Californians pass redistricting measure that helps Democrats flip up to five House seats

California voters approved a high-stakes redistricting measure Tuesday, a national triumph for Democrats hoping to prevent Donald Trump and Republicans from retaining full control of the federal government in next year’s midterm elections.

It was a decisive victory for California Democrats, who had rushed to counter a gerrymander in Texas, organized at the request of the US president, to create new safe Republican districts. The Associated Press said Proposition 50 passed almost instantly as polls closed across the state.

“We stood firm in response to Donald Trump’s recklessness, and tonight, after prodding the bear, it roared with unprecedented turnout in a special election with an extraordinary result,” said Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, at the origin of the initiative, in a speech at the Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento.

Celebrating the parade of Democratic victories across the country, Newsom added: “We are proud here in California to be part of this narrative tonight. »

In approving the measure, voters chose to abandon the work of California’s independent redistricting commission and temporarily adopt maps drawn by the state Legislature to help Democrats win five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Newsom and Democrats presented the measure as a way to protect American democracy from Trump’s “wrecking ball” presidency. In contrast, opponents delivered a mixed message, with Republicans alternately attacking Newsom and praising the work of the independent mapping committee.

Kevin Kiley, the California Republican representative whose district would be reshaped under the new maps, said the state’s gerrymander “fell far short of the ideals we should be striving for in our democratic process.”

“I believe fighting fire with fire burns everything,” he said, referring to the governor’s mantra for a retaliatory gerrymander. “With California’s new gerrymander, the redistricting arms race has no end in sight.”

Democrats hold 43 of the state’s 52 seats in the House. The new maps are drawn to help Democrats flip up to five of the nine Republican-held seats in the state. It could also help make it easier for Democrats to win several temporary seats.

Related: Prop 50: Californians vote on redistricting to counter Texas’ redrawn maps

Five seats could be decisive in the fight to regain control of the House, a chamber likely to be decided by razor-thin margins. Which party wins the majority will determine the final years of Trump’s second term in the White House — whether a unified Republican Congress will continue to deliver on his agenda or whether it will face resistance, investigations and perhaps even a third impeachment attempt.

Historically, the president’s party loses ground in midterm elections. According to recent polls, Americans largely disapprove of the way Trump has exercised his powers and disapprove of the job he is doing.

Trump has persuaded several Republican states, including Missouri and North Carolina, to approve maps, while others are ready to follow suit. Some Democratic states have announced countermeasures, but California’s maps are the first major response to the Republicans’ unprecedented efforts.

On Tuesday, Newsom implored Democratic governors to move forward with redistricting in their states.

“We need to see other states, remarkable leaders who have done remarkable things, meet this moment head on,” he said, arguing that Democratic control of the House would “de facto end the presidency of Donald Trump as we know it.”

As Election Day approached, Democrats were particularly confident, with California’s governor telling donors to “stop donating” after the yes campaign widely denounced fundraising groups working against the ballot initiative.

But victory was not assured. Early polls showed hesitation among Californians to override their independent, voter-approved commission. While polls show that independent redistricting remains popular in the Golden State, Trump is decidedly not, and voters angry with him have fueled the “yes” campaign.

In the final weeks of this costly campaign, one of the costliest for a ballot measure in state history, the opposition had largely retreated. According to the California Secretary of State’s office, ballot supporters raised nearly $170 million, about twice as much as opponents, who raised about $84 million.

Newsom said late last month that the campaign had raised $38 million from about 1.2 million “small donations,” in addition to nearly $15 million from a Democratic Super Pac, $10 million from a George Soros-funded lobbying group and nearly $4 million from a state teachers union, among others. Billionaire and former Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer spent $12 million to support the proposal.

While prominent Democrats, from Barack Obama to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have lined up behind the measure, national Republicans have mostly stayed on the sidelines. Trump has been unusually quiet for much of the campaign. Hours before polls opened Tuesday morning, Trump posted on Truth Social, without any evidence, that California’s voting process is a “giant scam” and that the state is under “very serious legal and criminal scrutiny” for its system that allows any registered voter to vote by mail. Trump did not specify which agencies were investigating.

Later, the White House press secretary reiterated Trump’s baseless claims that the vote in California was “rigged,” and said the administration was still working on an executive order that Trump telegraphed earlier this year that would seek to ban mail-in voting. A decision which, according to voting rights experts, is almost impossible, legally.

“It is absolutely true that there is fraud in California elections,” Leavitt said. “It’s just a fact. It’s just a fact.”

She offered no evidence to the question asked by PBS News’ Liz Landers: “Rigged fraudulent ballots being mailed in other people’s names and in the names of illegal aliens who should not vote in U.S. elections. There are countless examples, and we would be happy to provide them.”

Leavitt said the White House was working on an executive order that would ban mail-in voting in California.

Trump’s Justice Department had deployed federal elections officials to monitor voting sites in five California counties, a move that state officials said would lead to voter intimidation. In response, California dispatched its own observers to monitor the federal observers.

The success of Proposition 50 caps a blitzkrieg that unfolded earlier this summer, when Newsom, House Democrats and state lawmakers introduced the proposal, known as the Election Rigging Response Act, and rushed the gerrymander through the Legislature at breakneck speed.

Former California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Trump critic and supporter of the commission’s creation, harshly criticized Proposition 50 but never formally campaigned against it. Meanwhile, Charles Munger Jr., a wealthy Republican donor and longtime supporter of independent redistricting, has invested more than $30 million to oppose the effort.

The new maps will be in effect for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 election cycles, when the state’s independent commission will resume its work to draw congressional lines based on the next census.

Voters lined up in Los Angeles to cast their ballots at the Cochran Avenue Baptist Church on Tuesday.

“It’s time for Americans to say, ‘This is not right and this is not acceptable.’ It’s like we’re going back to the days when they said we’re three-fifths of a person,” said Charles Johnson, the church’s pastor, who voted yes on Proposition 50. “So if we really think [Texas redistricting] is an isolated incident, no, it’s an attack. Donald Trump says, “I can do whatever I want, I can make myself king, and you’re going to lie down and take it.” »

Abené Clayton contributed to this report from Los Angeles