This is an adapted excerpt from the Nov. 2 episode of “Velshi.”
It’s possible that the most consequential election on Tuesday will not even elect a government official. You might have heard about California’s Proposition 50, a statewide referendum that, if passed, will redraw the state’s districts to give Democrats up to five more seats in the U.S. Congress.
Polling indicates that Proposition 50 is expected to pass, and Republicans have all but thrown in the towel.
But, of course, this Democratic redistricting is not happening in a vacuum. It’s a response.
Right now, Congress is closely divided, and the upcoming midterms are a chance for Democrats to break the Republicans’ unified grip on Washington. Earlier this year, Donald Trump fired the first shot when he pressed Texas Republicans to gerrymander their way to five more House seats in a rare, mid-decade redistricting shake-up.
It was an overt attempt to skew the midterms toward Republicans and prevent Trump from paying a political price for an agenda that on a single day last month inspired millions of Americans to take to the streets to protest.
Since then, Republicans in Missouri and North Carolina have bowed to Trump’s call and redrawn their maps. The president has also been pressuring more states, including Florida, Indiana, Kansas and Nebraska, to follow suit.
In response to Texas, California Gov. Gavin Newsom led the charge to create a ballot initiative that would fully counter those congressional losses in Texas.
“Donald Trump does not play fair,” Newsom told reporters in August. “You’ve seen that happen over and over again, and I’m just not going to sit back and be complicit. I don’t think the people in the state of California are going to be complicit.”
Newsom has told his fellow Democrats it’s time to “meet fire with fire,” calling it a “break-the-glass moment for our democracy.” Newsom added, “Look, identifying a problem is one thing. You gotta do something about it. This is about action.”
It’s exactly what we’ve been talking about on “Velshi” for months: fighters versus folders. Assuming good faith on the other side is a luxury one can no longer afford with the Republican Party in thrall to Trump.
It’s important to note that Newsom’s strategy here is aggressive, but it is not corrupt in the same way that Trump’s partisan redistricting efforts have been. Newsom is not asking Democrats to go into a backroom and redraw the maps. He’s putting it to a vote.
This is a referendum that will be decided by the voters of California, not a state legislature submitting to the fearful impulse of a ruler. It’s also not permanent. After the 2030 Census, California’s independent commission would draw new maps.