Dem
47
GOP
53
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) wants to take temporary control for drawing the district maps in California from the independent commission and give it to the state legislature so it can flip five Republican House seats. But the state Constitution forbids this, so he has gotten the legislature to write a constitutional amendment to do this. However, the voters have to approve it in Nov. 2025. The initiative is called Proposition 50, even though it is the only proposition on the ballot. The official name is the "Election Rigging Response Act." Democrats support "Yes on 50" and Republicans support "No on 50." If it passes, it will cancel out what Texas has done in the way of midterm gerrymandering. Recent polling puts support in the low 50s.
Republicans are going all out to kill it. Megadonor Charles Munger Jr. has spent $30 million in the past month in an effort to defeat the measure. He was (and still is) actually in favor of "good government," although he is also a Republican. He thinks independent commissions are a good idea. Although he regrets what Texas has done, he doesn't want California to go down the same road.
Munger is unusual in that he gets down in the weeds. He has a Ph.D. in physics from Berkeley, and that's how it goes with those types. Most big donors leave the details to the pros, but Munger greatly influences the content. However, he is 69 and probably not so much in touch with how the kids think these days. His main ad shows a hand carefully carving wood blocks that spell out FAIR ELECTIONS. Then a kettlebell falls on them and smashes them.
Republican strategists don't like Munger's style. They say it doesn't grab everyone's attention, the way Newsom does. Running a boring TV ad doesn't hack it anymore, but Munger is stuck in the 1980s. His campaign, Protect Voters First, has posted on social media exactly three times this month. It has 62 followers on eX-Twitter and 11 on Facebook. The campaign spokesperson dismissed comparisons with Newsom's very online tactics and said it is not competing with Newsom. That's clearly true. (V)