of California.”
The current map is based on the 2020 census and has been used since 2022, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
If Prop. 50 is adopted, the state legislator map will be in effect until the end of the decade and after 2030 the independent redistricting commission is supposed to resume its work and draft up new voting maps.
According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, adoption of the proposition could cost counties across the state millions of dollars and cost the state $200,000 to implement.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.