Overview:
California voters head to the polls today with just one yes-or-no question on the ballot. Passing Proposition 50 would implement a new congressional map for the next three election cycles. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed for the new map after President Donald Trump urged Republican-led states to redraw their maps to help the GOP.
Today is the last day California voters can weigh in on Proposition 50, a redistricting plan that Gov. Gavin Newsom is pitching as an antidote to the Trump administration’s efforts to shore up Republican support in congress.
Proposition 50 will determine how Californians are represented in the U.S. House of Representatives. It would flip the partisan advantage of five GOP-held House seats in California, pulling more Democrats into five other swing districts, potentially leaving as few as four Republicans in California’s 52-member congressional delegation.
Richmondside spoke to some Richmond residents who showed up to vote at an early in-person polling place on Oct. 31 at the Richmond Memorial Auditorium. They discussed the proposition and how they feel about the current state of the nation.
Luis Ascurra and his father Willie, residents of Richmond’s Iron Triangle neighborhood, said that they believe Prop. 50 is necessary to limit President Trump’s influence over representation in voting districts. They also were motivated by the recent surge of immigration enforcement efforts nationwide.
“Right now everything is so divided,” Luis Ascurra said. “Many of the decisions (this current administration is making) are very inhumane. I understand wanting to uphold laws but there has to be humane ways of doing that. He’s operating with a heavy hand.”
Prop. 50 Nov. 4 special election
How to vote: Visit the county website for a list of polling places in Richmond and Contra Costa County. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tue., Nov. 4 for in-person voting or you can drop off your Prop. 50 ballot at a secure ballot box by 8 p.m. tonight.
Not registered to vote? Anyone who has not yet registered to vote can show up and do same-day voter registration, also called conditional same-day registration, at any polling place or at the Contra Costa County elections office, 555 Escobar Street, Martinez. Those ballots will be counted once the county elections office has completed the voter verification process.
Results: Special election results will be posted by the county Tuesday evening.
“Trump is just doing too much,” Willie Ascurra said. “He is going to the maximum.”
Both father and son said they are hopeful that voters will approve the proposition.
Deborah Tabor, a San Pablo resident, said she feels pessimistic about the national political climate but is still holding out hope that the country is not lost.
“I think we’re in deep shit. That sums it up,” she said. “In a nutshell, I’m deeply concerned — but as Jane Goodall said in her book, ‘The Book of Hope,’ there’s always hope.”
Tabor showed up to vote in person on Friday because she had lost her mail-in ballot. She remained optimistic for the passage of Prop. 50.
“I hope to god it does (pass),” she said. “But I want to add a caveat: It bugs the heck out of me that we have to do this.”
Tabor said she felt like California was forced into a gerrymandering plan to keep things fair on the federal level.
“I don’t like that people have forced us into doing something that’s not fundamentally right,” she said, adding that she feels, however, that Trump supporters are not “fundamentally bad people.”
North and East resident Francis Adams, a retired educator, said she voted by mail but came to the polling place with a friend who wanted to vote in person.
“I’m hoping that Prop. 50 passes and it gives Trump what he deserves: A bad time,” she said. “He wants to change the rules and I’m not for that.”
Adams expressed concerns about the national political climate due to the increased cost of living and homelessness — especially in Richmond. Both her and a friend feed the unhoused population around Richmond every day.
“It’s bad right now,” she said. “It’s awful. There are people sleeping on the ground, maybe one blanket, it’s just terrible. It’s getting more extreme.”
In west Contra Costa County, which is part of the 8th congressional district, the success of Prop. 50 won’t have any major impact on the partisan makeup of the district, which is represented by Rep. John Garamendi, a Democrat up for election in 2026. The district would see a slight decrease in the percentage of registered Democrats, dropping from 58% Democrat to 52% while the number of registered Republican voters would increase 5%, to 19%.
Guillermo Rodriguez, a retired resident of Richmond’s Belding Woods neighborhood, said that he hopes citizens take their voting rights seriously and cast their ballots.
“Everyone needs to make time for this because this is the way we change laws and make things happen in this country,” he said. “Since becoming a citizen, I have always made it a point to come and vote.”
Rodriguez described Prop. 50 as a referendum that places California voters against Trump — a divisiveness he sees as common in today’s political climate.
“When I vote I’m not thinking about if my side wins or loses. In my 24 years of living in this country I feel like it is just our responsibility to vote and with more people voting the voice of what the people want becomes clear,” he said. “I don’t need to focus on whether I support the president or don’t support him, what I need to focus on is what is good for the people and what will impact us.”
What the Prop. 50 landscape looks like statewide
In some cases, the recast districts would slice across California, with one uniting rural, conservative-leaning northern California with Marin County, a liberal coastal stronghold. In others, district lines are left unchanged or have only minor adjustments.
Partisans have lined up on both sides of the measure, which has seen well over $200 million in contributions.
Opponents of the measure, which include major Republican figures from the state ranging from former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to potentially affected representatives, have reported raising more than $80 million. National Republicans are kicking in: The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives, has kicked in $5 million.
The “No” on 50 campaign also benefited from the high-profile involvement of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of the last Republicans to win statewide office and a longtime opponent of gerrymandering. They’re framing the initiative as a scheme by Democrats to boost their own influence and circumvent the voter-approved independent redistricting commission.
But the “No” campaign is shorter on cash than its opponents. The “Yes” side has raised around $138 million, according to data from the California secretary of state’s office. And data from AdImpact, the nonpartisan advertising tracker, indicates the “No” side’s ad spending has slowed to a trickle in the lead-up to the election.
If the measure passes, after the 2030 U.S. Census, the state’s independent redistricting commission would resume drawing maps.
Richmondside reporting intern Zoe Harwood and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
