hen Republicans moved to redraw congressional maps in Texas to maximize their advantage in the House, California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded with a counterpunch: Proposition 50, a California redistricting measure explicitly designed to eliminate up to five Republican congressional seats and offset Democratic losses elsewhere.
It was partisan hardball in the open, justified by Newsom and Democrats as a necessary response to GOP map-drawing in Texas and other states. It also had the added benefit of buoying Newsom’s national political capital with his party as he gears up for a likely White House run in 2028.
Newsom cast the move as fighting fire with fire, an unfortunate choice of words the same year as the Palisades and Altadena fires killed at least 28 people and leveled some of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Los Angeles County.
But on Tuesday, California voters appear to have poured at cold water on at least some of those plans.
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