Approval of measure could determine if Republicans keep full control of government in next year’s midterm elections
It was a decisive victory for Democrats in deep-blue California, who had raced to counter a gerrymander in Texas, engineered at the US president’s behest, to carve out new safe Republican districts. The Associated Press declared Proposition 50 had passed almost instantly when polls closed statewide.
In approving the measure, voters chose to toss out the work of California’s independent redistricting commission and temporarily adopt maps drawn by the state legislature to help Democrats pick up five additional seats in the US House of Representatives.
Newsom and Democrats framed the measure as a way to safeguard US democracy from Trump’s “wrecking ball” presidency. By contrast, opponents offered a mixed message, with Republicans alternatively attacking Newsom and praising the work of the independent mapmaking panel.
Gerrymandering is an issue in the US because the ridiculous laws allow politicians to draw their own districts. The GOP has been particularly aggressive with their efforts in disenfranchising any minorities with aggressive voter purges, voter ID laws and gerrymandering.
I know, that’s not what my comment was about though.