Voters in California have approved boundary changes to the state’s 52 congressional districts in a significant political maneuver, which could win Democrats as many as five seats in the House of Representatives at next year’s mid-term elections.
The move, led by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, will cause headaches for Donald Trump’s Republican Party, which currently holds complete control of both lower and upper chambers with majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The vote on Proposition 50 follows similarly calculated efforts by Republicans in several other states to redraw maps – most notably in Texas – to boost their party’s chances, a process commonly known as “gerrymandering.”
“We’re proud of the work the people of California did tonight to send a powerful message to an historic president. Donald Trump is the most historically unpopular president in modern history.”
In a nod to the redistricting in Texas, he accused Trump of “trying to rig the mid-term elections before one single vote is even cast”.
He called on Democrats in the states of Virginia, Maryland, Illinois and New York to follow suit and “meet this moment head on as well, and recognize what we’re up against in 2026”.
Usually, a process of redistricting occurs once every decade, immediately following the national census, with the redrawn legislative districts reflecting population changes across states.
However, the passage of Proposition 50 allows authorities in California to temporarily circumvent the independent commission, which usually controls the redistricting process, thereby allowing it to draw up a new, and potentially more partisan, map.
Democrats currently hold 43 of the state’s 52 seats, but the new map has been designed to try to secure an additional five. This gain could be enough to make a meaningful difference in the broader political race to control the House.
Should Democrats win a majority and thereby install a Democratic speaker in the House, it would reshape the final years of Trump’s presidency, significantly limiting his ability to pursue his agenda unchallenged.
Mid-term elections have historically delivered frustrating results for sitting presidents. Next year’s vote appears likely to maintain this pattern, with recent polls suggesting a significant level of dissatisfaction with the Trump administration’s handling of key issues.
Two polls out last weekend suggest Trump and the Republican Party are fumbling their management of the economy, immigration system, crime, healthcare, and foreign policy.
Meanwhile, the federal government shutdown is entering its second month this week, with no end in sight and the House of Representatives still out of session.
Kevin Kiley, the California Republican representative whose district would be reshaped under the new maps, said this kind of gerrymandering falls “well short of the ideals we ought to strive for in our democratic process”.
“I believe fighting fire with fire burns everything down,” he said in response to the tit-for-tat gerrymandering called for by Newsom. “With California’s new gerrymander, the redistricting arms race has no end in sight.”
The term Gerrymandering came into common usage after Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry approved a distorted district in 1812, which supposedly looked like a “salamander” on the map.
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