California voters head to the polls to decide anti-Trump, pro-Democrat ballot measure

Californians will head to the polls Tuesday to vote in favor of a Democratic effort to block President Trump’s agenda by increasing their party’s numbers in Congress after the 2026 election.

Proposition 50, a ballot measure to redraw the state’s congressional districts, was developed by Democrats after Trump urged Texas and other GOP-led states to change their congressional maps to favor members of their party, a measure intended to keep the U.S. House of Representatives under Republican control during his final two years in office.

Proposition 50 is the only item on the ballot for Tuesday’s statewide special election. Supporters hope the ballot measure has become a referendum on Trump, who remains wildly unpopular in California, while opponents call Proposition 50 a sneaky power grab by Democrats.

So far, proponents of the proposal have the advantage. They have vastly outperformed their rivals and Proposition 50 is leading in the polls.

Elections are being held across the country on Tuesday, with the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races, New York City’s mayoral race and Proposition 50 being the biggest.

California voters were inundated with television ads, mailers and social media posts for weeks about the high-stakes election, so much so that only 2 percent of likely voters were undecided, according to a recent UC Berkeley poll co-sponsored by the Times.

“Usually there was always one rule: Look at the undecideds in the last few polls and assume that most would vote no,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the survey conducted by the UC Berkeley Institute of Government Studies. “But this survey shows that there are very few of them.”

Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday and close at 8 p.m., although any voter in line at that time will be allowed to vote. The state allows voter registration on Election Day, allowing Californians to cast a conditional vote that will be counted if their eligibility is verified.

Californians have been voting for weeks. Registered voters received mail-in ballots about a month ago, and early voting centers recently opened across the state.

Nearly 6.7 million Californians — 29% of the state’s 23 million registered voters — had voted as of Monday, according to a vote tracker run by Democratic redistricting expert Paul Mitchell, who drew the proposed districts on the ballot. Democrats are outpacing Republicans, although GOP voters are expected to be more likely to vote in person on Tuesday.

The gap in early voting alarmed GOP leaders and strategists.

“In California, we already know they surrendered,” Steve Bannon, who served as Trump’s chief strategist for several months during his first term, said on his podcast this weekend. “Huntington Beach, California…it’s full of MAGA, one of the most important areas in Southern California, and yet we’re going to get blown out, I don’t know, by 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 points on massive Prop. 50 redistricting.”

Congressional districts are traditionally drawn every ten years after the U.S. Census. In California, boundaries are set by an independent commission created by voters in 2010.

But after Trump urged Texas Republicans to change their House boundaries to increase the number of GOP members in Congress, Gov. Gavin Newsom and other California Democrats responded by proposing new districts that could add five Democrats to the state’s 52-member delegation.

The high-stakes election attracted tens of millions of dollars and a carousel of prominent politicians, including former President Obama in favor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in opposition, who were featured in ads about the ballot measure, including some aired during the World Series won by the Dodgers.

Democrats who previously championed independent redistricting to eliminate partisan politics from the process argue they needed to suspend that political ideal to prevent the president from advancing his agenda during his final two years in the White House.

Citing public opposition to immigration raids that began in Los Angeles in June, the deployment of the military to U.S. cities and cuts to nutrition assistance programs for low-income families and health care programs for the elderly and disabled, Democrats say taking control of Congress in next year’s elections is essential to stopping the president’s agenda.

“Republicans want to steal enough congressional seats to rig the next election and exercise unchecked power for two more years. » Obama says in ad which includes footage of ICE raids. “With Proposition 50, you can stop Republicans in their tracks. Proposition 50 puts our elections on a level playing field, preserves independent redistricting for the long term, and lets the people decide. Return your ballot today.”

Republicans who oppose the effort have countered that Proposition 50 is an affront to the electorate who voted to create an independent redistricting commission.

They want to “take us backwards. That’s why it’s important that you vote no on Proposition 50,” Schwarzenegger said in an ad filmed when he spoke to USC students. “The Constitution does not begin with “We the Politicians.” It begins with “We the People.” … We must protect democracy and we must fight for it.”

More than $193 million was paid to committees supporting and opposing Proposition 50, making it one of the most expensive ballot measures in state history.

According to a recent poll, the proposal appears likely to be approved by voters. But even if the vote prevails, it’s unclear whether Democrats’ potential gains in California’s congressional delegation will be enough to offset the number of Republicans elected due to gerrymandering in Republican-led states.