Gov. Gavin Newsom joined Democratic leaders and national influencers to rally support and funding for a November California ballot measure that seeks to redraw the state’s congressional maps, positioning it as a counter to Republican gerrymandering in Texas and other GOP-led states.
Held on Sept. 16, the event lasted several hours and was live streamed for a wider audience.
Newsom explained that California’s Election Rigging Response Act, also known as Proposition (Prop) 50, is essential to Democrats’ chance to win a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm election and stop the Republican-led Congress from solidifying President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
“It’s Prop 50 for a reason,” Newsom said during the virtual event. “It impacts all 50 states. Donald Trump realizes and recognizes that he is likely — almost overwhelmingly — to lose the midterms. He is trying to hold on to power. The only way he can hold onto power is to rig the system.”
California’s top Democrat noted that five new Republican seats in the House are likely to be delivered to Trump in Texas through gerrymandering and the president’s allies in other red states are focused on doing the same before next year’s election.
“This is a profound and consequential moment in American history,” Newsom said. “We could lose this republic if we do not assert ourselves and stand tall at this moment and stand guard to this republic and our democracy. I feel that in my bones.”
One million dollars in small donations was raised during the “Yes on 50” virtual campaign rally that featured words from a litany of high-profile Democratic figures and grassroots organizers including California Congressional Reps. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA-34) and Robert Garcia (D-CA-42), Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX-30), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and former First Lady and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Podcasters such as Jessiah Eberlan and Katie Phang — and content creator — Harry Sisson also appeared on the livestream, along with acclaimed actor and activist Martin Sheen.
Prop 50 will ask Californians to vote “yes” or “no” to adopting new maps that could create as many as five new safe seats in Congress for Democrats, which would offset Texas’s newly carved Republican congressional districts.
Supporters say it is a one-time correction to counterbalance unfair maps drawn in Republican-led states.
Kirk’s murder and the harshness of the national political discourse have been grabbing news headlines across the nation. Speakers during the rally remained focused on Prop 50, though.
Gomez said the upcoming special election is not a “normal election,” and if Democrats don’t win the midterm election next year, Trump and his supporters will make cuts to programs such as Medicaid and SNAP and continue to give tax breaks to big businesses and the nation’s wealthiest people.
