California voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50 in a race called by the Associated Press before a single ballot was counted—a reflection of decisive support in a victory that significantly boosts Democratic chances of retaking the House of Representatives next year.
The ballot measure establishes a new congressional map through 2030 that could help Democrats win five additional seats, offsetting a mid-decade gerrymander passed by Texas Republicans over the summer.
Prop 50 represents Democrats’ first significant victory against President Donald Trump’s unprecedented plan to rig the midterms by pressuring as many GOP-controlled states as possible to redraw their maps before the 2026 elections.
The hastily assembled California plan, championed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, asked voters to temporarily set aside the congressional maps drawn four years ago by the state’s independent redistricting commission and approve new maps passed by the legislature that were designed to maximize Democratic representation.
Though the independent commission remains popular in California, Democrats successfully convinced a majority of voters that urgent action was needed to hold Trump accountable and restore fairness to the race for the House.
“Voters have been able to hold two thoughts in their head at the same time, which is that they support independent redistricting but they also believe we’re in an existential crisis where something has to be done,” says Paul Mitchell, a California-based redistricting expert who drew the new congressional map.
Supporters of Prop. 50 hope that the ballot measure’s passage inspires other Democratic states to act. Even if California Democrats ultimately pick up five seats to counter the Texas map, other Republican-controlled states, including Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio, have since redrawn their maps to give the GOP additional House seats—with more red states, like Indiana and Florida, potentially still to come.
That means Democrats could ultimately start an additional six-to-10 seats behind in the race for the House.
