The Gerry-Mander Map printed in the April 2, 1812, Salem Gazette. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/gerrymandering

The practice spread across the US, with politicians from all parties using it to maintain their power bases through creative map-drawing. Gerrymandering has also been used as a weapon, particularly against people of color. White politicians have often used this racial gerrymandering to reduce or even eliminate minority representation in places where minorities have significant numbers. More importantly, gerrymandering has created uncompetitive one-party seats around the country, exacerbating political polarization in America.

The hypocritical turn of California passing Prop 50 helps explain why gerrymandering has lasted so long in the US. When it comes to political advantage, both parties are loath to lose the upper hand. To abolish gerrymandering would mean that the party in charge — no matter which one — could lose a substantial amount of political power. And so it has stubbornly remained.

“It’s wrong, but…”

Despite the controversy surrounding gerrymandering, Prop 50 was passed overwhelmingly in California. In fact, the victory was so assured that Newsom told supporters to stop donating money a full week before the election, something virtually unheard of in US politics. Over 60% of the vote was in favor, mostly by Democrats and other politically left-leaning voters who would very likely tell you that they despise gerrymandering if asked.

Sources:

Newsom tells Prop. 50 supporters to stop donating | KTLA

But there are a number of factors that make this election subtly different from other gerrymandering efforts. Most obviously, this election was, in fact, an election. Most gerrymandering efforts do not happen with the consent of an electorate, usually being passed by a legislature with little to no input from people inside those districts.

This is plainly evident in Texas’s redistricting, which Abbott and a Republican-majority legislature passed on August 29. This followed encouragement from the Trump administration to try to keep the majority in the House for the 2026 midterm elections, despite heavy criticism and dramatic action. Texas Democrats went so far as to flee the state to deny Republicans the quorum they needed to vote on the change. This caused Abbott to threaten to send the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to arrest the fleeing lawmakers.

After the Democrats returned, Abbott and the Republicans demanded that they accept a police escort in an effort to prevent the Democrats from fleeing again. One Texas Democrat, who first resisted this, was prevented from leaving the Texas legislature’s building for two nights until the voting ended.

Newsom, clearly wishing to draw a contrast between himself and Abbott, presented California’s measure as the will of the people to juxtapose Texas’s decree. This further resonated with Newsom’s core supporters, who already fear encroaching authoritarianism in the federal government, coming straight from the top.

Sources:

Texas House Democrats flee the state in bid to block GOP’s proposed congressional map | The Texas Tribune

Texas House approves GOP congressional map after two-week delay from Democrats’ walkout | The Texas Tribune

Gov. Gavin Newsom calls for a special election to allow for a new congressional map in California | NBC

The actual reason any of this is happening

Proposition 50’s quick passage all ties back to one root cause: US President Donald Trump.

Since being elected for a second term, Trump has taken increasingly more authoritarian actions. He has gutted the US Justice Department and ordered charges to be drafted against political opponents. He has accepted gifts from foreign powers. He has even begun floating the idea of a third term, something forbidden by the US Constitution.

Sources:

Can Trump serve a third term as US president? | BBC

The Trump DOJ’s slow-motion Saturday Night Massacre | CNN

Trump says he’d be ‘stupid’ to turn down Qatar’s offer of a new plane | NPR

What we know about the charges against New York’s Attorney General Letitia James | BBC

In his first term, Trump was already reviled by the American left. In his second term, there is a pervasive fear that he will outright become an autocrat, completely overturn the republic and replace it with a dictatorship. These fears are not assuaged by the astonishing speed at which Trump overturned norms that were supposed to guard against leaders like him in his first term, and continues to do so in his second term.

Sources:

Trump’s First 100 Days: Creating an Imperial Presidency That Harms Americans | Center for American Progress

How Trump obliterated norms and changed the presidency | ABC News

It is to the point where the frequent protests against the Trump administration are commonly called “No Kings” protests. Democrats are desperate to gain any sort of leverage against Trump and appear willing to push for less democratic measures to stop what they see as an existential threat to the country’s democratic values.

Furthermore, Texas’s redistricting is directly connected to the Trump administration. Trump’s Department of Justice urged Texas to go ahead with its redistricting plan, saying that it believed that several Texas districts were unconstitutionally racially gerrymandered.

Sources:

Texas leaders have repeatedly claimed the state’s voting maps are race blind. Until the Trump DOJ disagreed. | The Texas Tribune

Finally, there is a smouldering resentment within Democratic circles. In the 2016 presidential election, former First Lady Michelle Obama famously said at the Democratic National Convention: “When [Republicans] go low, [Democrats] go high.” This was in response to then-candidate Trump’s demagogic behavior and was seen as a strong retort to it at the time.

Yet the Democrats failed to stop Trump from getting into the White House twice. They also failed to hold him to account in the court of law. Despite instigating the January 6 insurrection, Trump suffered no consequences. He was even found liable for sexual abuse and was charged with a number of financial crimes. Ultimately, Trump did not suffer much damage. Neither his lifestyle nor his wealth was affected. Democrats now want to take the battle to Trump. Prop 50 is their way of taking a leaf out of the Trump playbook and bending the law to secure a political advantage. 

Sources:

Appeals court upholds E. Jean Carroll’s $83.3 million defamation judgment against Trump | PBS

Trump civil fraud trial: Here’s what’s in the $355 million verdict | AP News

The first shot on a new political battlefield

In the end, despite the many justifications and rationalizations, Prop 50 remains gerrymandering. Even if California voters passed it through an overwhelming majority, the act redraws and redistricts the state to try to maintain and expand Democrats’ power at the expense of Republican voters. Other states are noticing and are starting to take similar actions.

What this will lead to is uncertain. Republicans have already filed a lawsuit against the measure, calling it unconstitutional, but Newsom seems unconcerned. He has a history of pushing the envelope and has been discussed as a presidential candidate for nearly a decade now, all of which is likely playing into his own calculus.

Some might agree with the results now, but if this sets a precedent, where the majority gets to decide how the minority’s votes are counted, I fear we Americans have failed democracy before Trump can enact the left’s worst fears.

Sources:

‘Good luck, losers’: Newsom responds to Republican lawsuit over Prop 50 | KRON4

What’s next in the national redistricting fight after California approved a new U.S. House map | PBS News

Governor Moore Announces Redistricting Advisory Commission to Recommend New Congressional Maps | Press Release