California’s Redistricting Ballot Measure Overwhelmingly Passes

A California ballot measure that would change the state’s electoral map passed on Tuesday, paving the way for Democrats to add five congressional seats in the coming midterm elections.

With three-quarters of votes counted, Decision Desk HQ reports that around 65% of Californians voted for Proposition 50, which “authorizes temporary changes to congressional district maps in response to Texas’s partisan redistricting.” The measure, which California Governor Gavin Newsom, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other prominent Democrats supported, was slammed as overly partisan by opponents, and heavily funded by supporters. The Daily Wire reported that one of the major donors to Newsom’s ballot measure committee included Blue Shield of California, which donated $500,000.

The California Democratic Party website said that the proposal is “a direct response to a Republican power grab orchestrated by President Trump and state leaders in Texas, who redrew congressional district lines to gain five more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.”

“If Texas had backed off, California would have backed off,” Pelosi posted on X last week. “But Trump insisted on Texas starting this fight — so California will meet this moment and win BIG on Tuesday to defend our health care and our democracy.”

The passage of Proposition 50 is a major win for Newsom, a likely 2028 presidential candidate. It comes just hours after voters across the country elected socialist Zohran Mamdani mayor of New York City and sent Democrats to the governors mansions in New Jersey and Virginia.

In October, Los Angeles County Republican Chair Roxanne Hoge explained that the phrasing of the measure made the race competitive.

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“If we didn’t have the crazy title in summary that they had, it would be like Prop 36, right. Overwhelming. But given the title and summary we have, it’s neck and neck,” she said at the time. Prop. 36 was a 2024 ballot measure that passed overwhelmingly to fight back against crime in the Golden State.

Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, also opposed the proposition.

“There is such extreme gerrymandering going on that in a state like Massachusetts, it has like 40% of the people voting for Trump, they only — they have zero representatives,” Schwarzenegger said in a recent CNN interview. “The Republican Party has zero representatives sent to the House. Think about that.”

“In New Mexico, 45% of the people voted for Trump and vote Republican, and zero is sent to the House, zero representatives from the Republican Party,”  he added. “So there’s gerrymandering — crazy gerrymandering — going on all over the country, and we wanted to try to stop it in California, and we did stop it in California.”

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), whose seat is expected to be redrawn under Proposition 50 tells The Daily Wire that he’s “not going anywhere.”

“It was difficult to watch as Gavin Newsom and Sacramento’s special interests set about shredding the state constitution, disenfranchising millions of Californians solely because of how they vote, and delivering what they know is an undeserved advantage to Democrats,” Issa said. “But here’s something Newsom and his cronies don’t know: It won’t work.”

“Voters get to pick their representatives. Not the other way around,” the congressman continued, later adding that he’s “not quitting on California. And neither should anyone else.”

MAMDANI TIME: New York City Turns To Muslim Socialist Zohran Mamdani As Next Mayor

NEW YORK—Zohran Mamdani, the radical socialist upstart whose primary victory shocked the nation, will be the next mayor of New York City.

Mamdani, an immigrant from Uganda who moved to Queens as a child, captivated the electorate with his youthful energy, unabashed leftism, and promise to make everything from city buses to childcare free for New Yorkers.

A half hour after polls closed, with just over 60% of the votes counted, Mamdani was leading with 49.6% of the vote. Independent candidate and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo trailed with just over 41%. Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate and founder of the Guardian Angels, captured around 8% of the vote, at the time the race was called.

None of this was surprising. The Real Clear Polling average of polls had Mamdani leading former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, the independent candidate, by more than 14 points on the eve of the election, The Daily Wire’s Jennie Taer reported this week.

Mamdani, a one-term assemblyman whose critics routinely slam him for his inexperience, now faces the challenge of governing a city with the eyes of the nation upon him. Mamdani has pledged to implement a number of policies — from a $30-an-hour minimum wage to city-run grocery stores — that he has no way of paying for without support from the New York State Assembly and Governor Kathy Hochul, who campaigned with him down the final stretch.

The fact that he likely won’t receive that support did nothing to deter voters. Some 2 million New Yorkers turned out to vote in this election, the largest turnout since 1969. More than 735,000 New Yorkers turned out for early voting, a record turnout, according to CBS News.

Mamdani came under national scrutiny for his calls to “globalize the intifada,” criticism of Israel, and Hamas sympathies. He has a complicated relationship with the New York Police Department, having called to defund the police. He was elected in large part with the help of first-time voters and New Yorkers who have lived in the city for less than a decade, ABC News noted.

Critics say that electing Mamdani will cause a spike in crime and antisemitic incidents. Cuomo, whose mayoral campaign was an attempt to salvage a legacy tarnished by his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic and allegations of sexual harassment, carried most of the city’s Jewish vote.

The Daily Wire has been on the ground in New York in the days leading up to the election, speaking to voters about their choice in candidates. Mamdani supporters touted the socialist’s willingness to buck the Democratic establishment, though at least one Mamdani voter said that he would have reservations about his chosen candidate if he were Jewish.

One group that by and large opposed Mamdani: bus drivers, who fear a world in which the mayor-elect eliminates their fares.

 

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While a Mamdani victory seemed increasingly clear in the days leading up to the election, the race was still called sooner than most poll watchers expected. As of this writing, Mamdani has yet to take the stage to declare victory. Cuomo and Sliwa have yet to concede.

This is a developing story, please refresh this page for updates.

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